Pentagon launches UFO reporting tool

Federal employees are “strongly encouraged” to submit information about potentially unexplained phenomena, an official said

The Pentagon has launched an online reporting tool for current or former federal employees who may have “direct knowledge” of US government activities related to unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), the formal term for what were previously described as UFOs.

The All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), the leading federal agency established to investigate UAP as part of the US Congress’ 2021 defense policy bill, said it would use any information it received as part of a report on the phenomena.

The website, which went online on Tuesday, calls for submissions from past or present federal employees “with direct knowledge of US government programs or activities related to UAP dating back to 1945.” It adds that the tool is “not intended for conveying potentially sensitive or classified information.” A web portal for the general public to submit information will be released soon, according to officials.

The launch follows the appointment last month of former Pentagon official Mark McInerney as NASA’s first-ever director of UAP research, and comes amid what appears to be a renewed effort from US agencies to investigate the possibility of extraterrestrial life.

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AARO director Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick told reporters on Tuesday that he “strongly encourages” government employees “who believe that they have firsthand knowledge of a US government UAP program or activity to please come forward.” 

Rumors of US government knowledge of alien life have persisted for decades, dating back to the supposed crash of an alien spacecraft at Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. The US has also been accused of housing alien technology, particularly at its Area 51 military base in Nevada.

However, Kilpatrick said that anyone hoping for science fiction to become science fact will likely be disappointed. “I currently have no evidence of any program having ever existed to do any sort of reverse engineering, of any sort of extraterrestrial UAP program,” he stated.

Kilpatrick added, however, that AARO intends to release a package of soon-to-be declassified information to the public, which he said includes “not just operational videos, but historical documents.”