AARO: The Pentagon’s UAP Investigation Office

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For the first time in American history, the Pentagon has a permanent, congressionally mandated office dedicated to investigating unidentified aerial phenomena. Its name is AARO, and its job is to do what Project Blue Book, the UAP Task Force, and a half-dozen other programs never fully accomplished: figure out what is flying in American airspace, who or what is controlling it, and whether it poses a threat. As of March 2026, AARO’s caseload exceeds 2,000 reports. Most have been identified. Some have not. Meanwhile, a growing chorus of voices in Congress wants to shut the office down, the White House is registering domains like aliens.gov, and the Pentagon’s new workshop on UAP data analysis went public only after a reporter found a 17-page whitepaper on AARO’s website. The modern chapter of America’s longest-running mystery is being written in real time.

TL;DR: The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO, is the Pentagon’s official investigation hub for unidentified anomalous phenomena. Established in July 2022 under a requirement in the FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, AARO replaced three prior programs that had investigated UAP since 2007. Led since August 2024 by Dr. Jon Kosloski, a former NSA researcher specializing in quantum optics, the office has catalogued over 2,000 UAP reports and published a historical review concluding that no U.S. government program has ever recovered extraterrestrial technology. In March 2026, the White House registered alien.gov and aliens.gov domains amid renewed Trump administration promises of UAP disclosure, while a sitting congresswoman recommended AARO be defunded. The office is under more pressure than at any point in its three-year existence. Sources linked below.

Timeline

2007 to 2012 The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) operates as a classified Pentagon program funded by $22 million through the Defense Intelligence Agency. Initiated at the urging of then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, AATIP investigates military encounters with UAP and commissions 38 scientific research papers on advanced propulsion and exotic technology. The program is led at the Pentagon by Luis Elizondo, a military intelligence officer. AATIP is not publicly acknowledged until December 2017, when the New York Times reports on its existence, according to the New York Times.

August 4, 2020 Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist establishes the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) within the Office of Naval Intelligence. The UAPTF’s mission is to detect, analyze, and catalog UAP that could pose a threat to national security. The task force builds on work that had been informally continuing after AATIP’s budget expired, according to the AARO Historical Record Report Volume 1.

June 25, 2021 The Office of the Director of National Intelligence releases the UAPTF’s preliminary assessment, covering 144 reports from military sources between 2004 and 2021. Of the 144, only one is identified with high confidence (a deflating balloon). The remaining 143 are unexplained. The report concludes that UAP “probably lack a single explanation” and represent a flight safety and national security concern, according to the ODNI.

November 23, 2021 Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks creates the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG) as an interim successor to the UAPTF. AOIMSG is intended to coordinate UAP-related efforts across the Department of Defense and the intelligence community, according to the UAP Caucus.

July 20, 2022 Hicks formally establishes the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) to replace AOIMSG and fulfill a requirement in the FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act. Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick, a physicist with expertise in defense and intelligence, is appointed as AARO’s first director. The office is housed within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, according to DefenseScoop.

August 30, 2023 AARO launches its public website at aaro.mil, providing a portal for UAP reporting and access to declassified documents. The site goes live without a public email address or phone number for civilian reports, drawing criticism from researchers, according to Wikipedia.

July 26, 2023 The House Oversight Committee holds a hearing on UAP, featuring testimony from former intelligence officer David Grusch, retired Navy Commander David Fravor, and retired Navy Lieutenant Commander Ryan Graves. Grusch testifies under oath that the U.S. government operates a secret crash-retrieval and reverse-engineering program for non-human craft. The hearing generates massive public attention. Fravor previously described the 2004 USS Nimitz encounter with an object that defied known physics.

July 2023 Following the congressional hearing, Kirkpatrick issues a public statement asserting that Grusch “has refused to speak with AARO” and that details provided to Congress had not been shared with the office. Grusch disputes the claim. The public disagreement becomes a flashpoint in the debate over whether AARO is a genuine investigation or a gatekeeping operation, according to Wikipedia.

November 7, 2023 The Pentagon announces that Kirkpatrick will step down as AARO director, effective December 1, 2023. During his tenure, Kirkpatrick faced violent threats, social media campaigns against him, and an incident where a UFO enthusiast showed up at his home, requiring FBI involvement. His departure comes shortly after the publication of AARO’s Historical Record Report, according to The Guardian.

March 6, 2024 The Department of Defense publishes AARO’s “Historical Record Report Volume 1,” a review of all official U.S. government investigatory efforts related to UAP since 1945. The report concludes that “AARO has found no verifiable evidence that any U.S. government investigation, academic-sponsored research, or official review has confirmed that any sighting of a UAP represented extraterrestrial technology.” The report reviews Programs Sign, Grudge, Blue Book, AATIP, UAPTF, and AOIMSG. Critics describe it as superficial and note that a promised Volume 2 has not been released as of March 2026, according to AARO.

