Inspector General Robert P. Storch announced today that the DoD OIG released an unclassified summary of the previously issued classified report, “Evaluation of the DoD’s Actions Regarding Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.” The report reviewed the extent to which the DoD, Military Services, Defense agencies, and Military Department Counterintelligence Organizations took intelligence, counterintelligence, and force protection actions to detect, report, collect, analyze, and identify unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP).
A full version of the classified report was issued on August 15, 2023. IG Storch stated,
“Given the significant public interest in how the DoD is addressing UAPs, we are releasing this unclassified summary to be as transparent as possible with the American people about our oversight work on this important issue.”
As the unclassified summary explains, the DoD OIG found that the DoD does not have a comprehensive, coordinated approach to address UAP. For example, the DoD OIG determined that DoD Components developed varying processes to collect, analyze, and identify UAP incidents.
The DoD OIG also found that the DoD’s lack of a comprehensive, coordinated approach to address UAP may pose a threat to military forces and national security. For instance, the DoD OIG determined that the DoD has no overarching UAP policy and, as a result, it lacks assurance that national security and flight safety threats to the United States from UAP have been identified and mitigated.
To address the issues identified in this report, the DoD OIG made 11 recommendations to the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, in coordination with the Director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office; the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force; and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. For example, the DoD OIG recommended that the DoD issue a policy to integrate roles, responsibilities, requirements, and coordination procedures regarding UAP into existing intelligence, counterintelligence, and force protection policies and procedures.