Start here: the field in ten minutes
The words, the players and the rules of evidence. What you need before the first case.
People have been writing down unidentified things in the sky since 1947. 'UFO' is the old word: an airborne object that does not fit any known aircraft or missile. 'UAP' is the official one now, wide enough to cover objects underwater and objects that cross between air, sea and space. 'Non-human intelligence' is the newest, written into Congress's records law for any sentient non-human life that might be behind it. This journal follows all three words, and every entry says who is talking: a witness, a sensor, a document, or someone repeating what they were told.12823
UFO, in the Air Force's words
The Air Force's old 1950s rule defined a UFO as an airborne object that, by how it flies or looks, does not fit any known aircraft or missile. Nothing in that definition says alien. It only says unidentified.1
UAP: the newer official word
By law a UAP is an unidentified airborne object, an unidentified object moving between space, air and sea, or an unidentified submerged object that might be tied to airborne ones. In December 2022 the Pentagon changed the 'A' from aerial to anomalous to widen the net. The term itself goes back to the late 1960s and has been favored lately to dodge 'UFO' baggage.234
Who holds the official file
Since July 2022 the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, AARO, is the official clearinghouse. It reports to Congress yearly and, so far, says it has not found verified evidence of extraterrestrial technology.567
Non-human intelligence
In Congress the phrase was written into the 2023 UAP Disclosure Act as any sentient, intelligent, non-human lifeform of whatever origin that might be behind UAP, and the law-review literature says the enacted records law kept the wording. It is a drafting term used to say what files to collect. No official report treats it as established, and AARO says it found no evidence of such beings.896
The evidence ladder (my own tool, not official)
Think of five rungs. Eyewitness: honest people can be wrong, as the Arnold memo shows when an Army agent trusted the man but nobody settled the objects. Photo or video: authentic footage is not the same as an identified object; DoD confirmed the Navy clips are real and still calls them unidentified. Radar and sensors: ODNI's first tally had 80 multi-sensor cases of 144, yet only one was explained and ODNI admitted weak data. Documents: a released file proves it exists, not that its claims are true. Hearsay: Grusch told Congress his account came from about 40 others, and the Pentagon replied it found nothing verifiable. This ladder is my own working tool, not an official scale.1011121314151617
The ordinary suspects
Venus is often called the most-reported UFO because it can blaze in twilight; astronomers say even experienced observers get fooled. A sunlit high-altitude balloon can hang motionless, and in February 2023 the U.S. shot down objects that officials later said were most likely balloons. Satellites matter too: in 2022 five pilots reported odd lights that researchers tied to Starlink, and AARO's FY2025 report resolved 238 reports as satellite flares. Even a rocket launch over Miami in 2015 drew UFO posts.18192021222324
Hoaxes, and what is left after them
A skeptic's table of the Air Force's 1965 breakdown has a bucket for hoaxes and imagination at about one report in seven, while only 16 of 887 stayed unidentified. Trace the source of a famous photo or story before you trust it.25
What the official numbers show
AARO's resolved cases in FY2024 were mostly balloons (70 percent), then unmanned aircraft, birds, satellites and aircraft, which is the basis for officials saying most reports are ordinary objects.26
Close encounters, Hynek style
Astronomer J. Allen Hynek's 1972 scheme sorts cases by what the witness says happened, not by truth. First kind is a close visual sighting, second adds a physical effect, third includes beings. A fourth kind covering abduction was added later by Jacques Vallee.27282930
Groups and gatekeepers
Civilian groups shaped the field. NICAP, founded in 1956, grew to around 14,000 members and closed in 1980; MUFON began in 1969 and uses volunteer investigators, though a critic calls its methods unscientific. Official gatekeepers: the Air Force's Blue Book closed in 1969 with 701 of 12,618 reports unidentified.31323334
Reading a headline like an investigator
When a UAP story breaks, ask: who is the source, what was actually measured, is it first-hand, and what does the official record say? If the answer is a witness repeating someone else, or a document released without verification, it belongs on the lower rungs of the ladder above.1615
Where it stands
As of October 4, 2026, the official line and the witnesses still disagree. AARO says it has found no verified evidence of anything beyond ordinary objects; witnesses and some lawmakers say more is being held back. That gap is what this journal tracks, and each claim shows which side it comes from.6231617
Notes
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In Air Force Regulation 200-2 (1953 to 1954) a UFO was officially any airborne object that, by performance, aerodynamic traits or unusual features, did not match any known aircraft or missile type.
