US Department of Defense - The US Defense Department & the UAP Mission

A L L - D O M A I N A N O M A L Y R E S O L U TI O N O F F I C E
US Department of Defense
The US Defense Department &
the UAP Mission
Seán Kirkpatrick, Ph.D.
Director, AARO
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US Department of Defense2
⎯UAP ≠ unattributed balloon activity;
key emphases on “anomalous” factors
⎯Existence of UAP is direct consequence
of domain-awareness gaps
⎯UAP potentially represent advanced
capabilities operating in our
domain-awareness gaps
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ANOMALOUS
PHENOMENA
UAP are sources of anomalous detections in one or
more domain (i.e., airborne, seaborne,
spaceborne, and/or transmedium) that are
not yet attributable to known actors and
that demonstrate behaviors that are not
readily understood by sensors or observers.
“Anomalous detections” include but are not
limited to phenomena that demonstrate
apparent capabilities or material that exceed
known performance envelopes.
A UAP may consist of one or more
unidentified anomalous objects and may
persist over an extended period of time.
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US Department of Defense3
The FY23 NDAA modified and expanded on the previous year’s UAP provisions,
affecting authorities, organization, and reporting-requirements.
⎯Established AARO as US Government lead for UAP efforts
⎯Amends structure, distribution of responsibilities
⎯Requires annual report to be a joint, DoD & ODNI submission
⎯Adds Historical Record Report
⎯Adds UAP reporting procedures/protections
⎯Increases number of congressional committees overseeing
AARO activities
⎯Revises UAP acronym to stand for unidentified anomalous
phenomena
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A L L - D O M A I N A N O M A LY R E S O L U T I O N O F F I C E
ANALYSESOPERATIONS SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS
driving shared awareness
across mission partners,
oversight authorities, and
stakeholders—normalizing
cross-sector partnerships and
building trust with
transparency
delivering peer-reviewed
conclusions through deliberate
syntheses of scientific and
intelligence method,
tradecraft, tools, and expertise
synchronizing and sequencing
Theater, IC, and other
capabilities for optimized,
cross-functional UAP
detection, tracking, mitigation,
and recovery
Mission, Vision, & Functions
AARO emerged from Congressional and Departmental recognition that UAP present
complex hazards and threats across service, regional, and domain boundaries.
revealing and exploiting
elusive and enigmatic
signatures through advanced
technologies and focused,
cross-sector partnerships
VISION: unidentified, anomalous objects are effectively and efficiently
detected, tracked, analyzed, and managed by way of normalized DoD, IC,
and civil business practices; by adherence to the highest scientific and
intelligence-tradecraft standards; and with greater transparency and
shared awareness
MISSION: minimize technical and intelligence surprise, by synchronizing
scientific, intelligence, and operational detection, identification,
attribution, and mitigation of unidentified, anomalous objects in the
vicinity of national security areas
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US Department of Defense5
US Territory & Operating Areas
⎯ DoD observations and reporting of
UAP most often in the vicinity of US
military facilities and operating areas
⎯ Threats to the immediate safety of US
citizens and Government facilities,
across domains, is priority
⎯ Safety and security risks of UAP
heighten US Government awareness
and drives research and mitigation
efforts
Key partners and stakeholders include
DoD, IC, DoJ, NASA, FAA
US Strategic Capabilities
⎯ Reporting on UAP proximity to
strategic capabilities and critical
infrastructure primarily historical;
analysis limited by information currency
and source reliability
⎯ Consequence of UAP in the vicinity of
strategic capabilities is high, potentially
threatening strategic deterrence and
safety of civil society
⎯ DoD strengthening observations and
reporting capabilities near US strategic
capabilities and critical infrastructure
Key partners and stakeholders include
DoD, IC, DoE and NNSA, DoJ, DHS
The potentially ubiquitous presence of UAP defines the national-security
implications and drives the broad range of stakeholders and demand for
rigorous scientific understanding of and intelligence on phenomena
Foreign Territory & Operating Areas
⎯ Reporting on UAP activity in foreign
territory or operating areas limited by
source reliability
⎯ Consequence of such moderate-to-
high, potentially leading to adversarial
misattribution of UAP to the United
States
⎯ Allies and strategic competitors apply
resources to observe, identify, and
attribute UAP (open source)
Key partners and stakeholders include
DoD, IC, STATE, international partners
FOR DIS P LA Y ONLY
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FOR DIS P LA Y ONLY

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Organically garners primary
research data for scientific and
intelligence analyst consumption-
through voluntary interviews with
those who claim placement and
access to UAP and UAP-related
information; through collection of
historical government and open-
source data; and through other
activities.
HISTORICAL UAP-DATA ACQUISITION
Leads UAP recovery planning and
execution, in close collaboration
with AARO S& T Group.
Advises Commands on the secure
and safe handling, storage,
transport, and transfer of UAP
Objects and Material, for AARO
S&T exploitation.
