(NewsNation) — The Pentagon director overseeing unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) analysis testified before lawmakers Tuesday.
The Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities heard from the director of the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, Jon Kosloski, who divulged how much the United States knows about reported unidentified object sightings, more commonly known as UFOs.
He gave a presentation about UAP trends and cases, breaking down what the office has seen of sightings that occurred between Jan. 1, 1996, and Oct. 10, 2024.
What did Jon Kosloski say at UAP hearing?
In his roughly 40-minute testimony Tuesday, Kosloski reiterated AARO’s previous assertion: “To date, AARO has not discovered any verifiable evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity or technology.”
That’s despite more than 1,600 reported cases to date.
Kosloski said that the vast majority of resolved UAP sightings are balloons and unmanned aerial systems or drones.
According to an annual report, the Defense Department has seen an increase in reported UAP sightings, especially since satellite constellations like Elon Musk’s Starlink were launched.
Kosloski said it would take more analysis for AARO to reopen a case in its “active archive,” which is a “place where we put cases where we don’t have enough scientific information to resolve them at that time.”
He pointed to one such case, where multiple reports of lights in the sky were deemed to be Starlink flares.
Another case he dissected was reported by a law enforcement officer “out West” who claimed to have seen a large orange orb and a “blacker than black object” that shot up without making a sound. That anomalous instance, Kosloski said, is one of many that needs further investigation before it can be resolved.
The director addressed individuals with firsthand knowledge of unreported UAP programs who have been “reluctant” to work with AARO.
“Congress has gone out of its way to create the organization AARO specifically to conduct these sorts of investigations and has uniquely empowered to have access to all UAP-related information, whether that’s historic or current,” Kosloski said.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, asked Kosloski whether AARO has involved academia in their findings, which he said is “lacking” due to “the need to declassify data.”
“We need to give the professors something to work on before we can really engage them,” he responded. “So, we’re working significantly on a declassification effort.”
Do UAP sightings point to national security threats?
Lawmakers have voiced concerns that some UAPs might be evidence of advanced abilities from foreign adversaries.
Ernst brought up in the Tuesday hearing that, while declassifying content will be beneficial for research, it could also lead to national security issues.
“Oftentimes, we can remove the discussion of the unidentified and anomalous activity from the sensitive information that our partners are concerned with,” Kosloski said, adding that national security partners work alongside AARO to declassify data.
Removing the stigma of discussing UAPs will help protect the nation, as “honest and transparent conversations” about the phenomena will prevent bad actors from using the information.
AARO says those fears are unfounded. However, Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y., wants a progress report detailing how many UAPs ARRO has analyzed and identified and examples of its remaining cases. Gillibrand helped establish the office in 2022.
What is the UAP hearing about?
The questioning comes after AARO acknowledged hundreds of unexplained UAP sightings and reports, sparking potential national security concerns among lawmakers.
Kosloski went in front of senators in closed- and open-door hearings to talk about his agency’s investigations of reported UAP sightings.
Among those investigative efforts is a new technology called “gremlin” that the Defense Department deploys to track and detect UAPs.
They resolved 118 cases during the reporting period, concluding that each sighting was of a common object.
Seventy percent were balloons, 16% were unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and less than 15% combined were birds, satellites or aircraft.
You can watch the entire hearing at this link.