Source: Unidentified flying object (Wikipedia), Wikipedia (2026) · Checked: AFR 200-2, Aug 12 1954 (sacred-texts mirror transcription); Wikipedia: Unidentified flying objectNote: A transcription of AFR 200-2 dated Aug 12, 1954 gives the UFOB definition matching the claim, plus a further clause about objects that cannot be positively identified as familiar. The 1953 original edition was not opened, and the source is an unofficial mirror. -
The statute (first enacted in the FY2022 NDAA and rewritten by the FY2023 NDAA) required the Defense Secretary, with the DNI, to set up the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office within 120 days of December 23, 2022, inheriting the task force's duties, and defines UAP as unidentified airborne objects, unidentified space/atmosphere or atmosphere/water transmedium objects, and unidentified submerged objects that may relate to airborne ones.
Source: 50 U.S. Code section 3373 (Unidentified anomalous phenomena), Cornell Legal Information Institute (2024) · Checked: 50 U.S.C. 3373 (Cornell LII)Note: Subsection (a) requires SecDef with the DNI to set up the office within 120 days after Dec 23, 2022, taking over the UAP Task Force duties; the three-part definition sits at (n)(8) and matches the claim. The section originated in the FY2022 NDAA (Pub. L. 117-81, sec. 1683) and was amended by the FY2023 NDAA and later laws, so 'codified from the FY2023 NDAA' is imprecise. -
In December 2022 the Pentagon changed what UAP stands for, from aerial to anomalous, which Under Secretary Moultrie said widens the scope to submerged and trans-medium objects; the FY2023 NDAA also called for a historical record report reaching back to January 1, 1945.
Source: Pentagon changes UAP terminology as it looks to investigate unexplainable sightings across all domains, DefenseScoop (2022-12-19) -
Wikipedia says the term unidentified aerial phenomenon first appeared in the late 1960s and has been favored in the 21st century partly to avoid the baggage of 'UFO'.
Source: Unidentified flying object (Wikipedia), Wikipedia (2026) · Checked: Wikipedia: Unidentified flying objectNote: Wikipedia says UAP appeared in the late 1960s and gained use in the 21st century partly to avoid UFO's baggage. No earliest-usage primary was opened. -
AARO was formally established in July 2022 by a memo from Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, with physicist Sean Kirkpatrick as first director, to detect, identify and attribute anomalous objects across space, air, submerged and trans-medium domains.
Source: Pentagon changes UAP terminology as it looks to investigate unexplainable sightings across all domains, DefenseScoop (2022-12-19) -
AARO's annual report in November 2024 counted 757 reports received May 2023 to June 2024 (485 new, 272 from earlier years), 1,652 total since inception, 21 interesting cases it could not explain, and again said it found no evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity or technology; director Jon Kosloski said there are cases he personally cannot explain.
Source: Pentagon's UFO report finds over 700 new cases, with 21 the agency could not explain, ABC (2024-11) · Checked: ABC13, Nov 15 2024Note: ABC confirms 757 reports (485 in period, 272 from 2021-22), 1,652 total, 21 unexplained cases, no evidence of ET beings, activity or technology, and Kosloski's remark. The AARO report itself was not opened. -
The same report says a Navy report off Virginia involved about 100 airborne UAP and is still being investigated, counts 50 unmanned-system reports near nuclear infrastructure, and states that nothing suggests any government or private entity has captured or exploited UAP-derived material.
Source: AARO FY2025 Consolidated Annual Report on UAP, DoD/AARO (copy hosted by The Black Vault) (2026-07) · Checked: AARO FY2025 report pp. 5, 9Note: p.5: about 100 airborne UAP off Virginia, under active investigation; p.9: 50 UAS reports near nuclear infrastructure and no evidence any USG or private entity captured or exploited UAP-derived materials. Page 11 not separately cited by the fetch. -
The bill defined non-human intelligence as any sentient intelligent non-human lifeform, regardless of nature or ultimate origin, that may be responsible for UAP or that the government has become aware of, and defined technologies of unknown origin as materials or craft lacking prosaic attribution or known human manufacture.