August 26, 2024 Dr. Jon T. Kosloski is appointed as AARO’s second director, replacing acting leadership. Kosloski comes from the National Security Agency, where he led advanced research in quantum optics, computing, and crypto-mathematics. He is a graduate of NSA’s Cryptanalysis Development Program, with an academic background in mathematics, physics, and engineering. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks says Kosloski “possesses the unique set of scientific and technical skills, policy knowledge, and proven leadership experience required to enhance AARO’s efforts,” according to DefenseScoop.

November 14, 2024 Kosloski testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee and releases AARO’s first annual report under his leadership, covering the period from May 2023 through June 2024. The report documents 757 new UAP submissions during the period, bringing AARO’s total caseload to over 1,600 reports. Kosloski states that most cases are resolved as conventional objects (balloons, drones, aircraft, sensor artifacts) but that a small percentage remain “truly anomalous,” according to DefenseScoop.

August 2025 AARO sponsors an invite-only workshop in the Washington, D.C. area, hosted by Associated Universities, Inc. The event, officially titled “2025 UAP Workshop: Narrative Data, Infrastructures, and Analysis,” brings together approximately 40 participants from government agencies, universities, and civilian research organizations. Topics include AI and machine learning for UAP data, standardized reporting frameworks, privacy considerations, and data preservation. No public announcement is made before the event. Attendees cover their own travel. The workshop is not reported until AARO publishes a 17-page whitepaper in early 2026, first covered by DefenseScoop on March 16, 2026, according to DefenseScoop and The Debrief.

Early 2026 AARO’s caseload exceeds 2,000 documented UAP reports, according to multiple sources. A quarterly update in early March 2026 reportedly catalogues over 2,400 cases, up from approximately 2,000 at the end of 2025. India Today reports that “nearly 1,000 cases sit in an active archive because the data is too strange or too thin to explain,” according to India Today.

February 25, 2026 Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth doubles down on President Trump’s promise to release government files on UAP. A DefenseScoop analysis notes that AARO’s caseload “appears to have grown by at least 400 since its last public update” in late 2024. The office has not published its 2025 annual report or Volume 2 of its historical record report, according to DefenseScoop.

March 18, 2026 The White House registers two new government domains: alien.gov and aliens.gov. The registration, made by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, is first reported by DefenseScoop and Forbes. The move comes weeks after Trump directed government agencies to consolidate existing UAP records and facilitate the release of information. As of March 28, 2026, neither domain hosts active content, according to DefenseScoop and Forbes.

March 22, 2026 Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), chair of the House Oversight Committee’s Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, posts on X that she will recommend to DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency) that AARO be completely disbanded and defunded. Luna states that “after reviewing our investigations through the Oversight Task Force, I am now convinced that AARO is a waste of taxpayer money.” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) and Stanford researcher Dr. Garry Nolan express support for the recommendation. Luna’s task force has separately called for the FBI to take over UAP investigation responsibilities from AARO, according to UFO News.

The Lineage: From AATIP to AARO

AARO did not appear from nowhere. It is the fourth iteration of a Pentagon program that has existed in some form since 2007, when the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) began operating as a classified initiative funded through the Defense Intelligence Agency. AATIP was the brainchild of then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who secured $22 million in black-budget funding after learning about military encounters with objects that displayed flight characteristics beyond known technology. The program was led at the Pentagon by Luis Elizondo, a career intelligence officer who would later resign in protest and go public about the program’s existence.

AATIP’s $22 million budget ran out around 2012, and the program was officially closed. But the work continued informally within the Pentagon, and in 2020, Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist established the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) within the Office of Naval Intelligence to give the effort an official structure.

The UAPTF produced a preliminary assessment in June 2021 that reviewed 144 UAP reports from 2004 to 2021. Only one was identified. The remaining 143 were unexplained. The assessment concluded that UAP represented a flight safety and national security concern.

The UAPTF was short-lived. In November 2021, Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks created the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG) as an interim successor. AOIMSG itself lasted only eight months before being replaced by AARO in July 2022, when Congress mandated a permanent office in the FY 2022 NDAA.

The progression from AATIP (classified, $22 million, five years) to UAPTF (official task force, 14 months) to AOIMSG (interim coordinator, 8 months) to AARO (permanent, congressionally mandated, ongoing) reflects a steady escalation in the government’s willingness to treat UAP as a real national security issue rather than a fringe curiosity.

Leadership

AARO has had two directors. Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick, a physicist with extensive defense and intelligence experience, served as the founding director from July 2022 through December 1, 2023. Kirkpatrick’s tenure was marked by a public dispute with whistleblower David Grusch and by criticism from both the UAP community (which viewed AARO as insufficiently aggressive) and skeptics (who questioned the office’s independence from the Pentagon). Kirkpatrick faced threats and harassment, including an FBI-reported incident at his home. He stepped down in late 2023, according to The Guardian.

Dr. Jon T. Kosloski has led AARO since August 26, 2024. His background is notably different from Kirkpatrick’s: Kosloski is a researcher, not a policy official. He spent most of his career at the NSA leading advanced research in optics, computing, and crypto-mathematics, and is a graduate of NSA’s Cryptanalysis Development Program. In his first Senate testimony in November 2024, Kosloski described himself as “a researcher at my core, with an academic background in mathematics, physics, and engineering,” according to his statement for the record.

