A top U.S. official is concerned that many of the unexplained encounters between military aircraft and unidentified flying objects his office is investigating could be adversaries such as China spying on the country, rather than wayward extraterrestrials.
The director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office updated the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities on Wednesday about what his office has been doing since its creation last year.
“This is a hunt mission for what might somebody be doing in our backyard that we don’t know about,” AARO Director Sean M. Kirkpatrick said. “That is what we are doing.”
The special office was created last year to address national security threats from “objects of interest,” including “anomalous, unidentified space, airborne, submerged and transmedium” ones.
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., is a member of the subcommittee, and he questioned Kirkpatrick during a classified portion of Wednesday’s meeting, according to his office. He previously chaired the committee and was involved in the creation of AARO last year.
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The military and intelligence communities don’t use the term UFOs. They use UAP for “unidentified aerial phenomena.”
After breaching the traditional government secrecy around such events two years ago, U.S. intelligence officials now report several hundred such unexplained events under investigation, mostly involving U.S. pilots encountering mysterious objects, often involving detection on cameras, radar, thermal sensors and other advanced technology used by the military.
Kirkpatrick testified on Wednesday the office now has more than 650 unexplained cases, but was quick to note they weren’t all suspected to be from out of this world.
“In our research AARO has found no credible evidence thus far of extraterrestrial activity, off-world technology, or objects that defy the known laws of physics,” he said.
Global adversaries have some known capabilities that are beyond those of the U.S., he said, and some UAPs could be foreign aircraft with capabilities yet unknown to the U.S.
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Kirkpatrick has a doctorate in physics and more than two decades’ experience working in places such as the Central Intelligence and Defense Intelligence agencies. Before his current role, he was chief scientist at DIA’s Missile and Space Intelligence Center.
Part of AARO’s job is to be aware of the capabilities of countries such as China and Russia and what it would look like if they were able to accelerate those capabilities and use them against the U.S., he said.
“The adversary is not waiting. They are advancing, and they are advancing quickly. If I were to put on some of my old hats, I would tell you they are less risk-averse at technical advancement than we are. They are just willing to try things and see if it works,” he said.
He said adversaries could be using unknown technologies against the U.S., resulting in UAPs.
“Are there capabilities that could be employed against us in both an ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) and a weapons fashion? Absolutely,” he said. “Do I have evidence that they are doing it in these cases? No, but I have concerning indicators.”
Sen. Mark Kelly has pushed for AARO funding
After the hearing, Kelly said emphasized the need for AARO.
“It’s critical to our national security that we dedicate the time and resources to understanding these and any future incidents and whether they represent leaps in technology by our adversaries,” he said.
In February, Kelly co-signed a letter to the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense and Deputy Director of National Intelligence requesting a reallocation of funds to make up a shortfall in AARO’s budget so that it could conduct the required scientific inquiries into UAPs.
Also signing were Sens….
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