2nd UAP congressional hearing outlines AARO’s investigative processes

The US Senate Committee on Armed Services - specifically the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities - held an open congressional hearing today on “the mission, activities, oversight, and budget of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office”. It was chaired by Kirsten Gillibrand, one of the prominent senators calling for transparency and investigation of UAP, and the proceedings lasted for approximately one hour.

We’ve just reported on the imminent orbital test flight of SpaceX’s integrated Starship and Super Heavy booster, with “Excitement guaranteed!” as the title of our pre-launch article. Monday’s first attempt ended up being scrubbed at T-00:09:00 minutes because of a stuck or frozen valve in the first stage’s pressurisation system, but there was nevertheless heaps of excitement leading up to that disappointing announcement - and the world’s biggest rocket didn’t even get off the ground. If we get a “Go for launch” tomorrow, or even shortly afterwards, the levels of exhilaration will be sky high. But, today, the congressional hearing provided zero elation, to the point of it being somewhat flat.

The only “witness” was Sean Kirkpatrick, director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). He typified what you’d expect from a lifelong career US Department of Defense scientist. He said nothing wrong - other than erroneously referring to “two UAPs”, which showed sloppiness and a disregard for exactness. (Our short UAPeas film attempted to make this pertinent point last year.) He correctly pointed out the need for reliable data and analysis. And we learnt a bit about how AARO deal with UAP cases - for example getting two teams to look at the data, one comprised of people from the intelligence community, and the other adding expertise in science and engineering.

Kirkpatrick made a point of stating: “AARO has found no credible evidence thus far of extraterrestrial activity, off-world technology, or objects that defy the known laws of physics.”

We thought Kirkpatrick showed shallowness in talking about the need for scientific peer review of any data, not because it isn’t needed, which it ultimately is, but because he seemingly overlooked the huge problem of stigma and taboo regarding UAP or UFOs that stifles interest in the subject from the majority of the scientific community. His ultra-cautious and sterile attitude showed no accompanying sense of a spirit of open-mindedness, keen investigation, and transparency - no doubt playing straight into the hands of “ufologists” who will undoubtedly scream: “Obfuscation!” As we have previously commented, obfuscation might well be the Pentagon’s strategy here - but only time will tell - and now is far too early to conclude anything.

We learnt there are indications that “China are on par or ahead of us” in some technical military defence respect, as well as “less risk-adverse than us”. (Yes, we’re British, so we should make clear that “us” refers to the United States.) And we also learnt that if/when a UAP is identified, it’s then labelled as a SEP (Somebody Else’s Problem) and passed on to another office. We can’t resist adding that Kirkpatrick gave the impression today that he wishes UAP were Somebody Else’s Problem.

We can’t be the only ones to see a vague visual resemblance - think “facial hair” especially, plus glasses - between Sean Kirkpatrick and J Allen Hynek. The blatant difference, however, is that Hynek was an academic astronomer brought in by the US Air Force to help study UFOs. Initially an outright sceptic, Hynek’s view radically changed after he investigated many cases. To repeat: Kirkpatrick, by contrast, is a lifelong career DoD scientist.

Was today’s congressional hearing frustrating? No. It fitted the very limited aim. We will have to wait, probably for a couple more months at least, for the next one. Meanwhile, as #ufotwitter vents a load of emotional nonsense about today, for us and countless others around the world, it’s all eyes on Starship as it takes to the skies, hopefully with liftoff happening as soon as tomorrow (Thursday). And that will be super exciting!

Written by Jessica Nelson, 19th April 2023