Press Release
☷Media Engagement With Acting AARO Director Tim Phillips on the Historical Record Report Volume 1
U.S. Department of Defense ( By Press Release office)
Mar 15,2024
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ACTING DIRECTOR TIMOTHY A . PHILLIPS: Thank you so much . Good afternoon everyone . I ' m excited to be here today to talk about the findings of AARO ' s Historical Record Report Volume one , which looks at the history of the US government ' s involvement with unidentified anomalous phenomena . Our report is the result of a lot of interviews , research , and fact - checking across different sectors . We approached this research with an open mind and no biases . We just wanted to follow the facts . Here are some things we found . We haven ' t found any solid evidence that any UAP sightings are related to extraterrestrial activity . We also haven ' t found any evidence that the US government or private industry has had access to extraterrestrial technology . We didn ' t find any signs that information was illegally withheld from Congress either . We think that claims of hidden UAP programs either don ' t exist or were actually different national security programs that got mistaken for extraterrestrial stuff . Many people who made these claims didn ' t do it on purpose or to deceive the public . They genuinely misinterpreted events or confused sensitive US programs with UAP or extraterrestrial stuff . Throughout this report , we had no issues getting UAP - related information at any level of classification . And there are a few other things we discovered . STAFF: Hey everyone , thanks for coming . Today we have Mr . Tim Phillips , Acting Director of the All - domain Anomaly Resolution Office , here to talk about the first volume of the historical record report that Congress directed in the fiscal year ' 23 NDAA . I ' ll be moderating and calling on you , so just raise your hand . Mr . Phillips is new here , so he doesn ' t know any of you . When I call on you , please introduce yourself and the outlet you ' re with . You ' ll get one question and one follow - up , and since there ' s only a few of you , we ' ll have plenty of time for more questions . Alright , over to you , Mr . Phillips . There have been a few authentic programs , both current and former , that never obtained UAP technology and were reported to Congress as required . We also came across a material from a supposed crashed extraterrestrial craft , but after analysis , it was confirmed to be man - made with no unusual properties . Another program that had nothing to do with UAP was unnecessarily modified to include reverse engineering and UAP language , but it never received any UAP information or material . There was also a proposed program called Kona Blue to protect extraterrestrial technology research , but it was never officially approved and had no material or information . According to AARO , most UAP sightings in history are likely due to misidentifying ordinary objects or phenomena , including new or experimental technologies . We appreciate all the people who provided us with information and personal accounts , and we welcome any former or current government employee or contractor with relevant information to contact us . Our historical work is ongoing , and we will submit an historical record report , Volume II , incorporating any new information acquired since November 1 , 2023 . We are actively pursuing leads , and if we find anything that updates our findings , we will promptly share it with Congress and provide as much detail to the public as possible . We are committed to following the evidence wherever it leads . Now , I ' m ready to answer your questions . So , about 68% of the cases we look into end up being what I like to call aero garbage - basically , balloons or trash floating around in the atmosphere that our sensors pick up . Sometimes it ' s something unknown , so we classify it as a UAP and investigate further . As for other advanced technologies , there have been some cases , but I can ' t really talk about that for security reasons . And as for the whole issue of misinformation and foreign adversaries trying to manipulate public opinion on UAPs , I can ' t really comment on that . Our main goal is to increase awareness and make sure there are no unidentified objects posing a threat to our military or critical infrastructure . We ' re trying to be more transparent and debunk some of the myths surrounding UAPs to help the public understand the reality of the situation . So , they were watching something in action . And a lot of what we saw , they thought the U - 2 was behind many of the UFO sightings back then . We noticed a similar pattern . When we started seeing stealth aircraft being developed , people started seeing strange aircraft shapes and likely connected it to popular culture , movies , and books about UFOs . I remember a story from my time in the military when we were in the Chocolate Mountains and spotted an unfamiliar aircraft . We later found out it was an early F - 117 fighter aircraft that had stealth capabilities . Many people we interviewed had sincere beliefs about what they saw , and some were present when sensitive technology was being tested . They reported what they saw , and we were able to confirm the sightings . It ' s important to communicate openly with the public about our investigations , even if we were to discover something extraterrestrial . Our job is not to classify something as alien , but to communicate effectively with experts who handle strategic communication . But hey , just because we don ' t understand something doesn ' t mean it ' s a big secret or anything . I hope that clears things up for you . Oh , and by the way , Oren from CNN , you asked about the number of cases we ' ve received and closed . We ' ve looked at around 1 , 200 cases so far , with about 90 - 110 new ones coming in each month . Most of these cases come from the Department of Defense because they ' re always out there flying around with fancy sensors . We ' re also starting to see more reports from civil aviation . We ' re working on setting up a process for the public to report UAP sightings , but it ' s still a work in progress . Oh , and we ' re also figuring out how other government entities can report to us too . Just trying to make sure we can handle all this stuff in a good way . MR . PHILLIPS: I can talk about how AARO helped identify a high - altitude balloon from China . We were involved in that case . However , I can ' t speak on the rest of your question regarding Russia , China , and others . Q: Did you find any evidence that countries like Russia or China have made technological breakthroughs or used common technology to observe US military operations and report them as UAPs? MR . PHILLIPS: Well , I can ' t provide any information on that matter . Staff member: Alright , Jeff . Q: And just one more question . Some people truly believe the government has alien bodies and crafts and has communicated with extraterrestrials . What can you say to bring some resolution to this? Q: Hey , are there any