AARO Report on the Historical Record of U.S. Government Involvement with UAP, Volume 1

Volume 1 of the Report on the Historical Record of U.S. Government Involvement with UAP was prepared by the Department of Defense’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) under a mandate in the FY2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which directed a review of the U.S. government’s UAP record from 1945 onward. It was submitted to Congress in late February 2024 and released publicly on March 8, 2024, drawing on classified and unclassified archives, official databases, and interviews with current and former officials who claimed knowledge of secret programs; it covered the record through October 2023.

AARO’s central conclusion was that it found no verifiable evidence that any UAP sighting represented extraterrestrial technology, and no evidence that the U.S. government or any private company has ever recovered or reverse-engineered off-world craft or materials. The report stated that claims of such programs traced back to a small, consistent set of individuals connected to a cancelled DIA effort and to Kona Blue — a UAP-focused prospective Special Access Program proposed to the Department of Homeland Security that was never approved. It determined the extraterrestrial craft and “biological” samples those proposals presumed were assumed rather than demonstrated, and that some circulating “leaked” documents were not authentic government records. It also reframed many sightings as misidentifications of then-classified U.S. programs.

The report drew criticism on methodological grounds. Skeptics of its conclusions, including some members of Congress and figures such as David Grusch, argued that because the review relied heavily on voluntary interviews and on archives AARO was granted access to, it could not by design rule out compartmented programs it was never shown. AARO noted Volume 1 was a first installment, with a second volume planned. The report stands as the government’s most comprehensive official rebuttal to the crash-retrieval narrative, even as proponents contest its access and scope.