AARO — All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office
AARO is the U.S. Department of Defense's official UAP investigation office, established under Section 1683 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 and codified at 10 U.S.C. § 1683. It succeeds and absorbs the UAP Task Force (UAPTF, 2020–2022), Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG, 2021–2022), and Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP, 2007–2012). AARO reports jointly to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security and the Director of National Intelligence.
Mission (verbatim, 10 U.S.C. § 1683(c))
"The Office shall, in coordination with the heads of the relevant Federal departments and agencies, carry out the following: (1) Develop a Government-wide framework for synchronizing and standardizing the detection, identification, attribution, and mitigation of unidentified anomalous phenomena. (2) Conduct or oversee scientific, technical, and operational analysis of data on unidentified anomalous phenomena. (3) Submit reports to Congress…"
Director
Inaugural Director: Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick (2022–2023). Successor: Tim Phillips, Acting Director (2023–2024). Current: see /aaro/details.html for the latest public org chart.
Five public outputs to date
(1) ODNI Preliminary Assessment on UAP (June 2021) — covering 144 incidents 2004–2021.
(2) ODNI Annual Report on UAP (Oct 2022).
(3) AARO Historical Record Vol. I (March 2024) — 260 pages on the U.S. government's UAP record 1945–1995.
(4) AARO Historical Record Vol. II (forthcoming) — 1996–present.
(5) Public case-resolution releases — declassified pilot footage, sensor data, ground-witness corroboration.
Case studies in this archive
Nimitz Tic-Tac (Nov 2004) · Gimbal (Jan 2015) · Phoenix Lights (Mar 1997) · Belgian Wave (1989–90).