Timothy A. Phillips, on assignment from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, serves as AARO’s Deputy Director.

Reports and Findings

AARO has produced two major publications:

Historical Record Report Volume 1 (March 2024): A review of all official U.S. government UAP investigatory efforts since 1945, covering Projects Sign, Grudge, and Blue Book; AATIP; the UAPTF; and AOIMSG. The report concludes that “AARO has found no verifiable evidence” of extraterrestrial technology or secret crash-retrieval programs. Critics note that the report relied primarily on publicly available information and dismissed whistleblower testimony without providing detailed rebuttals. A promised Volume 2, which was expected to provide additional context and detail, has not been published as of March 2026, according to r/UFOs.

Annual Report (November 2024): The first annual report under Kosloski’s leadership, covering submissions from May 2023 through June 2024. The report documents 757 new cases, bringing the total to over 1,600. Most cases are resolved as conventional objects. A small number are classified as “truly anomalous,” meaning they cannot be explained by known phenomena, sensor artifacts, or foreign adversary technology, according to DefenseScoop.

Workshop Whitepaper (March 2026): A 17-page information paper detailing the August 2025 workshop outcomes. Recommendations include standardized data collection protocols, AI-assisted pattern recognition for large UAP datasets, improved privacy protections, and a framework for civilian-government data sharing. The whitepaper notes “cross-cutting findings” but does not disclose specific cases or classified material, according to The Debrief.

The Workshop

The August 2025 workshop is significant for what it reveals about AARO’s evolving approach. For the first time, the Pentagon’s UAP office brought civilian scientists, university researchers, and civilian reporting organizations (including the National UFO Reporting Center, or NUFORC) into a structured planning session. Approximately 40 participants attended.

The workshop was hosted by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), a nonprofit that manages national scientific facilities. Robert Powell, co-founder of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies, delivered the keynote address on “The Importance of Good UAP Data.” Topics covered included AI and machine learning for pattern recognition, physical and natural sciences applications, data infrastructure, archival methods, and human and social sciences research, according to the Society for UAP Studies.

The workshop was not announced publicly before it occurred. Attendees covered their own travel expenses. The only reason it became public knowledge is that AARO published the whitepaper in early 2026. Some civilian researchers who attended have expressed concern that data shared at such events might not remain independent of Pentagon control, according to UFO News.

2026: Disclosure Pressure and Defund Calls

As of March 2026, AARO faces pressure from opposite directions. The Trump administration is pushing toward UAP disclosure: President Trump has directed agencies to consolidate and release UAP records, Secretary Hegseth has doubled down on the promise, and the White House has registered alien.gov and aliens.gov. At the same time, Rep. Luna’s call for AARO to be defunded and dissolved reflects a growing view among some congressional advocates that AARO is not the right vehicle for disclosure, that the office, embedded within the Pentagon, has a structural conflict of interest when investigating the Pentagon itself.

The disclosure advocates and the defund advocates agree on one thing: the current process is not working fast enough. AARO has not published its 2025 annual report. Volume 2 of the historical record report remains unpublished. The caseload is growing faster than cases can be resolved. Nearly 1,000 cases sit in an active archive with no identified explanation.

Whether AARO survives the political crosscurrents or is replaced by a different investigative structure remains to be seen. The office has existed for less than four years. Its predecessor, Project Blue Book, lasted 17 years. But the political environment in 2026 is fundamentally different from the 1950s and 1960s: congressional oversight is active, whistleblowers are testifying under oath, and the public expects answers.

Opposing Perspectives

The Pentagon’s position: AARO is doing its job. The office has reviewed thousands of reports, identified most as conventional objects, and published a historical review showing no evidence of extraterrestrial technology or secret programs. The small percentage of truly anomalous cases is being investigated with increasing rigor. The workshop demonstrates AARO’s commitment to engaging civilian expertise and improving data quality. The office is the legitimate, congressionally mandated successor to prior programs.

The disclosure advocates’ position: AARO is structurally compromised. An office housed within the Pentagon cannot credibly investigate the Pentagon. The Historical Record Report Volume 1 relied on public information and dismissed whistleblower testimony without transparent review. Volume 2 has not been published. The annual report has not been published for 2025. The workshop was conducted in secret. The office’s caseload is growing faster than it can process, and the public has no visibility into which cases are truly unexplained versus which are being slow-walked. AARO should be replaced by an independent body with access to classified programs and no institutional loyalty to the Department of Defense, according to UFO News.

The skeptics’ position: AARO’s findings confirm what has been consistent across every government UAP investigation since 1947: most sightings have conventional explanations, and the small remainder reflects insufficient data rather than extraordinary phenomena. The public interest in UAP is driven by entertainment, social media, and motivated reasoning, not by scientific evidence. Funding a permanent government office to investigate unverified reports is an inefficient use of taxpayer money, according to Sentinel News.

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