As of May 2026, the United States government operates two distinct public-facing UAP transparency platforms. AARO — the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office — at aaro.mil handles current case intake, analysis, and resolution reporting. PURSUE — the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters — at war.gov/ufo handles the declassification and release of historical legacy files. They are not the same programme and they do not have the same mandate.
AARO: The Ongoing Resolution Office
AARO was established in 2022 under the National Defense Authorization Act. Its mandate is to receive UAP reports from US military and intelligence personnel across all domains (air, sea, space, transmedium), investigate them, and provide resolution assessments. AARO publishes individual case videos, resolution reports, statistical trends, and information papers. It maintains a historical record of cases from 1996 onward. It also functions as the central investigative body for current-day UAP reporting, receiving new cases continuously. Its PR-series now runs to at least PR-018 for publicly released videos, with ongoing additions.
PURSUE: The Historical Declassification Programme
PURSUE was established by Trump’s February 19, 2026 Truth Social directive and launched May 8, 2026. Its mandate is to find, review, declassify, and release historical UAP-related government records from across the entire federal government — FBI, CIA, NSA, DOE, State Department, NASA, and all DoW components. PURSUE does not investigate new cases. It excavates the past. Release 01 contains 161 files. More tranches are coming every few weeks under the December 2026 congressional deadline.
Key Differences
- Scope: AARO covers 1996–present. PURSUE covers the entire US government historical record, potentially back to 1947.
- Agencies: AARO is DoW/IC-focused. PURSUE covers FBI, DOE, NASA, State, NSA and all others.
- Resolution approach: AARO assesses and resolves specific cases. PURSUE releases primary documents without resolution assessment — the DoW explicitly invites private-sector analysis.
- Timeline pressure: AARO has an ongoing statutory mandate. PURSUE has a specific December 2026 congressional deadline.
- Classification origin: AARO handles newly reported cases. PURSUE handles documents that were previously classified and are now being released for the first time.
Sources: aaro.mil. war.gov/ufo. Department of War Press Release, May 8, 2026. Trump Truth Social directive, February 19, 2026.