The Pentagon has launched a digital form allowing current or former government employees, contractors or service members to report "direct knowledge of U.S. Government programs or activities related to" Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, or UAPs, the formal government name for objects that had previously been known as UFOs.
The All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office says it will use the information submitted through its website in a report on UAPs. The AARO, which was established through the annual defense policy bill approved by Congress in 2021, is considered the leading federal agency for UAP efforts.
The AARO says classified information should not be submitted through the form, but notes that reporting through the site would not be considered a violation of a non-disclosure agreement. People should also not submit secondhand information, and only people who were U.S. government or contractor personnel with direct knowledge of "U.S. government programs or activities related to UAP" should contribute. However, in the future, the reporting eligibility will be expanded, the agency says.
After the reports are reviewed, AARO staff may reach out for more details or an interview, according to the form. Submitting false information "can be punished by fine or imprisonment, or both," the form says.
The website that the form is on is part of a Defense Department effort to address UAPs and provide the public with declassified information about the mysterious objects. The site is meant to be a "one-stop shop" for publicly available information related to AARO, officials said in August, and will provide information, including photos and videos, on resolved and declassified UAP cases.
UAPs are considered unidentifiable objects found in the air, sea and space. More than 270 reports of UAPs were made to the U.S. government in a recent eight-month period, the Department of Defense said in a report to Congress in October.
In July, the House Oversight Committee held a hearing featuring testimony from a former military intelligence officer and two former fighter pilots, who said they had first-hand experience with the mysterious objects. In the wake of the hearing, a bipartisan group of House members called on then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy to form a select committee tasked with investigating the federal response to UAPs.
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- unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP)
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Kerry Breen is a news editor and reporter for CBS News. Her reporting focuses on current events, breaking news and substance use.
