{"type":"people","slug":"jon-kosloski","title":"Jon Kosloski","url":"https://disclosdex.com/people/jon-kosloski","description":"NSA research veteran appointed in 2024 to direct the Pentagon office investigating UAP reports and evidence limits","date":"2024-08-26T00:00:00.000Z","tags":["Government"],"updated":"2026-05-18T13:01:12.000Z","disclosureRating":6,"connectionCount":8,"content":{"markdown":"Dr. Jon T. Kosloski is the Director of the [All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office](/organizations/all-domain-anomaly-resolution-office), the Pentagon office responsible for synchronizing UAP detection, identification, attribution, and mitigation across defense and intelligence channels.[^1][^2] The Department of Defense announced his appointment on August 26, 2024, after detailing him from the National Security Agency.[^2]\n\n## Appointment to AARO in August 2024\n\nThe AARO leadership page identifies Kosloski as the office's current director and describes AARO as a DoD organization that works across the federal government, intelligence community, academia, industry, and international partners.[^1] The appointment made him the public federal official responsible for coordinating AARO's records, reporting channels, and case-resolution work.\n\nAARO's public biography gives his education and government posts but does not publish a birth date or full private biography.[^1]\n\n## NSA Science and Intelligence Background\n\nAARO's leadership biography identifies Kosloski as a physicist and intelligence official with a bachelor's degree in mathematics, a bachelor's degree in physics, and a PhD in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University.[^1] His doctoral work concerned quantum-optical detection of extremely faint phase-encoded signals, including record sensitivities for quantum-limited pulse-position modulation at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.[^1]\n\nBefore AARO, he worked in NSA's Research Directorate in networking and computing sciences, served as a free-space-optics subject-matter expert, advised DoD and intelligence-community organizations, and held leadership roles in the Special Communications Enterprise Office and Cryptanalysis and Signals Analysis Development Program.[^1] AARO credits him with inventing an advanced language-agnostic search engine used across multiple domains.[^1]\n\n## November 2024 Senate Testimony\n\nThe Senate Armed Services Committee's Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee held a November 19, 2024, open hearing to receive testimony on AARO's activities, with Kosloski as the listed witness.[^3] The hearing record centered on UAP reporting, historical review, scientific analysis, whistleblower channels, declassification limits, and case resolution.[^3][^4]\n\nIn his opening statement, Kosloski described AARO's work as a whole-of-government effort involving operational reporting, historical records, science and technology analysis, and communication with Congress and the public.[^4] Senator Kirsten Gillibrand pressed the same oversight themes in the transcript, including transparency, whistleblower channels, declassification limits, and whether AARO had evidence that any UAP cases were extraterrestrial or foreign-adversary technology.[^4]\n\n## Stance on Extraterrestrial Claims\n\nKosloski has publicly treated UAP as real reports that can include anomalous observations, while also resisting the jump from \"unidentified\" to extraterrestrial or secret breakthrough technology. In a Defense Department media roundtable after the FY 2024 consolidated annual report, he said there were interesting cases that he did not understand and that AARO was not ruling out explanations, but he also said AARO had \"no verifiable information or evidence\" proving extraterrestrial beings, activity, or technology.[^5]\n\nHis Senate testimony took the same line. Asked about claims that the U.S. government or defense contractors held UAP materials, he said AARO had no evidence to support possession of extraterrestrial craft or bodies, while also saying the office would continue to investigate credible reports.[^4] He told senators that a small subset of reports deserved deeper work and that only a fraction of cases, after initial analysis, showed characteristics that could plausibly suggest advanced or breakthrough technology.[^4][^5]\n\n## FY 2024 Annual Report and Case Resolutions\n\nThe FY 2024 Consolidated Annual Report on UAP, released by [ODNI](/organizations/office-of-the-director-of-national-intelligence) in consultation with DoD/AARO, covered the reporting period from May 1, 2023, through June 1, 2024, and said AARO had 757 reports during the period and 1,652 total UAP reports as of October 24, 2024.[^6] The report described 118 cases as resolved during the reporting period and 174 additional cases as resolved and pending final review, all to prosaic explanations as of the report's publication.[^6]\n\nAt the November 2024 hearing, Kosloski used specific cases to show how AARO moves from public mystery to analytic resolution. He explained Mount Etna lights as likely commercial aircraft, a Puerto Rico sighting as sky lanterns, and the \"[GOFAST](/documents/2025-go-fast-case-resolution)\" Navy video as an object whose apparent speed was explained by geometry, wind, and sensor context rather than extraordinary performance.[^4][^7] AARO's public case-resolution page publishes resolved UAP case reports as named case products.