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The latest events on the record: hearings, official reports, releases and reported encounters. Each one links to its sources.

Sourced events, newest first

2025

Government

House Oversight creates Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets

House Oversight Chairman James Comer named Rep. Anna Paulina Luna to lead a six-month task force on declassifying federal records. Its announced remit put UAPs alongside the JFK, RFK and MLK assassination files, the Epstein files, COVID-19 origins and 9/11.

Photo: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 4.0

Government

Burchett reintroduces the UAP Transparency Act

Rep. Tim Burchett introduced H.R. 1187 in the 119th Congress. It would have the President direct agencies to declassify and post their UAP records online within 270 days, with progress reports to Congress. It repeats a bill he first filed in May 2024 and was referred to the Oversight Committee.

Photo: U.S. House of Representatives, Public domain

Government

White House says New Jersey drones were FAA-authorized

At the first press briefing of President Trump's second term, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the drones seen over New Jersey were authorized by the FAA for research and other reasons, with many flown by hobbyists. She gave no details on who operated them.

Photo: The White House, Public domain

Whistleblowers

Jake Barber's crash-retrieval claims air on NewsNation

In a NewsNation special built on a Ross Coulthart interview, former Air Force helicopter pilot Jake Barber said he flew as a contractor recovering downed craft, including an egg-shaped object he believes was non-human. A Pentagon spokesperson said no verifiable information supports such claims.

Photo: Mosman Library, CC BY 2.0

Sightings

Drone strikes a Super Scooper fighting the Palisades Fire

A drone flown from a Santa Monica parking structure into a flight restriction zone hit a Quebec-owned Super Scooper fighting the Palisades Fire, leaving a hole in its left wing and taking it out of service. After an FBI investigation the operator agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor.

Photo: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Public domain

Military

Drones over Bundeswehr Patriot training base at Schwesing

German press, citing a classified Bundeswehr report, said professional drones of unknown origin hovered over the Schwesing air defence base near Husum in six incidents from Jan. 9 to 29, 2025. Jammers failed to force them down and no operators were found; espionage was suspected but unproven.

2024

Sightings

Metal ring falls on Mukuku village, Kenya

A red-hot metal ring about 2.5 m across and roughly 500 kg fell into Mukuku village in Makueni County. The Kenya Space Agency recovered it and said preliminary findings showed it was a rocket separation ring; the exact launch was not named.

Photo: Smilymecy, CC BY-SA 4.0

Government

FY2025 NDAA signed with GAO review of AARO

The FY2025 defense bill became Public Law 118-159. Its intelligence division has a UAP title ordering a Government Accountability Office review of AARO and sunsetting audit requirements for AARO's historical report; the bill also has AARO liaise with a new counter-drone task force.

Photo: U. S. Department of Defense, All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, Public domain

Government

Congress extends federal counter-drone authority in stopgap bill

The American Relief Act, 2025, a stopgap spending law approved Dec. 21, 2024, extended DHS and Justice Department authority to counter drones over protected sites from Dec. 20, 2024 to March 14, 2025. Officials had asked Congress for more drone powers during the New Jersey sightings.

Government

FAA restricts drone flights over 22 New Jersey locations

At the request of federal security partners, the FAA issued 22 temporary flight restrictions barring drones within a nautical mile of critical infrastructure in New Jersey towns, ground to 400 feet, into mid-January. Similar limits covered parts of New York. DHS called it a precaution.

Photo: Chetsford, Public domain

Government

Federal agencies say 5,000 New Jersey drone tips show nothing anomalous

DHS, the FBI, FAA and Pentagon said the FBI had received more than 5,000 drone tips, about 100 of which produced leads. They said sightings were lawful drones, manned aircraft, helicopters and stars, that nothing anomalous had been found, and asked Congress for counter-drone powers.

Photo: Chetsford, Public domain

Government

Mayorkas says no known foreign involvement in drone sightings

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told ABC's This Week that officials knew of no foreign involvement in the Northeast sightings. He said some were real drones and others manned aircraft, linked the rise partly to night-flight rules, and asked Congress for wider powers.

Photo: Zachary Hupp/U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Public domain

Government

Schumer urges federal drone-detection technology over New York and New Jersey

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer asked the Department of Homeland Security to deploy a recently declassified radio-wave tracking system to identify drones reported over New York and New Jersey and their operators, noting state and local police lacked authority to track them.

Photo: U.S. Senate Photographic Studio/Jeff McEvoy, Public domain

Sightings

Two men arrested for flying a drone near Boston Logan

During the Northeast drone flap, Boston police responding to reports of a drone flying dangerously close to Logan Airport found two men on closed Long Island in Boston Harbor with a drone in a backpack. They were charged with trespassing; a third man was not caught.

Photo: David Wilson, CC BY 2.0

Government

Trump says the mystery drones should be shot down

President-elect Donald Trump posted on Truth Social about drone sightings around the country, asking whether this could happen without the government knowing and saying the drones should be shot down unless officials told the public. Some Republican lawmakers made similar calls.

Photo: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0

Sightings

Drone activity closes Stewart Airport runways

Runways at Stewart International Airport in New York were shut for about an hour after the FAA reported drone activity during the Northeast drone flap. Gov. Kathy Hochul said 'This has gone too far' and sought federal help; the Port Authority said flights were not affected.

Photo: Acroterion, CC BY-SA 4.0

Military

Navy confirms drone incursions over Naval Weapons Station Earle

Naval Weapons Station Earle's public affairs officer confirmed multiple instances of unidentified drones entering the base's airspace during the New Jersey sightings wave. The base said no direct threat had been identified and did not say when the incursions happened.

Photo: Szeremeta, CC BY 4.0

Military

Wright-Patterson closes airspace after drone sightings

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio closed its airspace for about four hours after small drones were seen near and over the base late on Dec. 13, 2024. The 88th Air Base Wing said they did not affect base residents, facilities or assets. It came amid a wave of drone reports in several states.

Photo: Nyttend, Public domain

Government

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy asks Biden for federal help on drone sightings

Gov. Phil Murphy wrote to President Biden asking for more federal resources to find out what was behind weeks of drone reports over New Jersey, and urged him to keep directing the federal agencies involved to work together until they had answers.

Photo: Montclair Film, CC BY 4.0

Government

Rep. Josh Gottheimer asks FBI and DHS to take down New Jersey drones

During the late-2024 New Jersey drone sightings, Rep. Josh Gottheimer urged the FBI and DHS to let state and local police use equipment to safely bring down unauthorized drones, and asked for a public briefing on the reports.

Photo: Kristie Boyd; U.S. House Office of Photography, Public domain