The head of the Pentagon’s office that investigates UFOs is stepping down in December, the Department of Defense announced Wednesday.
Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) Director, announced he would be retiring after a 27-year career in the department and the U.S. Intelligence Community.
In an exclusive interview with Politico, Kirkpatrick said he is ready to move on, 18 months after he took the chief position.
“I have accomplished everything I said I was going to do,” he said.
Kirkpatrick’s time on the job has been marked by public and congressional interest in UFOs, or what the government refers to as Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP). The Biden Administration created the AARO office in July 2022, with Kirkpatrick leading, to look into repeated reports from military pilots into UAP.
AARO also has helped the U.S. detect Chinese surveillance balloons. The House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security previously heard testimony from witnesses who have asked the government to be more transparent about how it handles UAP.
Since then, Kirkpatrick announced that AARO had created a new reporting mechanism for troops and federal employees to report sightings of UAP and U.S.-related programs.
Current and former members can use an online form to share knowledge about UAP sightings dating back to 1945, Kirkpatrick announced last week. AARO also unveiled a website in August that provides official declassified information about sightings, including pictures and videos for the public to view.
“During his tenure, Dr. Kirkpatrick stood up the office and its operations, investigated more than 800 unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) cases, led an extensive search for U.S. Government and contractor programs associated with UAP, and established the department’s first public-facing website … to bring greater transparency to the department’s work,” the department’s statement said.
The Defense Department announced that Tim Phillips would be the deputy director of AARO until the Pentagon hires a permanent replacement.
“Phillips brings to AARO his extensive experience in geospatial intelligence collection and mission management, expertise that is critical to enabling DOD and intelligence community components to successfully identify, characterize, and resolve unidentified anomalous phenomena,” a separate statement from the department said.