UAP OBJECT RECOVERY
Partners with Joint Staff and counterintelligence
elements in the development of UAP mitigation
strategies- including but not limited to UAP
incursions and engagement
Advises Commands on AoR-specific UAP
mitigation planning; on tactics, techniques, and
procedures; and on relevant legal, policy,
oversight, and compliance requirements.
UAP MITIGATION
Advises Theater, Defense, National-level, and
foreign UAP operations—optimizing platform
and sensor tasking across functions and in real-
time, during Area of Responsibility (AoR)
baselining and as anomalies are detected,
observed.
Manages the secure retention of UAP Data
from operational platforms and its transfer to
AARO.
UAP DETECTION & TRACKING
Guides codification of analytic
information needs as reporting
requirements by scientific and
intelligence analysts
Military operational elements, IC
Mission Managers, and IC
Functional Managers identify
capabilities, capacities, and
constraints available for reporting
against scientific and intelligence
analytic needs
REPORTING REQUIREMENTS MGT
Leads Integrated-Operations Strategy development-tailoring platform
and sensor tasking and optimizing cross-functional tipping & cueing
between Theater and IC assets.
Guides development of integrated-operations plans; standardized
reporting requirements; interoperable tactics, techniques, and
procedures; and operational prioritization of platforms and sensors.
INTEGRATED OPERATIONS STRATEGY
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4 3
2
Publishes and distributes
final, peer-reviewed AARO
Analytic Assessment in a
manner discoverable by
DoD, IC, policymakers, and
other stakeholders
Provides conclusions and
feedback to UAP reporting
sources (i.e., UAP observers)
Publication and Feedback Compare location, characteristics,
performance and signature data to
open source and classified
catalogues of known foreign
capabilities and R&D programs;
deconflict with sensitive US
programs and activities; triage,
categorize, and store for further
analysis
PRELIMINARY ANALYSES
Leads an integrated DoD, IC, and S&T community process that
employs rigorous tradecraft, sophisticated scientific methods, and an
expert peer review to resolve cases with the highest confidence levels
possible
INTEGRATED ANALYTIC STRATEGY
The Director will review all elements
of the Analytic Assessment Case
Package and the peer review
findings to either approve the
Assessment’s determination or
disapprove it and send back to the
IC and S&T Teams for additional
analysis
Director’s Review
1
Public, private, and industry laboratory
partners leverage scientific and engineering
methods and cutting-edge computing
technologies to publish peer-reviewed,
forensic, repeatable research on anomalous
UAP signatures and material
SCIENTIFIC ANALYSES
Mission partners' defense, intelligence, and
counterintelligence analysts employ
intelligence tradecraft against all-source
data, to produce rigorous analyses of UAP
implications to US National Security
INTELLIGENCE ANALYSES
Prepare the AARO Analytic
Assessment Case Package including
original reports, sensor data, IC and
S&T findings and analytic
assessments. As necessary, convene
both teams to discuss significant
analytic difference. Package will be
reviewed by members of the
Strategic Technical Advisory Group
for rigor, tradecraft, gaps,
assumptions and argumentation
ANALYTIC PEER-REVIEW
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Directs exploitation of recovered
enigmatic technologies, leveraging
cross-sector partnerships and the
latest developments in theoretical
and applied physics, engineering
Leads structured recording,
synthesis, and sharing of signature
and material analyses for data
consistency across operational,
analytic, and research partnerships
UAP EXPLOITATION
In close collaboration with AARO
Operations and with research
partners (e.g., DoE laboratories),
integrates emergent technical
capabilities into “real-world"
operations and guides their
application against UAP
Comparatively analyzes newly-
exposed signatures, characteristics,
and behaviors with known
phenomena, in support of AARO
Analysts' preliminary assessment
CAPABILITIES DEPLOYMENT
Leads defense, intelligence,
academic, and industry
identification of existing and
emergent technology capable of
detecting, identifying, attributing,
mitigating, and exploiting UAP
Identifies, approves, and guides
Research & Development
investments from across sectors;
recommends capability integration
into Integrated UAP Mission
Strategies
CAPABILITIES DEVELOPMENT
In partnership with the scientific
community and the AARO
Strategic Technical Advisory
Group, analyzes US and foreign
sensor data phenomenology and
assesses applied and theoretical
signatures Leads development of
theorems for defining
characteristics of known and
anomalous phenomena, and
guides operational and analytic
tradecraft development
UAP SIGNATURE ID
DoD operational, analytic, and
investigative elements, IC Mission
Managers, and IC Functional
Managers identify capability and
capacity shortfalls, as they pertain
to UAP detection, identification,
attribution, and mitigation
Sensor and exploitation
instrumentation needs and gaps
codified as capability requirements
by AARO Operations and Analyses
CAPABILITY GAP ID
Leads Integrated S& T Strategy development revealing elusive
signatures, advanced technological-exploitation tools and methods,
and non-traditional partnership opportunities to arm the UAP Mission
against emerging threats
INTEGRATED SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY
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Identifies new and ongoing
opportunities for strategic
communications engagement
across AARO”s mission functions;
to include key stakeholder needs,
expectations, and areas for
collaboration.
