AARO’s own UAP Records page at aaro.mil contains an entry for KONA BLUE — the Department of Homeland Security programme that multiple government interviewees described as a sensitive compartment established to protect the retrieval and exploitation of non-human biologics. The entry is on a .mil website run by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office. It is part of the official public record.
What the AARO Entry States
AARO first learned of KONA BLUE through interviews conducted as part of its historical review programme. The official AARO description states that multiple interviewees identified it as a DHS sensitive compartment established to protect the retrieval and exploitation of non-human biologics. AARO then investigated the programme independently.
AARO’s finding: KONA BLUE was a prospective Special Access Program — meaning it was proposed and given a code name, but was never formally approved and never received dedicated funding. The programme existed as a proposal within DHS, not as an operational programme.
What This Means
The distinction between “proposed but never approved” and “never existed” is critical. KONA BLUE was real enough to receive a code name, real enough to be classified as a sensitive compartment, and real enough that multiple interviewees independently described it to AARO investigators as a programme for handling non-human biologics. The fact that it was never operationalised does not mean the underlying belief — that there were non-human biologics to retrieve — was not held by people with significant positions in the national security apparatus.
A prospective Special Access Program requires a sponsor, a proposal document, and a review process. Someone at DHS believed the retrieval of non-human biologics was a realistic enough prospect to propose a formal classified programme around it.
The Oracle Assessment
KONA BLUE is on AARO’s public records page alongside NARA, NASA, and the 2025 UAP Workshop white paper. AARO placed it there as part of its historical review findings. The government’s official position is that KONA BLUE was never approved. The government’s official record also confirms that multiple intelligence community members told investigators it was created to handle non-human biologics. Both things are simultaneously true in the public record. That is the current status of UAP disclosure in the United States.
Source: aaro.mil/UAP-Records/. AARO UAP Records/Information Papers, KONA BLUE entry. Department of Homeland Security.