Documents / Official release

Office of the Secretary of Defense: 022_SASC_Transcript_2023

Department of Defense. Office of the Secretary of Defense. · 2023 · 50 pages · text from the file's own layer

This is a stenographic transcript of an April 19, 2023 hearing of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, chaired by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, on the mission and budget of the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office. AARO released it in full in 2025. Director Sean Kirkpatrick testified that AARO has found no credible evidence of extraterrestrial activity and that most reports resolve into mundane objects. He also presented trend data and two declassified MQ-9 videos, one of which was resolved as a commuter aircraft.

Open the PDF at page 38 Original source ↗

“Works”22 pages

  • p. 3 …Kirkpatrick to 19 lean in on this issue and the work that he has accomplished 20…
  • p. 5 …in interagency coordination after 14 the NSC Working Group disbands. 15 In the fiscal year 2023…
  • p. 7 …Adversaries like China and Russia are working to 9 hold U.S. interests, including our homeland…
  • p. 9 …24 All leadership that I have had the pleasure of working 25 with, whether DOD, IC…
  • p. 12 …As such, we are 10 working with industry, academia, and the scientific 11 community which bring…
  • p. 14 …10 In the wake of the PRC HAB event the interagency is 11 working to better…
  • p. 15 …AARO is working very hard to do the 14 same. That is how science works, not…
  • p. 16 …Much remains to be done but the hard work is 11 underway. 12 Thank you for…
  • p. 18 …How are we going to get more 22 data? We are working with the joint staff…
  • p. 20 …But this is the kind of data that we have to work 19 with and the…
  • p. 26 …22 In the course of your work have you become aware of any 23 Chinese or…
  • p. 28 …They are just willing to 21 try things and see if it works. 22 Are there…
  • p. 29 …I appreciate that and that 2 is why it is so important that you are working…
  • p. 30 …24 We are also working very closely with Joint Staff and 25 the Joint Staff has…
  • p. 31 30 Scheduling@TP.One 800.FOR.DEPO www.TP.One (800.367.3376) 1 work through…
  • p. 34 …So that is actually wrapped into the 15 plan ord that we are working with Joint…
  • p. 35 …work, here is what we have seen work, here is what does not 14 work. 15…
  • p. 36 …8 DOD and DNI are working through that now. I would have 9 to refer you…
  • p. 39 …I worked with the director of Joint Staff, 11 the J2 and the J3 that night…
  • p. 40 …That is why 25 it is so important the work we are doing with Joint Staff…
  • p. 43 …11 So part of our budget is working through what does that 12 look like and…
  • p. 46 …We have a lot of work to do. So if you do not hear 17 from…
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Scheduling@TP.One 800.FOR.DEPO
www.TP.One (800.367.3376)
1 Senator Gillibrand: Great.
2 Mr. Kirkpatrick: What I would ask, though, is as you
3 all continue to refer to us and refer witnesses to us I
4 would appreciate if you do that. Please try to prioritize
5 the ones that you want to do because we do have a small
6 research staff dealing with that.
7 Senator Gillibrand: Thank you. And then do you have
8 any plans for public engagement that you want to share now
9 that you think it is important that the public knows what
10 the plan is?
11 Mr. Kirkpatrick: So we have a number of public
12 engagement recommendations, according to our strategic plan.
13 All of those have been submitted for approval. They have to
14 be approved by USDINS. We are waiting for approval to go do
15 that.
16 Senator Gillibrand: Okay. I will follow up on that.
17 And then my last question is about the integration of
18 department's UAP operations, research, analysis, and
19 strategic communications. During the recent UAP incidents
20 over North America it did not appear that you were allowed
21 to play that role.
22 Do you agree that the public perception is generally
23 that you and your office did not appear to play a major role
24 in the department's response to the detection of objects
25 over North America? Page determined to be Unclassified
Reviewed by Chief of Staff, AARO
IAW FY24 NDAA, Section 1841(a)(1)(C)
Date: 2/6/2025
022

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Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 50 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.