[^8]\n\n## 2026 PURSUE Releases and the Western United States Event\n\nThrough 2026, AARO under Kosloski became the analytic engine behind the Department of War's [PURSUE](/events/2026-05-08-department-of-war-pursue-release-01) transparency releases, the rolling publication of unresolved UAP records on WAR.GOV/UFO. AARO contributed case analyses and chain-of-custody assessments across the tranches, including the [second](/events/2026-05-22-department-of-war-pursue-release-02) and [third](/events/2026-06-12-department-of-war-pursue-release-03) releases.[^11]\n\nThe clearest example of AARO's role is the Western United States Event in [PURSUE Release 03](/events/2026-06-12-department-of-war-pursue-release-03) on June 12, 2026, where an AARO unresolved-case analysis update was published alongside witness narrative statements and digital reconstructions describing an orange \"mother\" orb that released smaller red orbs. Consistent with his earlier testimony, the AARO products framed the case as unresolved rather than as evidence of extraterrestrial origin, and the Department of War repeatedly cautioned that many responsive materials lacked a substantiated chain-of-custody.[^11]\n\n## AARO Reporting Channels and Third-Party Claims\n\nAARO's current submission page is built for people with direct knowledge of U.S. government programs or activities related to UAP, including current and former government employees, service members, and contractors.[^9] It says the mechanism is for authorized disclosures that would otherwise be restricted by classified or controlled-access agreements, and it separately states that AARO will announce when a public reporting mechanism becomes available.[^9] The page separates direct program or activity disclosures from general public reports.\n\nThe historical-record work Kosloski inherited is also important. AARO's March 2024 Historical Record Report Volume I was published before his appointment and reviewed recurring claims about hidden U.S. government UAP programs, recovered craft, reverse engineering, and cultural touchstones such as [the Roswell incident](/events/the-roswell-incident).[^10] The report said AARO had found no verifiable evidence that any U.S. government investigation, academic-sponsored research, or official review had confirmed extraterrestrial technology, and it treated claims such as KONA BLUE as unvalidated proposals or narratives rather than proven programs.[^10]\n\n## Claims the Public Record Does Not Verify\n\nKosloski's Senate testimony, media roundtable, and AARO's official reports do not verify extraterrestrial origin, recovered alien craft, alien bodies, or a disclosed hidden reverse-engineering program.[^4][^5][^6][^10] He instead described continuing work on a small group of unresolved cases and said AARO would follow credible reports through government channels.[^4][^5]\n\nThat public role is different from first-person experiencer accounts such as [Whitley Strieber](/people/whitley-strieber): Kosloski's significance comes from federal investigation, congressional oversight, and agency-controlled evidence rather than a personal encounter claim.\n\n## References\n\n[^1]: [AARO: Leaders](https://www.aaro.mil/About/Leaders/)\n[^2]: [Defense.gov: Department of Defense Announces the New Director, All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office](https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3884318/department-of-defense-announces-the-new-director-all-domain-anomaly-resolution/)\n[^3]: [U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee: To receive testimony on the activities of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office](https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings/to-receive-testimony-on-the-activities-of-the-all-domain-anomaly-resolution-office)\n[^4]: [U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee: November 19, 2024, hearing transcript](https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/download/11-19-24_-sub---transcript)\n[^5]: [Defense.gov: Dr. Jon Kosloski, Director, AARO, media roundtable on the FY24 consolidated annual report](https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3965734/dr-jon-kosloski-director-aaro-media-roundtable-on-the-fy24-consolidated-annual/)\n[^6]: [ODNI: FY 2024 Consolidated Annual Report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena](https://www.odni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/DOD-AARO-Consolidated-Annual-Report-on-UAP-Nov2024.pdf)\n[^7]: [AARO: November 2024 Senate hearing slides](https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/download/aaro-slides-112124)\n[^8]: [AARO: UAP Case Resolution Reports](https://www.aaro.mil/UAP-Cases/UAP-Case-Resolution-Reports/)\n[^9]: [AARO: Submit a Report](https://www.aaro.mil/Submit-A-Report/)\n[^10]: [AARO: Report on the Historical Record of U.S. Government Involvement with Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, Volume I](https://www.aaro.mil/Portals/136/PDFs/AARO_Historical_Record_Report_Vol_1_2024.pdf?emci=622cd777-b774-f011-8dc9-6045bda9d96b&emdi=ea000000-0000-0000-000000000001&sourceid=1070813)\n[^11]: [Department of War PURSUE page](https://www.war.gov/UFO/#release)","readingTime":"6 min read"},"relatedRecords":[{"ref":{"type":"events","slug":"2026-06-12-department-of-war-pursue-release-03","title":"Department of War PURSUE Release 03","url":"https://disclosdex.com/events/2026-06-12-department-of-war-pursue-release-03"},"direction":"outbound","weight":2},{"ref":{"type":"events","slug":"2026-05-22-department-of-war-pursue-release-02","title":"Department of War PURSUE Release 02","url":"https://disclosdex.com/events/2026-05-22-department-of-war-pursue-release-02"},"direction":"outbound","weight":1},{"ref":{"type":"events","slug":"2026-05-08-department-of-war-pursue-release-01","title":"Department of War PURSUE Release 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