The former head of AARO, Sean Kirkpatrick, wrote an article on his way out.
Here’s What I Learned as the U.S. Government’s UFO Hunter | Scientific American
The article for the most part touches on the things he has said publicly in testimony and his interviews. Talks about the erosion of critical thinking. Laments Congress’s embrace of unsubstantiated reports. Notes that there is no record of any president or senior intelligence or military leader knowing anything definitive about the phenomenon.
He connects the dots in the historical record in an odd way. Focuses mainly on the most recent past. Suggests that most of the phenomenon comes from misunderstandings, misidentification, and US programs. Maybe. I’m sure that explains a lot. It doesn’t explain how the modern phenomenon began back in the late 1940s and took hold in the USG. This predates any US technology flying in the sky.
In many ways, his article reminds me of Edward Condon’s introduction to the famous UFO study in 1969. While Condon was completely dismissive of the phenomenon, Kirkpatrick does admit the phenomenon is worth studying.
Bottom line, Kirkpatrick’s article lays out a POV that I am largely in agreement with. The Government doesn’t know what the phenomenon is. They have theories and data they are not sharing with the public. Some of these theories may be out there and border on the highly strange. In 1948, the famous Twining memo (declassified decades later) said we have no crashed debris. I think that likely remains true today, although we may have material we can’t fully explain.
On the other hand, if Grousch is right, then whatever we have is buried so deeply in programs and off the books that it might as well not exist. FYI, he supposedly will be writing an OPED in the coming weeks that will likely push back on Kirkpatrick’s article. According to a recent interview he gave, his disclosure agreement has been adjusted that allows him to say more than he has in the past.