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According to a media roundtable held last month, the Defense Department's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office is tracking and analyzing unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP — the term is an updated version of UFO and the previous version of UAP, or unidentified aerial phenomena, to reflect unidentified phenomena not just in the air, but also on the ground and in sea and space — that pose a threat.
"Unidentified objects in the skies, sea and space pose potential threats to safety and security, particularly for operational personnel," AARO Director Sean Kirkpatrick said. "AARO is leading a focused effort to better characterize, understand and attribute these objects and is employing the highest scientific and analytic standards."
As noted at the roundtable, AARO — which was provided for in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, established in July and replaced the former Navy-led Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force — is working with other agencies to improve its data collection on UAPs. Agency partners include military services, the intelligence community, the Energy Department, NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and others.
