022 SASC Transcript 2023

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Stenographic Transcript Before the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES UNITED STATES SENATE HEARING TO RECEIVE TESTIMONY ON THE MISSION, ACTIVITIES, OVERSIGHT, AND BUDGET OF THE ALL-DOM AIN ANOMALY RESOLUTION OFFICE Wednesday, April 19, 2023 Washington, D.C. ALDERSON COURT REPORTING 1111 14TH STREET NW SUITE 1050 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005 (202) 289-2260 www.aldersonreporting.com All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office Chief of Staff, AARO Auth

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NARA NAID 493468580 · RG 615

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Stenographic Transcript Before the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES UNITED STATES SENATE HEARING TO RECEIVE TESTIMONY ON THE MISSION, ACTIVITIES, OVERSIGHT, AND BUDGET OF THE ALL-DOM AIN ANOMALY RESOLUTION OFFICE Wednesday, April 19, 2023 Washington, D.C. ALDERSON COURT REPORTING 1111 14TH STREET NW SUITE 1050 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005 (202) 289-2260 www.aldersonreporting.com All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office Chief of Staff, AARO Authority: FY24 NDAA, now codified at 44 U.S.C. 2107 Date: 2/6/2025 Released in Full: X Case Number: 330UAP000022 Page d etermined to be Unclassified Reviewed by Chief of Staff, AARO IAW FY24 NDAA, Section 1841(a)(1)(C) Date: 2/6/2025 02 2 1 Scheduling@TP.One800.FOR.DEPO www.TP.One(800.367.3376) 1 HEARING TO RECEIVE TESTIMONY ON THE 2 MISSION, ACTIVITIES, OVERSIGHT, AND BUDGET OF THE 3 ALL-DOMAIN ANOMALY RESOLUTION OFFICE 4 5 Wednesday, April 19, 2023 6 7 U.S. Senate 8 Subcommittee on Emerging 9 Threats and Capabilities 10 Committee on Armed Services 11 Washington, D.C. 12 13 The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 11:08 a.m. 14 in Room SR-232A, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. 15 Kirsten E. Gillibrand, chairwoman of the subcommittee, 16 presiding. 17 Subcommittee Members Present: Senators Gillibrand 18 [presiding], Rosen, and Ernst. 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Page determined to be Unclassified Reviewed by Chief of Staff, AARO IAW FY24 NDAA, Section 1841(a)(1)(C) Date: 2/6/2025 022 2 Scheduling@TP.One800.FOR.DEPO www.TP.One(800.367.3376) 1 OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. KIRSTEN E. GILLIBRAND, U.S. 2 SENATOR FROM NEW YORK 3 Senator Gillibrand: The hearing will come to order. 4 I would first like to thank our witness, Dr. Sean 5 Kirkpatrick, for testifying here and in today's earlier 6 closed session, and for his long and distinguished career 7 both in the intelligence community and in the Department of 8 Defense. 9 Dr. Kirkpatrick is the director of the All-Domain 10 Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO. Congress established 11 this office in law to get to the bottom of the very serious 12 problem of unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP. 13 Dr. Kirkpatrick has a very difficult mission. While we 14 have made progress there remains a stigma attached to these 15 phenomenon. There is a vast and complex citizen engagement 16 and there is also very challenging scientific and technical 17 hurdles. 18 So we appreciate the willingness of Dr. Kirkpatrick to 19 lean in on this issue and the work that he has accomplished 20 thus far and we look forward to both his opening statement 21 and his presentation of examples of the work AARO has done. 22 In late 2017 media reports surfaced about activities 23 set in motion by the late long-serving Majority Leader 24 Senator Harry Reid more than a decade ago. We learned that 25 there was strong evidence of advanced technology reflected Page determined to be Unclassified Reviewed by Chief of Staff, AARO IAW FY24 NDAA, Section 1841(a)(1)(C) Date: 2/6/2025 022 3 Scheduling@TP.One800.FOR.DEPO www.TP.One(800.367.3376) 1 in the features and performance characteristics of many 2 objects observed by our highly-trained service members 3 operating top of the line military equipment. 4 We learned that for at least the past eight years 5 military pilots frequently encountered unknown objects in 6 controlled airspace off both the East and West Coasts, 7 across the continental United States, in test and training 8 areas and ranges. 9 We do not know where they are -- they come from, who 10 made them, or how they operate. As former Deputy Secretary 11 of Defense David Norquist observed, had any of these objects 12 had the label made in China there would be an uproar in the 13 government and media. There would be no stone unturned and 14 no effort spared to find out what we were dealing with. 15 We can look at the recent incursion of the unidentified 16 PRC high-altitude balloon as an example and because of the 17 UFO stigma the response has been irresponsibly anemic and 18 slow. 19 Congress established AARO. We made it clear that we 20 expect vigorous action. We added very substantial initial 21 funding for the office. But despite our best efforts the 22 President's budget for fiscal years '23 and '24 requested 23 only enough funding to defray the operating expenses of 24 AARO. 25 It included almost no funds to sustain the critical Page determined to be Unclassified Reviewed by Chief of Staff, AARO IAW FY24 NDAA, Section 1841(a)(1)(C) Date: 2/6/2025 022 4 Scheduling@TP.One800.FOR.DEPO www.TP.One(800.367.3376) 1 research and development necessary to support a serious 2 investigation. It took a letter to Secretary Austin from 3 Senator Rubio and me and 14 other senators to get the office 4 temporary relief for the current fiscal year. 5 In this hearing I intend to probe a series of specific 6 issues. In the recent incidents where multiple objects were 7 shot d…

Metadata

Agency
Department of Defense. Office of the Secretary of Defense. (09/18/1947 - )
Classification
UNCLASSIFIED
Department
Department of Defense. Office of the Secretary of Defense. (09/18/1947 - )
Confidence60
Credibility70

NARA Source

NAID
493468580
File
022_SASC_Transcript_2023.pdf
Type
application/pdf

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022 SASC Transcript 2023 · UFOIntel