PURSUE Release 01: FBI Photo B8

FBI Photo B8 is a one-page PDF released in the Department of War's PURSUE Release 01 on May 8, 2026. The release metadata identifies the source agency as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, places the incident in the Western United States, and dates the underlying event only to late 2025.¹²

The catalog description says the FBI submitted a UAP report to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office based on a still image derived from a U.S. military system in 2025. It also says the original imagery was altered with redactions before submission, no accompanying mission report was provided, and the operator reported being unable to positively identify the UAP.²

  Redacted Reticle Image

The released PDF contains a single monochrome, grainy image with a central crosshair reticle, horizontal and vertical scale marks, and multiple black redaction bars.³ A small dark circular mark appears just to the right of the reticle center, slightly above the horizontal scale. The lower background shows an indistinct mountain range or terrain band, but the public record does not identify the sensor, aircraft, altitude, range, direction, or collection circumstances.²³

The image displays a lower-left timestamp reading 12/31/99 18:10:18. The release metadata says the image date is incorrect because the system date and time had not been set, so the visible timestamp should not be treated as the incident date or time.²³

  Limited Identification Evidence

The supportable inference is limited: FBI Photo B8 documents an FBI-submitted AARO UAP report tied to a redacted U.S. military-system still in which an operator could not identify a small dark visible mark.² The record does not establish the mark's size, distance, altitude, speed, material, origin, motion, or whether it represents an object rather than an imaging artifact or background feature.

Photo B8 matters because it shows both disclosure and constraint in the same record. The public release preserves provenance, redaction status, operator non-identification, and the visible image artifact, while the missing mission report and technical collection context prevent independent identification from the PDF alone.¹²³

  References

  References

1. war.gov ↩ ↩²

2. war.gov ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

3. war.gov ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