Source: UAP Disclosure Act of 2023 (amendment text, Senate Democrats copy), democrats.senate.gov (2023-07) -
A law-review article (Yang, NYU JLPP) notes that the enacted FY2024 records provisions dropped the Disclosure Act's definitions of non-human intelligence and technologies of unknown origin; the enacted text mentions those terms as record subjects without defining them.
Source: Yang, UAP Disclosure legislation article, NYU J. Legis. & Pub. Pol'y vol. 27 no. 2, NYU Journal of Legislation and Public Policy (2025) · Checked: Yang, NYU JLPP vol. 27 no. 2; 44 U.S.C. 2107 statutory notes (Pub. L. 118-31 secs. 1841-1843)Note: Yang says the definitions of technologies of unknown origin, NHI and UAP were stripped from the enacted bill. The codified notes agree: the enacted text names those terms as record subjects but does not define NHI or technologies of unknown origin, and borrows the UAP definition from 50 U.S.C. 3373. -
Army Counter Intelligence Corps agent Frank M. Brown wrote a memo dated July 16, 1947 about his July 12 interview with Arnold, stating his personal opinion that Arnold really saw what he reported; the memo itself contains a date slip (July 25 for June 24).
Source: CIC memorandum on Kenneth Arnold interview (Frank M. Brown), 16 July 1947, Reproduced at ufology.patrickgross.org (original: US Army Air Forces) (1947-07-16) -
No explanation is accepted by all parties: the Army's own interviewer found Arnold's estimates could very possibly be accurate, while the Army Air Forces called it a mirage and later skeptics proposed meteors, pelicans or clouds.
Source: Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting (Wikipedia), Wikipedia (2026) · Checked: Frank M. Brown CIC memo, July 16, 1947; Wikipedia, Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting (pointer)Note: Brown's memo supports that the Army interviewer found Arnold's estimates plausibly accurate; the copy as read did not give an explicit sincerity verdict. The mirage came from the AAF in 1947, while the clouds, meteors and pelicans came from later individual skeptics, not the Air Force. -
In its April 27, 2020 statement the Department of Defense said the Navy had acknowledged these were real Navy videos, that their release revealed no sensitive capabilities, and that the phenomena in them remain characterized as unidentified.
Source: Navy officially releases UFO/UAP videos, calls them historical (DoD statement of 27 Apr 2020 as reproduced), The Black Vault (2020-04-27) -
The ODNI preliminary assessment of June 25, 2021 covered 144 reports from U.S. government sources (incidents from November 2004 to March 2021, 80 involving multiple sensors) and said only one, a large deflating balloon, was identified with high confidence.
Source: Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, ODNI (2021-06-25) -
ODNI listed limits on its conclusions: little high-quality data, no standardized reporting before March 2019, stigma that discouraged aircrew from reporting, and sensors built for other missions.
Source: Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, ODNI (2021-06-25) -
That batch included a 38-page 2010 intelligence study alleging injuries to human observers from advanced aerospace systems; IBTimes UK notes the release does not verify the medical assertions or establish a cause.
Source: New Pentagon UAP files release details 'evidence of unintended injury to human observers', IBTimes UK (2026-09-20) · Checked: IBTimes UK, Sep 2026Note: IBTimes describes a 38-page 2010 Defense Intelligence Reference Document alleging injury to observers from anomalous aerospace systems, and states the release does not independently verify the medical assertions. The document itself was not opened; 'the report says' in the claim means the IBTimes article. -
Grusch told the committee he believed the government runs a reverse-engineering program and holds non-human biological material, but said his testimony rested on interviews with roughly 40 people rather than his own observation and offered further detail only in classified settings.
Source: U.S. recovered non-human 'biologics' from UFO crash sites, former intel official says, NPR (2023-07-27) -
Pentagon spokesperson Susan Gough responded that investigators had found no verifiable information to support claims that the government holds or has reverse-engineered extraterrestrial materials.
Source: U.S. recovered non-human 'biologics' from UFO crash sites, former intel official says, NPR (2023-07-27) -
EarthSky calls Venus perhaps the all-time most reported UFO because it can be extremely bright low in the twilight sky.
