Cases and themes
Claims that crashed craft or non-human materials were recovered, and the official responses to them. 13 events, newest first.
Select any year above to see what happened that year.
Open Crash-retrieval claims as a timeline
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
Government8 Mar 2024
The Pentagon released volume one of AARO's review of U.S. government UAP efforts since 1945. AARO said it found no verifiable evidence that the government or private companies had recovered or reverse-engineered extraterrestrial technology.
Photo: All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, Public domain
Whistleblowers19 Jan 2024
Sean Kirkpatrick, AARO's first director, wrote in Scientific American that claims of a secret U.S. program to recover and reverse-engineer alien craft were unsupported by evidence, arguing they spread by circular reporting among a small group of advocates.
Photo: Defense.gov, Public domain
Whistleblowers26 Jul 2023
Former Air Force intelligence officer David Grusch testified under oath that he had been told of a decades-long program to recover craft of non-human origin, which he said he learned through interviews rather than firsthand access. The Pentagon and AARO have said they found no verifiable evidence of such programs.
Photo: U.S. House Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs, Public domain
Government22 Jun 2023
The Senate Intelligence Committee reported its FY2024 Intelligence Authorization Act, whose Section 1104 would bar spending on UAP recovery, analysis or reverse-engineering efforts unless disclosed to AARO and congressional leaders, and would require contractors holding such material to report it.
Photo: Ryan Donnell, Public domain
Government6 Jun 2023
Days after David Grusch's claims of a secret crash-retrieval program went public, Oversight Chairman James Comer said his committee planned a UAP hearing, with Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Tim Burchett leading the inquiry. The Pentagon said it had found nothing verifiable to support Grusch.
Photo: US House of Representatives, Public domain
Media5 Jun 2023
Leslie Kean and Ralph Blumenthal reported in The Debrief that ex-intelligence officer David Grusch told Congress and the Intelligence Community Inspector General that the U.S. holds craft of non-human origin. His statements were cleared for release by the Pentagon's prepublication review office.
Photo: U.S. House Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs, Public domain
MediaJun 2023
NewsNation aired Ross Coulthart's interview with former intelligence officer David Grusch, who alleged a secret U.S. program had recovered craft of non-human origin. The claims were unverified; Grusch repeated several under oath before a House panel in July 2023.
Photo: U.S. House Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs (screenshot from..., Public domain
GovernmentJun 2023
After David Grusch alleged a hidden craft-retrieval program, Defense Department spokesperson Sue Gough told NewsNation that AARO had found no verifiable information that programs to hold or reverse-engineer extraterrestrial materials ever existed.
Photo: U.S. House Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs, Public domain
Whistleblowers7 Apr 2023
Former intelligence officer David Grusch, who had represented the NRO and NGA on UAP task force work, left government service on April 7, 2023. About two months later The Debrief published his claims that the U.S. holds craft of non-human origin.
Photo: U.S. House Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs, Public domain
GovernmentFeb 2023
After an F-22 downed the Chinese balloon off South Carolina, recovered debris went to the FBI laboratory at Quantico, where officials said specialists in 20-plus forensic disciplines focused on its electronics. The White House said the debris included electronics and optics from the payload.
Photo: U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Public domain
WhistleblowersJun 2019
Notes said to record a 2002 talk between physicist Eric Davis and retired Vice Adm. Thomas Wilson, ex-DIA director, about being denied access to a UFO program, spread online. They have no provenance; Wilson called them fiction and denied the meeting, and Davis has not commented.
Photo: U.S. Navy, Public domain
Whistleblowers29 Jul 1978
At the MUFON symposium in Dayton, researcher Leonard Stringfield presented 'Retrievals of the Third Kind', relaying claims from informants he kept anonymous that the U.S. military had recovered crashed craft and alien bodies. The claims were never verified.
