First impressions of Dr Jon Kosloski, new Director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)

Last Thursday, 14th November 2024, Dr Jon Kosloski - the new Director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) - met with journalists for a press briefing. This coincided with the release of AARO’s FY24 Consolidated Annual Report on UAP.

Brad Dress, for The Hill, asked if they had found anything that might indicate breakthrough technologies. Kosloski replied:

So we have several particularly interesting cases we're working on within the office, working with our partners to downgrade several of those cases, so we can talk about them publicly. But there are interesting cases that I, with my physics and engineering background and time in the IC, I do not understand. And I don't know anybody else who understands them either.

Kosloski had earlier stated that these were “less than 3.5% of our cases” and that further understanding was needed before they could be sure if breakthrough technologies were, indeed, being observed - as it might, alternatively, be a misunderstanding in their interpretation of the data. He stressed that “an open mind works both ways”, (which is totally true and relevant, but often missed by those who “want to believe”).

Konstantin Toropin, with Military.com, asked about the need for more transparency and a reduction in excessive government secrecy. Kosloski replied, acknowledging the matter as an “understandable concern”, with a very human response that could be taken as an encouraging sign: “My wife would like me to share more about the UAP incidents too.”

Kosloski helpfully went on to explain the difficulty:

“The fundamental issue is that AARO receives cases from our partners. And in most cases, to date, because we've been working through the services, those partners are providing data that is gathered from sensitive platforms. And we need to make sure that we are protecting sensitive sources and methods not introducing vulnerabilities to their operations.

“So even though that there's nothing inherently classified about the existence of a UAP, we have to protect that information. When AARO receives those interesting cases, the cases that we’re just briefly talking about, we try to identify if the UAP information can be isolated from the sensitive — usually it's metadata that identifies characteristics of the platform.

“And we work to downgrade that material as much as we can. But we can't do it unilaterally. It has to be in partnership with the folks that brought that information. That is a very deliberate process, as you can imagine, to make sure that we're not releasing sensitive information. So we have taken significant steps to speed that up. We've hired a number of declassification experts.

“We're going to be hosting a declassification workshop, so we can make sure we're implementing best practices from across the DOD and the IC. All of that takes more time than I think the public would like for it to take, but AARO is working on it. We recognize that the types of cases that I was just talking about are, from my perspective, true anomalies.”

Dr Jon Kosloski, Director of AARO

Yesterday, Tuesday 19th November, Kosloski appeared before the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats & Capabilities. Following a closed hearing, there was a half-hour open session. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Sen. Joni Ernst asked a few questions, but nothing of note was added to the press briefing or report.

AARO has resolved a large number of reports as being prosaic objects including various types of balloons, birds, unmanned aerial systems, satellites, and aircraft. Many other cases remain unresolved.

The well-known “Go Fast” video has been analysed by AARO, who have assessed with high confidence that the UAP was at approximately 13,000ft above sea level travelling at about 45mph. It did not demonstrate any anomalous speeds or flight characteristics. A trick of the eye, known as parallax, gives the impression of an object moving much faster than it actually was. The public can check AARO’s maths on this analysis.

Another well-known incident (26th April 2013) of a US Customs and Border Protection aircraft in Puerto Rico, recording video in infrared of an unknown object seemingly moving from the air into water, has been analysed with high confidence as follows. The “transmedium” part, where the object seems to descend into the water, is explained as thermal crossover where the temperature of the water is equal to the temperature of the object, and the camera can no longer distinguish between the two. It’s not that the object actually goes into the water. The object is thought to be two balloons or sky lanterns in close proximity to each other, thereby giving the perception as being a single object that later “splits into two”. Again, the illusion of a higher speed is attributed to motion parallax - when the objects were actually travelling at wind speed.

Kosloski balanced the above with brief descriptions of three cases that remain as unknowns, subject to further analysis.

Many UFO enthusiasts will no doubt disagree, but our first impression of Jon Kosloski is that he is doing his job well with the diligence it deserves.

Written by Jessica Nelson & Iain Scott, 20th November 2024