Source: If it's not a UFO, what is it?, EarthSky (2020-12-15) · Checked: EarthSky, Eddie Irizarry, 15 Dec 2020Note: EarthSky hedges, calling Venus 'perhaps' the all-time most reported UFO, because of its brightness when low in the twilight sky. The claim drops the hedge. -
Wikipedia says experienced observers can be fooled by Venus: analysts such as Robert Sheaffer linked Jimmy Carter's January 1969 sighting to Venus (a 2016 analysis instead proposed a rocket barium cloud), Gordon Cooper reportedly admitted mistaking Venus for an aircraft, and astronomer Phil Plait has suggested Venus accounts for most reports.
Source: Identification studies of UFOs (Wikipedia), Wikipedia (2026) · Checked: Wikipedia: Identification studies of UFOs; Wikipedia: Jimmy Carter UFO incidentNote: Wikipedia does say Carter's sighting has been linked to Venus, that Cooper reportedly admitted being fooled by Venus, and that Plait suggested Venus causes most reports. Its Carter article notes the sighting was Jan 6, 1969 (first reported as Oct 1969) and that a 2016 analysis proposed an Eglin barium-cloud release instead of Venus. -
According to EarthSky, Google's Project Loon flew reflective balloons around 60,000 feet whose bright, nearly stationary appearance could prompt UFO reports.
Source: If it's not a UFO, what is it?, EarthSky (2020-12-15) · Checked: EarthSky, Eddie Irizarry, 15 Dec 2020Note: EarthSky says Loon's reflective balloons flew around 60,000 feet and, being bright and slow-drifting, can cause UFO reports. It does not document specific reports, and the claim is written as fact in the handbook's voice. -
After the February 4, 2023 shoot-down of a Chinese surveillance balloon, President Biden said on February 16, 2023 that three further objects shot down that week were most likely balloons tied to private companies or research groups, with no evidence of Chinese spying.
Source: Biden says no evidence yet that unidentified flying objects were tied to China spying, Florida Phoenix (2023-02-16) -
A 2024 preprint reconstructed an August 10, 2022 episode in which five pilots on two Pacific flights reported anomalies and attributes the sightings to Starlink satellites seen in unusual lighting, saying such misidentification has created aviation risk.
Source: Enhancing Space Situational Awareness to Mitigate Risk: Misidentification of Starlink Satellites as UAP in Commercial Aviation, arXiv (2024-03-13) · Checked: Buettner, Griffiths, Snell, Stilley, arXiv 2403.08155 (v1 Mar 2024, v2 1 Apr 2024, v3 3 Apr 2024)Note: The paper's abstract describes five pilots on two commercial flights over the Pacific on 10 Aug 2022, attributes the sighting to Starlink satellites launched that day, and says such misidentification created aviation risk. It is a preprint submitted to the 4th IAA ICSSA conference (May 2024); no journal peer review shown, and a v3 exists. -
AARO's FY2025 annual report (covering June 2, 2024 to May 30, 2025) logged 319 new UAP reports (284 from the period, 35 older), 1,870 total holdings, 370 resolutions in all (114 of the new reports), 238 satellite-flare identifications from a new modeling tool, and 191 cases moved to an 'active archive' for lack of data.
Source: AARO FY2025 Consolidated Annual Report on UAP, DoD/AARO (copy hosted by The Black Vault) (2026-07) -
On September 2, 2015 a moving light seen over Miami that many social media posters called a UFO was identified as an Atlas V launch from Cape Canaveral.
Source: If it's not a UFO, what is it?, EarthSky (2020-12-15) · Checked: EarthSky, Eddie Irizarry, 15 Dec 2020Note: EarthSky says the moving light over Miami on 2 Sept 2015, called a UFO on social media, was an Atlas V launched from Cape Canaveral. No launch record or contemporaneous report was opened. -
For 1965 (887 reports), a skeptic page lists the Air Force causes as astronomical 27.6 percent, aircraft 23.7, satellites 17.1, hoax or imagination 14.2, insufficient data 9.6, weather balloons 4.1, still being processed 1.9 and unidentified 1.8 percent.
