Rudderless: Precursor to Current UAP Office Lacked Reporting, Analysis Procedures
The now-defunct Airborne Object Identification Management and Synchronization Group (AOIMSG) did not develop guidelines for anomalous phenomena. Will the Pentagon's new UAP office do better?
The U.S. Department of Defense on November 23, 2021, announced the formation of the Airborne Object Identification Management and Synchronization Group (AOIMSG), an outgrowth of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) established in August 2020. The AOIMSG’s stated mission was to “…synchronize efforts across the Department and the broader U.S. government to detect, identify and attribute objects of interests in Special Use Airspace (SUA), and to assess and mitigate any associated threats to safety of flight and national security.” In other words, one of the group’s duties was to oversee various defense and intelligence community-related entities’ efforts to collect data on unidentified aerial phenomena observed in military training ranges and other sensitive U.S. airspace and to analyze that data to help identify anomalous objects that U.S. service members continue to witness during training and combat missions.
The UAP Register last week received a response to a Freedom of Information Act request submitted in April to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security (USD-I&S) that sought documents reflecting “processes and procedures developed by the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG), as mandated by Public Law 117-81 under Section 1683 (b) (1) (2) (3), that involve the reporting, collecting, and archiving of Department of Defense and intelligence community-related incidents and events, including adverse physiological effects, of unidentified aerial phenomena.” The USD-I&S in its response indicated that the AOIMSG, during its approximately seven-month existence, had not developed any such policies. These and other duties are mandated not only by the Director of National Intelligence’s November 2021 memorandum but by the National Defense Authorization Act FY 2022.
In an email (below) dated June 24 sent by a DOD FOIA analyst to the USD-I&S requesting an explanation for the absence of any reporting or analysis procedures after over six months had passed since the launching of the AOIMSG, a member of the Technical Collections section of the USD-I&S responded in-part: “As the group [AOIMSG] is not fully established, it has not yet developed processes and procedures for reporting, archiving, and collecting reports of UAP.”
The absence of any core mission procedures (such as data collection and analysis) for the AOIMSG apparently frustrated members of Congress. Senator Kristen Gillibrand, for example, issued the following statement after the U.S. House of Representatives held its first public hearing on the UAP topic in over half a century in May:
“The language we secured in the National Defense Authorization Act made it clear that the Department of Defense and other agencies must urgently approach this issue in a broad manner and consider all origins of UAP, known or unknown. The level of bipartisan interest from the national security committees in Congress -- as well as from the American people -- make it clear that the Department cannot delay in staffing the NDAA-established office, developing a science plan, and integrating already existing data to properly investigate these phenomena. Our national security demands that the Department move on this issue with haste and maintain transparency with Congress." - Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (May 17, 2022)
That frustration eventually spurred the latest iteration of the AOIMSG, now called the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) — and cautious optimism that this latest effort is taking the UAP topic more seriously. Led by Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick (the former lead scientist at the Defense Intelligence Agency's Missile and Space Intelligence Center), the AARO (which, like its predecessor, is housed in the USD-I&S) has a more expansive mandate to investigate “and mitigate any associated threats to safety of operations and national security” posed not only by anomalous aerial phenomena but unidentified objects displaying transmedium capabilities in low-Earth orbit and oceans too. According to Senator Gillibrand, Dr. Kirkpatrick is committed to AARO’s remit:
“[Dr. Kirkpatrick] is committed and taking it seriously. They're not gonna hide it. Because there are so many of us now on the intel committee and armed services, that we're gonna stand by the service members who documented this stuff.”
USD-I&S Director Ronald Moultrie (who leads the AARO Executive Council and will provide guidance for the Pentagon’s new UAP effort that reports directly to him) and the AARO are also striving prima facie for a more public-facing and cooperative posture, having created a Twitter account and publicizing meetings with members of Congress and even NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
While still early in development, new leadership and an expanded remit for the Pentagon’s UAP office are encouraging signs. Whether it develops the policies and staffing needed to effectively carry out its mission remains to be seen.
A DOD spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the status of the AARO’s establishment of UAP reporting and analysis procedures.