Government and military
The Pentagon UAP offices: AATIP, the UAP Task Force, AOIMSG and AARO, with their reports. 109 events, newest first.
Select any year above to see what happened that year.
Open AARO and the Pentagon as a timeline
Government23 Oct 2026
The Department of War posted its seventh batch of records under PURSUE, the program it says is releasing unresolved UAP files on a rolling basis after a presidential directive. Items include 1950s Air Force reports and a 2010 Utah ranch investigation report.
Photo: United States Department of War, Public domain
GovernmentJul 2026
AARO's report for June 2024 to May 2025, due October 2025 but out in July 2026, logged 319 new UAP reports. No resolved case pointed to breakthrough foreign technology and it found no evidence of recovered UAP material. A Navy report of about 100 objects off Virginia was still under investigation.
Photo: U. S. Department of Defense, All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, Public domain
Government8 May 2026
The Department of War posted a first tranche of declassified UAP videos, photos and documents on war.gov/UFO under the interagency Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE), saying more would follow on a rolling basis. It noted many items had not been analyzed.
Government31 Mar 2026
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who chairs a House Oversight task force on declassification, wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listing 46 UAP video files, citing whistleblowers who said AARO held more footage. She asked for delivery by April 14, 2026.
Photo: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 4.0
GovernmentFeb 2026
President Trump said in a Truth Social post that he was directing the Secretary of War and other agencies to begin identifying and releasing government files on alien and extraterrestrial life and UAP. The Department of War cited this direction when it began PURSUE releases in May 2026.
Photo: Daniel Torok, Public domain
Government20 Jan 2026
The DoD Office of Inspector General, evaluating responses to drone incursions at U.S. installations, issued an advisory saying unclear policy on which sites qualify for counter-drone protection and fragmented approvals needed immediate attention. Inspectors visited 10 sites with incursions.
Photo: Duane Lempke, CC0
Government18 Dec 2025
The FY2026 defense authorization law requires AARO briefings to cover UAP intercepts by NORAD and Northern Command, including ones back to 2004, repeals a duplicate reporting rule, and orders an accounting of UAP security classification guides.
Military28 Aug 2025
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the Army secretary to establish Joint Interagency Task Force 401, reporting to the deputy secretary, to speed counter-small-drone capabilities and protect personnel and facilities at home and abroad.
Photo: David B. Gleason from Chicago, IL, CC BY-SA 2.0
Government17 Jul 2025
The Senate Intelligence Committee reported S. 2342, the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY2026. Its Section 323 consolidated reporting requirements for the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office and directed that UAP-related data be made available to AARO.
Photo: United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Public domain
Media6 Jun 2025
The Wall Street Journal reported that AARO had found officers were told about a fictional alien program, 'Yankee Blue', as a hazing ritual, and that an Air Force colonel passed fake saucer photos near Area 51 to shield stealth work. The Pentagon has not published these findings.
Photo: David James Henry, CC BY-SA 4.0
Government9 May 2025
AARO posted military infrared videos from the Middle East in 2023 and 2024 that it lists as unresolved. It says each shows an apparent thermal contrast but that without other sensor data it cannot tell whether it is a physical object or a sensor artifact.
Photo: U.S. Department of Defense, All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, Public domain
Government29 Apr 2025
AARO published its case resolution and video of an object filmed in October 2017 by an aerostat infrared sensor above Al Taqaddum Air Base, Iraq. It assessed with high confidence that the object was a cluster of inflated balloons with no anomalous performance.
Photo: Cpl. John Baker, Public domain
Whistleblowers18 Jan 2025
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
Government23 Dec 2024
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
Government16 Dec 2024
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
Government11 Dec 2024
During the New Jersey drone sightings, Rep. Jeff Van Drew said on air that an Iranian 'mothership' off the East Coast was launching the drones. The same day, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said there was no truth to it and no Iranian ship off the U.S. coast.
Photo: Office of Congressman Jeff Van Drew, Public domain
Government11 Dec 2024
Asked about Rep. Jeff Van Drew's claim that an Iranian 'mothership' off the coast was launching the drones seen over New Jersey, Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said there was no truth to it and no Iranian ship off the U.S. coast.
Photo: DoD photo by Lisa Ferdinando, Public domain
Government10 Dec 2024
Rep. Chris Smith wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin about drones flying near sensitive New Jersey sites, including military installations, and asked that all Defense Department counter-drone capabilities, such as those at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, be deployed.
Photo: United States Congress, Public domain
Military5 Dec 2024
The Defense Department announced that Secretary Lloyd Austin had signed a classified strategy for countering unmanned systems, releasing only an unclassified fact sheet. Officials called drones an urgent threat to U.S. forces overseas and increasingly at home.
Photo: Chad J. McNeeley, U.S. Department of Defense, Public domain
Government19 Nov 2024
AARO director Jon Kosloski testified to the Senate Armed Services Emerging Threats and Capabilities subcommittee in an open and closed hearing on the office's activities, days after its FY2024 annual report was released.
Photo: All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, Public domain
Government19 Nov 2024
At a Senate hearing, AARO released December 2018 infrared drone video that seemed to show an object passing through Mount Etna's eruption plume. AARO said atmospheric distortion caused the effect and assessed with moderate confidence the object was a balloon drifting with the wind.
Photo: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC, Public domain
Government14 Nov 2024
The Pentagon's AARO reported 757 UAP reports received from May 2023 to June 2024, bringing its caseload above 1,600. It resolved 118 cases to balloons, birds, drones and similar objects, and said it had found no evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity or technology.
Photo: U.S. Department of Defense, All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, Public domain
Whistleblowers13 Nov 2024
Journalist Michael Shellenberger's written House testimony described an anonymous whistleblower report alleging a hidden Pentagon program, 'Immaculate Constellation', that gathers UAP imagery. A Defense Department spokesperson said it has no record of any such program; the claim is unverified.
Photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0
Government3 Sep 2024
Asked on the Lex Fridman Podcast whether he would help push the Pentagon to release more UFO footage, presidential candidate Donald Trump said he would and would love to, then turned to the pressure he faced over the JFK files.
Photo: lexfridman, CC0
Government26 Aug 2024
The Defense Department announced that Dr. Jon T. Kosloski, a scientist on detail from the National Security Agency, would direct the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, which had been led by an acting director since late 2023.
Photo: All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, Public domain
