Senate Armed Services Committee gets testimony from Pentagon’s office tracking UFOs

A Senate hearing on the Pentagon‘s ‘Anomaly Resolution Office’ that tracks UFOs featured testimony that most of the hundreds of cases being tracked are based on ‘readily explainable’ phenomena.

But Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick of DOD’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office told the Senate Armed Services Committee that hundreds of sightings of spherical or oddly shaped objects spotted by military pilots remain under review.

‘I should also state clearly for the record that in our research AARO has found no credible evidence thus far of extraterrestrial activity, offworld technology or objects that defy the known laws of physics,’ Kirkpatrick told the panel.

The rare hearing, the first since last year’s pathbreaking public event and the first since the Chinese spy balloon that crossed the country early this year, included an accounting of the cases the new office is analyzing.

Kirkpatrick said his office is currently tracking 650 cases. But he pointed to the difficulty of sorting through the information that comes in, with priority put on what U.S. pilots or drones sometimes spot at high altitude.

He showed senators video of one such incident, identified by an MQ9 ‘Reaper’ drone in the Middle East. It was of what looked like a metallic orb.

But he cautioned that ‘It is going to be virtually impossible to fully identify that just based off of that video,’ as his agency coordinates with other civilian agencies and academic resources.

‘That is an unresolved case we are still studying,’ he said.

Then he showed another video, this one from South Asia, also from an MQ9.

This sighting turned out to be another aircraft.

What appeared at first to be anomalous was in fact ‘a shadow image’ picked up by sensors.

‘This one we can resolve,’ he said.

‘This is a hunt mission for: what might somebody be doing in our backyard that we don’t know about,’ Fitzpatrick said of his office’s mission. He has dozens of scientists at work on case files.

He spoke before the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities about the ‘mission, activities, oversight and budget’ of the office.

Panel Chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), spoke of the first tranche of government data revealed after pressure by the late Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

‘We don’t know where they come from, who made them or how they operate,’ she said of some aerial events that were revealed, as she raced through an opening statement.

She lamented that ‘because of the UFO stigma the response has been irresponsibly anemic and slow.’

Gillibrand complained that the office wasn’t getting the resources it needs, and that ‘it seemed that Pentagon leadership did not turn to AARO office to play a leading role’ in the Chinese spy balloon incident.

She indicated that there had been a closed hearing before the public one, which started more than half an hour late, and which was attended by just two senators, Gillibrand and Iowa GOP Sen. Joni Ernst.

‘Adversaries like China and Russia are working to hold U.S. interests including our homeland at risk,’ Ernst warned.

Kirkpatrick acknowledged the ‘historical record’ his agency is seeking to analyze, including events from the ‘distant past through today.’ He said it needed to give priority to those based on defense information in areas of ‘national security importance.’

‘We cannot answer decades of questions about UAP all at once. But we must begin somewhere,’ he said.

‘The majority of unidentified objects reported to ARO demonstrate mundane characteristics of balloons, unmanned aerial systems, clutter, natural phenomena or other readily explainable sources,’ he testified.

Despite the frequency of sightings coming in, ‘Humans are subject to deception and illusions, sensors to unexpected responses and malfunctions, and in some cases, intentional interference,’ he said.

Asked about advanced technologies that China and Russia might be employing, he said there are ’emerging capabilities out there.’

Kirkpatrick pointed in particular to China, without expressing certainty that its technology accounted for unexplained sightings.

‘The adversary is not waiting. They are advancing and they are advancing quickly. 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.

The Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence community are reviewing hundreds of incidents involving UAPs. The president ordered the review after the U.S. military shot down the spy balloon that crossed the country in early February.

New Pentagon leaks that came to light last week revealed U.S. officials had knowledge of at least four other Chinese spy balloons.

A report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence from early January revealed the number of UFO reports was increasing, with agencies aware of 510 Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.

The special Pentagon office examined 366 of them, finding about half were unremarkable, 26 were most likely drones, 163 were balloons and six were clutter, according to ABC News.