The U.S. government is receiving dozens of reports of unidentified anomalous phenomena, more commonly known as UFOs, each month, according to the director of the office established to investigate the incidents, with the potential for 鈥渉undreds, if not thousands鈥� more reports expected in the near future.
The office has received approximately 800 reports of unidentified objects to investigate as of this past April, up from 650 reports in August 2022, Sean Kirkpatrick, who heads the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office at the Pentagon told CNN. Nearly all of the new reports refer to objects observed in the air; only one comes from a maritime sighting.
The vast majority are benign objects, such as balloons or drones, but some may be the result of America鈥檚 adversaries trying to spy on the U.S., said Kirkpatrick.
鈥淭here are some indicators that are concerning that may be attributed to foreign activity, and we are investigating those very hard,鈥� said Kirkpatrick, speaking exclusively to CNN ahead of the release of the annual report on unidentified aerial phenomena.
The report, , said the object sightings may represent an issue for flight safety. Most sightings and observations come from near restricted military airspace, the report found, likely a result from the additional sensors and radars around the facilities.
A portion of the increase in reports comes from the Federal Aviation Administration, which monitors airspace around U.S. airports starting to provide information to the Pentagon.
About half of the reports contain enough data that they can be ruled out as 鈥渕undane things,鈥� such as errant balloons or floating trash, Kirkpatrick said, but two to four per cent are truly anomalous and require further investigation.
The report said only 鈥渁 very small percentage鈥� of observations have 鈥渋nteresting鈥� signatures, such as high-speed travel or 鈥渦nknown morphologies.鈥�
Kirkpatrick鈥檚 office has transferred 鈥渁 lot鈥� of cases to law enforcement for further investigation and, if necessary, counterintelligence. But some sightings could potentially be foreign adversaries spying on the United States, like the Chinese spy balloon shot down off the coast of South Carolina in February.
The annual report on UAPs, put together by the Defense Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said, 鈥淎lthough none of these UAP reports have been positively attributed to foreign activities, these cases continue to be investigated.鈥�
Asked if the Pentagon could definitively identify a sighting of an unidentified object as belonging to a foreign adversary, Kirkpatrick said that his office is 鈥渓ooking at some very interesting indicators of things, and that鈥檚 about all I can tell you.鈥� But the office, which has more than 40 employees and is expected to grow, can鈥檛 say that for sure yet.
鈥淭here are ways to hide in our noise that always concern me,鈥� Kirkpatrick said, referring to the extraneous readings picked up by U.S. radars and other sensors. 鈥淚 am worried from a national security perspective.鈥�
But Kirkpatrick could offer few details about why certain reports raised suspicions about foreign involvement.
鈥淚t could just be a foreign entity. It could be a hobbyist. It could be anybody,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd those are the things that we have to look into.鈥�
Huge public interest in UFOs
Ever since the Biden administration established a formal office to investigate reports of UAPs, the subject has garnered massive public attention, fueled by its inextricable link to UFO sightings. A July hearing in Congress on the matter drove the interest even higher, as David Grusch, a former Air Force intelligence officer, alleged that the government has covered up its research into the sightings, a claim Kirkpatrick flatly denied.
But Grusch went much further, even as he acknowledged that he had no first-hand knowledge and was only told things by others, asserting that the U.S. government had unidentified alien objects in its possession and the 鈥渘on-human鈥� pilots of the craft.
Kirkpatrick dismissed the sensational claims, saying he has 鈥渘o evidence that suggests anything extraterrestrial in nature.鈥�
鈥淚f anybody thinks that they know where those things are, they should be coming to talk to us,鈥� said Kirkpatrick. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we have set up this entire architecture for people to securely come in and talk to us.鈥�
New submissions from public
The Pentagon is preparing for a flood of new reports as it readies two new portals for submissions: one for historical sightings from current or former government employees and contractors and a second for public submissions of new reports.
The portal for historical sightings is set to open sometime in the next month or so, Kirkpatrick told CNN. Its purpose is to validate or refute past reports of unidentified objects, checking them against other reports and cataloging them for possible further analysis.
It is the opening of the public portal, still several months away, that Kirkpatrick says could flood the system with 鈥渉undreds, if not thousands鈥� of new reports to sort through. Even so, Kirkpatrick has a plan for his office, which involves a system that will automatically match known objects to public reports, allowing the government to dismiss sightings of identified bodies. But the reports of unknown objects could prove to be valuable, Kirkpatrick says.
鈥淚f it鈥檚 a foreign adversary and I got 100,000 people with cell phones who can collect it, well now it makes it really hard for the foreign adversary to do anything,鈥� Kirkpatrick says.
Asked if the U.S. government should have created an effort to handle unidentified objects earlier, Kirkpatrick demurred. He said the new office came 鈥減robably at the right time for the right reasons.鈥� But in an acknowledgment of the interest and the mystery of the subject matter, he added, 鈥淚 think the government as a whole 鈥� that includes Congress 鈥� should have probably addressed some of this years ago in a more directed fashion.鈥�
