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Sean Kirkpatrick

Sean Kirkpatrick is an American physicist and intelligence official, the first director of AARO (All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office), who led the investigation of UAP matters at the Pentagon from the office's establishment until 2023.

Sean Kirkpatrick is an American physicist and intelligence professional, the first director of AARO (All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office). The office was created by the U.S. Department of Defense to investigate unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), and Kirkpatrick headed it from its establishment, from July 2022 until December 2023.

Background

Kirkpatrick has a scientific and intelligence background. During his career he was chief scientist at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Missile and Space Intelligence Center, and before AARO he worked as deputy director of intelligence at U.S. Strategic Command. As head of AARO, he represented the office before Congress and the public.

Official finding

Under Kirkpatrick's leadership, AARO published reports, and he himself also spoke at congressional hearings. In April 2023 he told the Senate that the sphere is the most frequently described shape in incoming reports, and he presented footage of a metallic orb recorded over the Middle East. According to the office's assessment, a significant portion of the cases examined can be explained by ordinary objects, such as balloons, drones, birds or aircraft, and no evidence of extraterrestrial technology was found. For a smaller portion, the available data are not sufficient to draw a conclusion. AARO's March 2024 historical report, which was largely prepared while he was still in charge, likewise found no evidence that the U.S. government ever obtained extraterrestrial technology.

In 2023, together with Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, he also wrote a paper on the physical constraints that would apply to UAP moving at unusual speeds.

Controversy

Kirkpatrick's position was criticized by several UAP researchers and former government officials. The sharpest dispute arose around the 2023 congressional testimony of former intelligence officer David Grusch, according to whom the United States retrieves crashed vehicles of non-human origin in a secret program. Kirkpatrick publicly disputed this, and AARO stated that, based on the materials available to it, it had found no evidence pointing to such a program. According to critics, the office did not handle the cases with sufficient openness. After his departure, in January 2024, Kirkpatrick criticized conspiracy theories surrounding UFOs and their political supporters in the pages of Scientific American.

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