Two former defense officials who helped spur major efforts in previous sessions of Congress to foster government transparency on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) returned to the Hill last week for closed-door discussions with several lawmakers on this issue and the emerging challenges associated with drones.
“I'm confident that not only will the next steps follow, but I think we'll potentially see even more progress this year than in the last seven,” Lue Elizondo told DefenseScoop Thursday in an interview shortly after leaving these meetings.
Elizondo spent much of his early career in the shadowsworking as a career intelligence officer and counterintelligence special agent around the world on counternarcotics, counterintelligence, counterinsurgency, and other covert operations.
In the early and mid-2000s, he led the secretive, now-disbanded Pentagon task force then studying aerial anomalies called the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP). This center was essentially a precursor to the Department of Defense's new All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), which was created through the FY23 National Defense Authorization Act following growing public pressure and leading promoters like Elizondo and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Christopher Mellon.
Under the authority of the AARO, the Pentagon the scope has expanded to investigate not only UFOs, but also other types of “unidentified anomalous phenomena” – a broader term that also includes underwater objects and those that transition between environments.
Elizondo said his team for last week's series of meetings included Mellon, two attorneys and a security representative. They met in person with legislators and staff from multiple offices, including at least one senator, as well as Reps. Anna Luna, Tim Burchett and Eric Burlison. Officials from several of those offices acknowledged the meetings but declined to provide comment on specific discussions.
“The goal was twofold. The first was to offer our assistance to help them find the information that they are looking for and to help, I think, increase transparency (on UAPs) on a subject that is often misunderstood and not very appreciated. And we are seeing now with drone incidents that it is becoming more and more difficult to differentiate between typical or classic UAP-type incursions and signatures, and those of drones, especially now with the proliferation and the fact that the technology continues to improve and better,” Elizondo said.
They discussed how, as he put it, “drones can now do what we could only dream of in 2017.”
Elizondo noted that advanced battery technologies now allow unmanned aerial systems to deploy on longer flights with better power options. Newer, lighter materials, like carbon fiber, are more accessible and more affordable to use. And engine innovation reduces wear and tear on modern systems.
“Drones are now being used like never before. And in fact, we're seeing in Ukraine the lethality of these drones is such that drones are now causing more casualties than artillery. So this is changing warfare. Now, if there's one thing we haven't learned since 9/11, it's that we don't seem to be taking these emerging technologies very seriously. It's a matter of time – not if, but when – an adversary, whether he or she whether a state or non-state actor, decides to deploy these capabilities in a hostile manner” against U.S. territory, he said.
According to Elizondo, a simple difference between UAP and drones comes down to attribution.
“We're hoping that the drones are attributable to country
However, “it may be that some of these UAPs are indeed new drones, (or) some sort of adversary technology that is flying unchallenged, as we saw over Langley Air Force Base,” which has disrupted U.S. military flights, Elizondo added.
About a year after this incident, the Pentagon confirmed that for 17 days in December 2023, officials reported incursions of unauthorized unmanned aerial systems in the restricted airspace above Langley, where highly advanced military assets are hosted.
More recently, military officials have expressed uncertainty and frustration regarding a series of disconcerting incidents where mysterious drones were repeatedly reported maneuvering above at least two defense installations and elsewhere in New Jersey late last year.
The Trump administration suggested in late January that most of these drones were approved by the Federal Aviation Administration and were not seen as threats.
“People will tell you, 'Well, they're all attributable drones. » Why didn't we get a single one? Why haven't we found a single source, a single person (officially) who actually pilots one of these machines? Why don't we have the electromagnetic signature, right? Elizondo said.
In meetings with members of Congress last week, his team called for more public transparency about what the government knows about these recent incursions — and for AARO experts to investigate them.
“Not everything is identified until it's identified. You can't have a conversation about drones of unknown origin without having a conversation about UAP. You have to think of it as a big umbrella of the UAP problem, and then drones are a smaller umbrella, under that bigger umbrella. Drones are a subset of a larger problem,” Elizondo noted.
Discussion participants also explored possibilities for new legislation to further push government campaigns to publish UAP documents and share information this year.
“We also discussed the need to implement certain administrative tools and mechanisms, which Congress has the authority to implement, to force elements of the intelligence and defense community to be more open, not only with unclassified information, but also with classified information,” Elizondo said.
Lawmakers were also eager to take stock of some of their “biggest concerns about managing expectations,” in the context of their constituents' demands for government documentation and oversight of UAP-related projects and materials, according to Elizondo.
“I've said before that disclosure and transparency is a process – it's not an event – which means you'll be sadly disappointed if you think all the disclosures are going to come at once. Congress is very concerned. They want to make sure the American people know that this is just the first step in a multi-step process to give the American people what they want and what they deserve,” he told DefenseScoop.
