--- title: "Pentagon’s Former Head UFO Hunter Says This Is the Truth" description: "After leaving the Pentagon, the government's former head UFO hunter is sounding off about all things unidentified." date: "2024-01-20" modified: "2024-01-20" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/pentagon-ufo-chief-truth" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "the digest" - "the pentagon" - "uaps" - "ufos" --- # Pentagon’s Former Head UFO Hunter Says This Is the Truth ![After leaving the Pentagon, the government's former head UFO hunter is sounding off about all things unidentified.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Insufficient Evidence In one of his first times speaking out since [stepping down]() as the Pentagon's chief UFO hunter, the former head of the Department of Defense's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) is revealing the truth — and sorry, but it's kinda dull. In an [op-ed for *Scientific American*](), former AARO director Sean Kirkpatrick wrote that after looking into bold claims about extraterrestrial coverups made by bombastic UFO whistleblowers, his office "discovered a few things, and none were about aliens." Perhaps the biggest thing he learned at the helm of the Pentagon's quest for information about what the government refers to as "unidentified anomalous phenomena" or UAPs is that he has seen "no record" that there was ever a government conspiracy hiding any knowledge or evidence of aliens. Nevertheless, the AARO was tasked with investigating such claims based on the congressional testimony of whistleblowers, including the now-infamous [Air Force veteran David Grusch]() who made headlines last year when [telling Congress]() that he had been privy to knowledge of such a scheme that involved, among other things, extraterrestrial corpses and "[non-human]()" vehicles. "It is inconceivable that a program of such import would not ever have been briefed to the 50 to 100 people at the top of the \[US government\] over the decades of its existence," Kirkpatrick wrote. ## Smear Campaign Although he didn't see evidence of aliens or a coverup — or, at very least, isn't at liberty to share it with the readers of *Scientific American* *—* the former AARO chief did discover something he sees as almost that nefarious: that the key players involved in bringing the so-called whistleblower claims to light were the same people who'd been doing so since the 1990s, when "The X Files" was still on the air. With public interest and opinion geared more in favor of the existence of ETs than ever before, the loose cabal of wannabe whistleblowers were able to derail the AARO's research and mission, Kirkpatrick charged, and replace it with intrigue and hearsay. "After painstakingly assembling a team of highly talented and motivated personnel and working with them to develop a rational, systematic and science-based strategy to investigate these phenomena," he wrote, "our efforts were ultimately overwhelmed by sensational but unsupported claims that ignored contradictory evidence yet captured the attention of policy makers and the public, driving legislative battles and dominating the public narrative." There's no reason such evidence, were it to exist, couldn't be suppressed or even destroyed — but when it comes to the predominant narrative of a government conspiracy of silence on ETs, it seems like some people might want to believe a little too much. **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]()