--- title: "The Pentagon’s Ex-UFO Chief is Blaming the Government for Conspiracy Theories" description: "The former head of the Pentagon's UFO office has had a lot to say since leaving the government — and apparently doesn't have an NDA." date: "2024-02-09" modified: "2024-02-09" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/pentagon-ex-ufo-chief-conspiracy" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "Pentagon" - "the digest" - "uaps" - "ufos" --- # The Pentagon’s Ex-UFO Chief is Blaming the Government for Conspiracy Theories ![]() ## Loose Lips After leaving the government last month, the Pentagon's former UFO chief has had his fair share of media hits. And he's revealing more than he likely could've while still in the military's employ — but this latest one, we gotta admit, is a doozy. In an [interview with *Politico*](), the former head of the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), Sean Kirkpatrick, seemed mighty critical of his ex-employer when discussing the impenetrable institution's closed-off attitude. The decorated military man — who now serves as the Chief Technology Officer for Defense and Intelligence Programs at the National Security Sciences Directorate at the Oak Ridge Nuclear Laboratory and runs his own intelligence consulting business — thinks that the Department of Defense's secrecy leaves space for all manner of ills. Including, apparently, conspiracy theories. "If there is a void in the information space," Kirkpatrick said, "it will be filled with the imagination of the public right and the conspiracies and these accusations." This is not, it should be noted, the first time the onetime professional UFO-hunter has taken on conspiracy peddlers. In an op-ed [penned for *Scientific American*]() and published last month, Kirkpatrick accused so-called [government whistleblowers]() of spreading outlandish claims about extraterrestrial corpses and alien technology being [reverse-engineered]() for human ends. To his mind, those fairytales did little more than derail the AARO's work. "Our efforts were ultimately overwhelmed by sensational but unsupported claims that ignored contradictory evidence yet captured the attention of policy makers and the public," Kirkpatrick wrote in his editorial, "driving legislative battles and dominating the public narrative." Now, however, his accusations have shifted from a loose cabal of government-employed conspiracists to, well, the government itself. In particular, Kirkpatrick believes that the Pentagon should be "more forceful" when explaining what the AARO does and why it's important. As he's [said]() [repeatedly](), the office's mission was less to *hunt for aliens* and more to figure out what those unidentified flying objects really are. More often than not, as he told *CNN*'s Philip Bergen for the "[In the Room]()" podcast, the things people are seeing are secretive military crafts. As it's become abundantly clear since he left his role as the AARO's inaugural director, the career military servant thinks dialogue and transparency between government and media is important — and as he indicated in his discussion with *Politico*, which came in response to the DOD's watchdog slammed the UFO office's efforts as "[uncoordinated]()," his former employer does not agree. "There was a very strong concern to engage in the public discourse as often as I thought we needed to," Kirkpatrick said. "The fact that \[the Pentagon's leadership\] can’t figure out how to get at that message without concern for spillage into other areas has always been a frustrating point." If an ex-spook is sounding off about the government secrecy, you know the problem might be worth taking seriously — though there's little doubt his objections will make much of a difference now that he's out the door. **More on UFOs:** *[After Classified Briefing, Congressman Says UFOs May Be "Extradimensional" Angels]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()