By Tim Binnall
On the heels of yesterday's Congressional hearing on UFOs, the Pentagon has released its annual report on the Department of Defense's UAP study group wherein they once again stressed that they have found no signs of an alien explanation for the phenomenon. Issued by the DoD's All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), the 16-page paper indicated that the group collected a whopping 757 cases from May 1, 2023 to June 1, 2024. Of those reports, 485 occurred during that time frame, while an additional 272 happened "between 2021 and 2022" but only came to the group's attention during this more recent period. This most recent batch of UAP cases raises the number of reports received by the office since its creation to a staggering 1,652 in total.
As for their assessment of the new reports, AARO wrote that 118 of the sightings have been resolved with the UFOs in question being found to be "prosaic objects" such as drones, balloons, or birds. Another 174 cases with similar explanations are also set to be closed soon "pending a final review and Director’s approval." The office cited insufficient data as an explanation for why many of the remaining cases have gone unresolved, noting that those they received from the FAA "were placed in the Active Archive where they will be held for pattern of life and trend analysis" and possibly revisited in the future if new information comes to light.
Perhaps hoping to dispel the idea that UFOs could be dangerous, AARO stressed that none of the 757 cases suggested that "observers suffered any adverse health effects" from their experience. They also revealed that "U.S. military aircrews provided two reports that identified flight safety concerns, and three reports described pilots being trailed or shadowed by UAP," which similarly seems to suggest that the phenomenon is largely benign, albeit still quite mysterious as to its origins. To that end, AARO wrote that they have "no indication or confirmation that these activities are attributable to foreign adversaries."
In stark contrast to the recent Congressional hearing, wherein witnesses put forward the possibility that the UFOs may be otherworldly, the report included the somewhat dispiriting caveat that "it is important to underscore that, to date, AARO has discovered no evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity, or technology." The considerable difference between Wednesday's discussion in the House and what the Pentagon released on Thursday, along with the rather peculiar timing of the report, will undoubtedly be seen by many as further proof that there is a concerted effort to keep the truth about the phenomenon secret from the public.