Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, delivered by ODNI on 25 June 2021, the first unclassified US government report on the subject in five decades. It examined 144 incidents reported by US government sources between 2004 and 2021 and identified one of them, a deflating balloon.
Where it came from
The report exists because of committee language written into Senate Report 116-233 by Christopher Mellon and carried in the intelligence authorisation for fiscal 2021, with the reporting requirement attached to the December 2020 appropriations act. It was compiled by the UAPTF, and the office that inherited the work, AARO, was stood up the following year.
What it does and does not say
It records that the incidents were mostly unresolved for want of data, and offers five explanatory categories including airborne clutter and “other”. It reaches no conclusion about origin, and the statutes and reports that follow it contemplate nonhuman intelligence without stating that any exists.
Connections
ODNI · UAPTF · AARO · Christopher Mellon · UAP Disclosure Act 2023 · Senator Harry Reid · AARO Historical Record Report 2024 · Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction · Senate Report 116-233 · Sturrock Panel 1997