anomalous phenomena that aren ' t in the air? Staff member: Hey Todd . MR . PHILLIPS: You ' re absolutely right . Most of the reports we receive are in the atmosphere because that ' s where we operate . We ' ve only received one report in the maritime domain and none in space . However , we do have working groups for space and maritime . We ' re currently working on defining what constitutes a UAP incident and how it should be reported . There are policy issues we need to sort out . For example , if there ' s a UAP in space , when it enters the atmosphere , we have a track management issue . Then , if it goes into the ocean , we have three different domains to deal with in terms of reporting and investigation responsibilities . I wish I could say we ' re more advanced in space , but the community of interest in that domain has a great understanding of what they observe . The more data we have in any domain , the better we can understand these unknown phenomena . Our partners in the space domain had very few things they didn ' t understand . PHILLIPS: I can tell them that AARO , as set up by Congress , had really good access to classified programs . We could go wherever we wanted and ask any questions we wanted . The government didn ' t interfere with our findings at all . As a career Intel officer , I was surprised at how much access we had to sensitive programs . We didn ' t face any obstacles . The only challenge was that some of the claims we looked into were based on old , second - hand information . Most of the people with first - hand knowledge had retired . Whenever we got a claim , we would start investigating it right away . We tried to find evidence to back up the claims , but often it was just a small group of people repeating the same things . One program , Kona Blue , was said to be where they hid bodies , but that turned out to be false . We had access to all kinds of records , even ones that weren ' t digitized . We followed every lead and used both law enforcement officers and intelligence officials to investigate . Despite all the claims , we didn ' t find any actual UFO materials in anything reported to us by Congress . STAFF: OK , Luis . Q: Got it , let me just start with my first question . STAFF: You can ask one question and a follow - up , and then we ' ll move on to someone else who hasn ' t asked yet . Q: Hi , thanks for being here . I ' m Luis Martinez from ABC News , and I have a bunch of questions if that ' s okay . When we talk about it in the report , there were a couple of high - profile individuals interviewed , including Luis Elizondo and David Grusch . I can ' t confirm if they were part of the overall investigation , but anyone with knowledge of UAPs or government involvement in exploring them is encouraged to reach out to us . We value all input and treat everyone with respect . Our goal is to follow the evidence wherever it leads . This effort is the most comprehensive by the U . S . government so far , thanks to the support of Congress and various agencies . We have received positive feedback from lawmakers and staff , and we hope that once the report is public , it will dispel any conspiracy theories . PHILLIPS: I think it would be great if the government could share more information with the public . It would help people make informed decisions based on evidence . We don ' t want to change anyone ' s beliefs , but we have an amazing team of professionals from various backgrounds who are dedicated to this mission . They ' re so passionate about it that I have to send them home at night . We recently posted a job advertisement and received over a thousand applications , so there ' s a lot of interest and talent . We ' ve also had other government agencies and military services offer to help us . It ' s really helpful to have someone who understands the terrain of different departments . Overall , we have a great team doing fantastic work . STAFF: Alright . Luis , we ' ve heard from everyone else . Now it ' s your turn . MR . PHILLIPS: I don ' t want to disclose that here , but we have enough resources to complete the task . I ' m just excited to move on and focus on supporting the warfighter . MR . PHILLIPS: The operational directorate was primarily responsible for making contacts and arranging interviews . Our analytical team then analyzed the statements and put the stories together , with Dr . Kirkpatrick overseeing the writing process . We also had a lot of input and assistance from experts on the DOD staff to ensure accuracy . I can ' t give you an exact number , but we have enough staff to get the job done . About half of our office is focused on research and drafting the report . Personally , I ' m looking forward to putting this behind us so we can support the warfighter and work on new cases . I want our officers to be out in the field , talking to witnesses , gathering evidence , and working with other departments to improve data preservation and force protection standards . Doing it in real - time is much more effective than doing it after the fact . Q: How many people do you currently have on staff working on this? And how many are specifically dedicated to the review? And then I have a follow - up . Yeah , we ' re working with some really cool partners across the board . I ' ll be in London next week speaking at a geospatial conference . We have some amazing capabilities and interests that I ' m excited to partner with . We want to use your data , sensors , and reporting networks to help us understand this phenomenon . Some of the programs mentioned in the report were declassified specifically for this project , and you can expect more to be released soon . We recently achieved initial operating capability in October and are now working towards full operational capability . We ' re developing a deployable sensor suite with partners like Georgia Tech and government labs to help us capture incidents and better understand the UAP phenomena . Our deployable surveillance system , called GREMLIN , is currently being tested in Texas and will soon be ready for deployment to address UAP issues at national security sites or critical infrastructure . It ' s been a fascinating and informative process , and we ' re excited to continue our work in this area . MR . PHILLIPS: Well , if we have a national security site and there are reported objects within restricted airspace or near our spaceships , we need to understand what they are . So , we ' re developing sensor capability that we can deploy when there are reports . Ideally , we want to have a minimum level of protection and already know what type of sensors we need to capture this in real - time . Then , we can analyze the information and help resolve the incident . Q: . . . like a suitcase or a platform or truck? STAFF: . . . Dan , we ' re going to end it here . Thank you all for coming . Q: Can you talk about the size of the object? STAFF: Okay , Dan , yes . . . What was the idea behind it? And specifically , when we use it in response to something , what do you hope to learn from those deployments?
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