UFO Disclosure Goes Digital: Pentagon Launches Online Hub for Declassified Reports

A 'one-stop shop' of photos, videos, and reports on UFOs approved for public release

Defense Department spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder holds a press conference at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., on Aug. 31, 2023. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

The Department of Defense announced it’s launching a website to provide information about all declassified records on UFOs.

UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) are also called UAPs (before Unidentified Aerial Phenomena—now Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena)—the official term the U.S. government uses. The term refers to unidentified objects in any medium—whether in space, in the air, on land, in the sea, or under the sea.

The website, www.aaro.mil, will be a “one-stop shop” for all publicly-available information related to the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) and UAP, Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said at a press briefing on Aug. 31.

AARO was established in July 2022 to “detect, identify and attribute objects of interest” in all domains, including air, ground, sea, or space, to help address “any associated threats to safety of operations and national security.”

According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), AARO is the “single focal point” for all efforts from the Pentagon regarding UAP. AARO is leading a “whole-of-government approach to coordinate UAP collection, reporting, and analysis efforts” throughout the Pentagon, the intelligence community, and other government agencies.

The new website “will provide information, including photos and videos, on resolved UAP cases as they are declassified and approved for public release,” according to a Pentagon press release.

“The website’s other content includes reporting trends and a frequently asked questions section as well as links to official reports, transcripts, press releases, and other resources that the public may find useful, such as applicable statutes and aircraft, balloon and satellite tracking sites.”

Brig. Gen. Ryder said that AARO will regularly update the website as new information is cleared for public release.

A still from GO FAST, an official U.S. government video of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), taken in 2015. U.S. Navy

Lawmakers Seek Info on Secret Programs

The website’s announcement comes amid increased demands from Congress for greater transparency from the U.S. government on UAPs.

On Aug. 21, six members of Congress sent a letter calling on the intelligence community to provide more details about programs that retrieved UAPs and reverse engineered them.

“During the UAP hearing, David Grusch testified he could not provide specific details about UAP crash retrieval programs or reverse engineering programs, but said the Intelligence Community Inspector General could. So my colleagues and I wrote to him to ask for details,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said on X, formerly Twitter.

Mr. Burchett sent the letter to Thomas A. Monheim, the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community (IC IG), seeking a response in September. The other five signatories of the letter were Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), and Andy Ogles (R-Tenn).

Retired Maj. Grusch, a veteran of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency who served on the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, made statements under oath on July 26 at a House hearing on UAPs that the U.S. government has recovered UFO vehicles as well as the non-human “biologics” of the pilots.

David Grusch, former National Reconnaissance Officer Representative of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Task Force at the U.S. Department of Defense, at a House Oversight Committee hearing titled "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency" on Capitol Hill in Washington, on July 26, 2023. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

He also told lawmakers that he believes the U.S. government has probably been aware of “non-human” activity for nearly 100 years and affirmed to Ms. Mace that he believed there was an “active disinformation campaign within our government to deny the existence of [unidentified anomalous phenomena].”

Mr. Grusch shared that he was asked in 2019 by the head of a government task force on UAPs to identify all highly classified programs relating to the task force’s mission. At the time, Mr. Grusch was detailed to the National Reconnaissance Office, the agency that operates U.S. spy satellites.

“I was informed in the course of my official duties of a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse engineering program to which I was denied access,” he said.

Mr. Burchett and his colleagues are not alone in wanting more information. In early July, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) introduced bipartisan legislation (pdf) to declassify records related to UAP.

“For decades, many Americans have been fascinated by objects mysterious and unexplained and it’s long past time they get some answers,” the majority leader said in a statement.

“The American public has a right to learn about technologies of unknown origins, non-human intelligence, and unexplainable phenomena. We are not only working to declassify what the government has previously learned about these phenomena but to create a pipeline for future research to be made public.”

The DNI said in January that the U.S. government had received 366 new reports of UAPs since March 2021—marking a total of 510 such reports in the 17 years spanning 2004 to 2021. While more UAPs are being reported and sent for analysis, many cases “remain unresolved,” the office stated.

Savannah Hulsey Pointer and The Associated Press contributed to this report.