Established in 2022, AARO was preceded by the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF), a 2020[2] to 2021 program within the Office of Naval Intelligence used to "standardize collection and reporting" of sightings of UFOs.

[7] On April 12, 2021, the Pentagon confirmed the authenticity of pictures and videos gathered by the Task Force, purportedly showing "what appears to be pyramid-shaped objects" hovering above USS Russell in 2019, off the coast of California, with spokeswoman Susan Gough saying "I can confirm that the referenced photos and videos were taken by US Navy personnel.

The video, recorded on July 15, 2019, in the combat information center of USS Omaha, purportedly shows a spherical object flying over the ocean as seen through an infrared (IR) camera at night, moving across the screen before stopping and easing down into the water.

[11][12][13][14] Science writer Mick West has argued that the pyramid images in the video were most likely an airplane, Jupiter, and stars that were distorted when the lens was out of focus.

The report said that 18 featured unusual movement patterns or flight characteristics, and more analysis was needed to determine if those sightings represented breakthrough technology.

[18] The report did not link the sightings to extraterrestrial life, with officials saying, "We have no clear indications that there is any nonterrestrial explanation for them — but we will go wherever the data takes us".

"[22] When asked about the 143 out of 144 military encounters with mysterious flying objects – including several which appeared to demonstrate extraordinary technology – director of national intelligence Avril Haines said, "There's always the question of 'is there something else that we simply do not understand, that might come extraterrestrially".

[23] After speaking with several of the naval aviators who observed one of the unknown crafts, Administrator of NASA Bill Nelson said he is convinced that the pilots "saw something, and their radars locked onto it."

When asked to speculate about the nature of the phenomena, Nelson responded, "Who am I to say that planet Earth is the only location of a life form that is civilized and organized like ours?".

[26][27] Writing for Politico, Bryan Bender quoted Christopher Mellon, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and an advisor to the company To the Stars, as saying "It further legitimizes the issue", adding "That in itself is extremely important.

Pentagon spokesperson Susan Gough confirmed to Kloor for an article on ScienceInsider, the online news section of the AAAS that Taylor had a leading role on the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force and was informally referred to as its chief scientist.

Kloor wrote, "Critics are simply astonished by what they call his antiscientific embrace of the supernatural — and the Pentagon's willingness to work with him".

According to skeptic and science writer Robert Sheaffer, "I'm starting to see why [the government's] task force was so unsuccessful in identifying its UAPs!".

[35] The establishing legislation empowers the office to review records as far back as 1945 to determine if federal government or contractor UFO programs were in existence that may have shielded information from either the White House or the US Congress.

[36] Resourcing for AARO will be visible at the Program Budget Review process (PBR); USD(I&S) is to invite the participation of Principals from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

"The mission of the task force is to detect, analyze and catalog UAPs that could potentially pose a threat to U.S. national security."

[33] On August 30, 2023, the AARO's public website was launched, without an email address or phone number for military and civilian UAP reports, as previously mandated by NDAA legislation.

[78] The report revealed for the first time that elements within the US government had proposed to create a Special Access Program under the Department of Homeland Security, to be named "Kona Blue", to reverse engineer any extraterrestrial craft that came into its possession.