Source: UFOs and Roswell (SMU physics 'pseudoscience' course page), Southern Methodist University (n.d.) · Checked: SMU physics 'pseudoscience' page; USAF 'UFO Sightings by Year' fact sheetNote: The SMU page gives every percentage as stated, and its 887 total and 16 unidentified match the USAF table. It also lists 17 cases (1.9 percent) still being processed, which the claim leaves out, so the listed categories do not reach 100 percent. -
According to NewsNation's summary of AARO's FY2024 annual report, of 49 cases resolved, 70 percent were balloons, 16 percent unmanned aircraft, 8 percent birds, 4 percent satellites and 2 percent aircraft.
Source: Annual UFO report attributes most cases to common objects, NewsNation (2024-11) · Checked: NewsNation on AARO FY2024 annual reportNote: NewsNation reports AARO resolved 49 cases in the FY2024 report, with 70% balloons, 16% unmanned aerial systems, 8% birds, 4% satellites and 2% aircraft. The AARO report itself was not opened and the article gives no release date. -
Close encounter of the first kind, in J. Allen Hynek's 1972 scheme, is a visual sighting of an unidentified object at close range (under about 500 feet) that shows size and detail.
Source: Close encounter (Wikipedia), Wikipedia (2026) · Checked: Wikipedia, Close encounter (pointer)Note: Wikipedia gives Hynek's CE1 as a visual sighting seemingly under 500 feet away showing appreciable angular extent and considerable detail. Hynek's 1972 book was not opened. -
Second kind: an encounter where a physical effect is alleged, such as interference with vehicles or electronics, ground marks, damaged plants, animals reacting, or physical effects on a witness.
Source: Close encounter (Wikipedia), Wikipedia (2026) · Checked: Wikipedia, Close encounter (pointer)Note: Wikipedia defines CE2 by physical effects such as vehicle interference, ground marks, burned vegetation or effects on witnesses, consistent with the claim. Hynek's book not opened. -
Third kind: an encounter in which an animate being appears, such as humanoids, robots or apparent pilots or occupants.
Source: Close encounter (Wikipedia), Wikipedia (2026) · Checked: Wikipedia, Close encounter (pointer)Note: Wikipedia defines CE3 as encounters with an animated entity such as humanoids, robots or apparent occupants or pilots. Hynek's book not opened. -
Jacques Vallee proposed extending the scheme in 1990; a fourth kind is commonly used for alleged abduction by UFOs or their occupants, though Vallee framed it more broadly, and later writers have added more kinds.
Source: Close encounter (Wikipedia), Wikipedia (2026) · Checked: Wikipedia, Close encounter (pointer)Note: Wikipedia lists CE4 as abduction and places it with Vallee's 1990 extensions, but also says Vallee proposed CE4 should cover cases where witnesses felt a transformation of their sense of reality, not only abduction. Later kinds (CE5) were added by others such as Steven Greer. -
The civilian group NICAP was founded on October 24, 1956; Donald Keyhoe led it from early 1957 to December 1969, membership peaked near 14,000 in the early 1960s, and it dissolved at the end of 1980.
Source: National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (Wikipedia), Wikipedia (2026) · Checked: Wikipedia: NICAPNote: Wikipedia gives Oct 24, 1956 founding, Keyhoe as director from April 1957 to December 1969, about 14,000 members by the early 1960s, and dissolution at the end of 1980. The membership figure is uncited on the page; no primary opened. -
MUFON began on May 31, 1969 as the Midwest UFO Network, was renamed in 1973, is based in Cincinnati, and relies on volunteer field investigators; science writer Sharon Hill has criticized its approach as unscientific.
Source: Mutual UFO Network (Wikipedia), Wikipedia (2026) · Checked: Wikipedia: Mutual UFO NetworkNote: Wikipedia gives May 31, 1969 founding as Midwest UFO Network (Quincy, IL), the 1973 rename, Cincinnati HQ, field investigators, and Sharon Hill's Skeptical Inquirer criticism. MUFON's own history and Hill's article were not opened. -
The National Archives states that 12,618 sightings were reported to Project Blue Book between 1947 and 1969 and that 701 of them remain classed as unidentified.
Source: Project BLUE BOOK - Unidentified Flying Objects, NARA (n.d.) -
On December 17, 1969, Air Force Secretary Robert C. Seamans Jr. announced the end of Project Blue Book, saying it could be justified neither on national-security nor on scientific grounds.
Source: Air Force press release terminating Project Blue Book, 17 Dec 1969 (Reading Room file asdpa1), DoD ESD FOIA Reading Room (1969-12-17)