More than three years after Congress mandated civilian access to Pentagon UAP reporting channels, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office still lacks a public reporting mechanism—raising concerns about critical data gaps in federal investigations. The delay has prompted questions about when civilians will be able to contribute to the government's UAP database.
The Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) has failed to meet its congressionally mandated deadline to establish a civilian reporting system for unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), according to recent reporting from Unknown Country. Despite President Trump's sweeping UAP disclosure initiative and the release of five batches of declassified files since May 2026, ordinary Americans remain unable to directly submit UAP sightings to AARO through official channels. The situation highlights a significant gap in the federal government's purported commitment to comprehensive UAP investigation.
Under the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, AARO was required to launch a secure reporting portal for government employees, military personnel, and contractors with knowledge of classified UAP programs or activities. That mechanism launched in the fall of 2023 as promised. However, Section 1673 of the same legislation explicitly mandated "a mechanism for members of the general public to make reports," which the Pentagon acknowledged in August 2023 would be announced "in coming months." More than three years later, no such public reporting system exists. Military personnel and Pentagon civilian employees are directed to report through their command structures, while civilian pilots are encouraged to contact air traffic control. The general public has no equivalent avenue.
The implications of this reporting gap are significant. The AARO received 319 UAP reports during its most recent reporting period (June 2024 to May 2025), with civilian pilots contributing substantially to the data through Federal Aviation Administration channels. Yet civilians who lack aviation credentials or military affiliation cannot systematically report their sightings to the Pentagon's official UAP office. AARO Director Jon Kosloski has stated that the office is "collecting as much data as possible," and his team has taken "meaningful steps to improve data collection and retention, bolster sensor development, effectively triage UAP reports, and remove the stigma of reporting a UAP event." These efforts appear limited to non-civilian populations.
When the Pentagon initially promised a public reporting mechanism in 2023, officials indicated they were conducting "final reviews" to ensure compliance with the Privacy Act of 1974, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, the Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act, and the Paperwork Reduction Act. No updates on the status of those reviews have been publicly released since that announcement. The extended delay raises questions about whether bureaucratic obstacles, classification concerns, or resource constraints account for the gap, or whether leadership has simply deprioritized opening a channel that could potentially overwhelm the office with non-military reports.
The absence of civilian reporting creates a blind spot in AARO's mandate. The office's 2025 report emphasized that strategic U.S. military sites are over-represented in UAP cases because they are more closely monitored, a recognition that AARO's data collection is skewed toward military facilities and military observers. Civilian sightings over populated areas, national parks, and remote regions remain largely excluded from official analysis. Established civilian research organizations like the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) and the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) have accumulated decades of reports predating AARO's creation. Unknown Country's investigation noted several unanswered questions: When will AARO open civilian reporting? What has caused the three-year delay? And crucially, when it does launch, will AARO incorporate historical civilian reports from NUFORC, MUFON, and other archives?
The lack of verified evidence suggesting the reporting restriction was deliberately designed to conceal civilian UAP evidence offers little reassurance given the broader political context. The Trump administration has prioritized UAP disclosure through military and intelligence channels while maintaining tight control over which files are released through the PURSUE initiative. Meanwhile, Congress continues to push for greater transparency. In December 2025, lawmakers included provisions in the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act requiring the Pentagon to brief Congress on UAP intercepts dating back to 2004. This legislative pressure may eventually force AARO to establish public reporting, but the continued delay undermines the administration's stated commitment to comprehensive UAP investigation.
Pentagon officials have consistently emphasized that UAP incidents near sensitive military installations represent potential national security threats. The office's FY 2025 report documented 50 notifications involving unmanned aerial systems near U.S. nuclear infrastructure, weapons storage, and launch facilities—a 177.8 percent increase from the previous fiscal year. If civilian-operated aircraft or uncrewed systems are causing unexplained incidents in restricted airspace, civilians might possess critical information about origins, operators, or technical characteristics. Yet AARO has no mechanism to systematically collect such intelligence.
Until AARO establishes a functional civilian reporting portal and clarifies its policy on incorporating historical civilian data, the Pentagon's UAP investigation remains incomplete. The absence of direct civilian reporting channels contradicts the Trump administration's rhetorical commitment to full transparency and leaves significant investigative blind spots. As Unknown Country noted, without public access to federal UAP reporting systems, the Pentagon's dataset may be missing an important part of the sky.