UAP-MISSION COMMS REQ
Leads the development of an integrated engagement strategy on UAP
that promotes shared awareness across mission partners, oversight
authorities, and other stakeholders; builds trust and transparency; and
normalizes cross-sector partnerships.
INTEGRATED STRATEGIC-ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY
Tracks Executive, Legislative, and Defense
Department requirements for the UAP Mission
and the Office; monitors AARO progress toward
meeting those requirements; and drives
development of routine and ad hoc reporting to
Congress and other stakeholders within the U.S.
Government.
OVERSIGHT ENGAGEMENT
Implements the Department's commitment to
transparency and openness on UAP matters.
Identifies and recommends opportunities for
countering misconceptions and raising
awareness of the Department's UAP mission via
targeted media, partner, and public
engagement.
AMERICAN-PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
Guides AARO partner engagement, ensuring
unity of message, consistency, and coherence
among defense, civil, private, and international
partners.
UAP-MISSION PARTNER ENGAGEMENT
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REPORTED-UAP ALTITUDES TYPICALLY-REPORTED UAP CHARACTERISTICS
Mt Everest
Commercial Air Traffic
Weather Balloons
REPORTED UAP-MORPHOLOGY
A L L - D O M A I N A N O M A LY R E S O L U T I O N O F F I C E
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UAP Reporting Trends
1996-2023
9.9%
9.5%
14.6%
28.7%
19.8%
6.4%
4.3%
2.9%
1.6%
1.0%
0.2%
1.0%
5K
10K
15K
20K
25K
30K
35K
40K
45K
50K
55K
60K
100K
REPORTED-UAP HOTSPOTS
1, 47%
2, 19%
3, 7%
4, 16%
5, 3%
6, 2%
7, 2%
8, 2%
9, 1%
10, 1%
11, 1%
12, 1%
13, 0%
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A L L - D O M A I N A N O M A LY R E S O L U T I O N O F F I C E
O R G A N I Z A T I O N A L M A N A G E M E N T O P E R A T I O N S A N A L Y S E S S C I E N C E & T E C H N O L O G Y S T R A T E G I C C O M M U N I C A T I O N S
● Formalize organizational design,
responsibilities
● Codify and staff unit manning
document to full-operating capability
● Develop foundational, DoD and IC
UAP policies, guidance
● Receive full complement of
support contractors
● Arrange for FY25 transition to
ARRO-specific IDIQ vehicle
● Build AARO budget requirements
into FY25 PBR
● Establish the Department’s UAP-
reporting standards
● Drive implementation of
operational framework
● Guide development and
deployment of persistent-surveillance
capabilities
● Normalize ingestion, curation, and
integration of multi-source UAP data
● Guide Joint Staff development of
UAP mitigation and response
standards and plans
● Streamline deconfliction of
detected UAP and blue programs
● Review US Government’s UAP and
UAP-related historical record
● Guide development of policies
and practices for UAP-data and
analyses downgrade/declassification
● UAP addition to intelligence
prioritization
● Develop thresholds, criteria for
anomalous determinants of each
domain
● Guide UAP collection and
reporting, through cogent
operational and intelligence
reporting requirements
● Drive implementation of analytic
framework—including compliance
with intelligence tradecraft standards,
peer-review, and reporter-feedback
● Institutionalize UAP case-
management—including
transitioning cases to cognizant
expertise and authorities
● Enable mission oversight by
providing Congress with timely,
relevant, and comprehensive UAP
updates
● Develop comprehensive,
searchable UAP database
● Guide architecture and network
engineering
● Drive scientific analyses—including
compliance with the scientific
method, use of advanced
approaches and tools, and rigorous
peer-review
● Identify UAP signatures and
indicators
● Guide calibration of military,
intelligence, and other sensors, for
improved detection of UAP
signatures
● Draw upon special expertise
outside of the Federal Government
for development of theoretical
models
● Establish interagency coordination
on UAP public messaging
● Engage partners and allies about
AARO’s work and mission
● Establish secure mechanism for
reporting of any event related to
UAP and any event of the U.S.
government related to UAP retrieval,
analysis, engineering
● Educate and inform the public
AARO’s mission and findings, in line
with DoD public statements
(e.g., NASA study public meeting (May ‘23); open
congressional hearing (April ’23); Transportation
Research Board (Dec ‘23); and DoD UAP press
event (Dec ’22))
● Issue clear, public guidance for
accessing mechanism for UAP
reporting
Office Goals & Priorities: 2023
DoI: 20230710UNCLA SSIFIED
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Seán Kirkpatrick, Ph.D.
Director, AARO