AARO traces directly to the 2021 DoD policy shift that moved UAP work from the existing UAP Task Force structure into a formalized, broader office model after the DNI preliminary assessment identified reporting and analytic gaps.12
In November 2021, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks directed the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security to establish AOIMSG as the successor to the Navy’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, with DNI coordination and a mandate to synchronize detection, identification, reporting, and mitigation actions for incursions.34
On July 15, 2022, the DoD formally renamed AOIMSG as AARO under the fiscal-year 2022 NDAA expansion and appointed Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick as director, with mission language including anomalous, unidentified space, airborne, submerged, and transmedium objects.567
The AARO establishment memo also listed six initial AARO Executive Council lines of effort spanning surveillance, reporting, system design, intelligence operations, mitigation, governance, and science and technology.6
Congressional and statutory structure now defines AARO’s duties in 50 U.S.C. 3373: standardized DoD-IC incident reporting, cross-domain coordination with FAA and NASA, annual reporting, line-organization assignments, and reporting directly to senior DoD and IC leadership for operational and security matters.8
Statutorily, 50 U.S.C. 3373b requires a secure reporting mechanism for authorized disclosures of unidentified anomalous events and related programs, with protections against reprisal for authorized reporters and mandatory committee briefings through December 31, 2026.910
By November 2024, the DoD and ODNI reported AARO’s annual findings to Congress, covering May 2023–June 2024 data and more than 1,600 total reviews in process, while AARO’s current leadership continued operational reporting expansion.1112
In 2024 the DoD launched AARO’s secure reporting phase for authorized federal personnel, and AARO’s website added 2026-period public records products, including a February 13, 2026 workshop white paper and ongoing release-focused documentation efforts.1314