The director of the U.S. government's UFO analysis office says there is "evidence" of concerning unidentified flying object activity "in our backyard."
Physicist Sean Kirkpatrick, who heads the congressionally-mandated All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, told Politico that this UFO activity can be attributed to one of two extraordinary sources: either a foreign power or "aliens."
"The best thing that could come out of this job is to prove that there are aliens," said Kirkpatrick, who is preparing to retire in December. "If we don't prove it's aliens, then what we're finding is evidence of other people doing stuff in our backyard. And that's not good."
Kirkpatrick said that "none" of the hundreds of military UFO reports analyzed by his office recently "have been positively attributed to foreign activities."
At the same time, Kirkpatrick and other senior defense officials have ruled out the possibility that secret U.S. programs or experimental aircraft explain the phenomena.
Kirkpatrick says suspicious UFO cases will "continue to be investigated" for foreign links.
The Defense Department established the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office in 2022 to investigate mysterious craft operating in air and space, on land, in the sea or under the sea that are not immediately identifiable and might pose a threat to national security.
Last week, the Pentagon launched a new reporting form for current and former military members, federal employees and contractors to come forward with direct knowledge of alleged U.S. government programs related to UFOs dating back to 1945. The information is being collected as part of a congressionally directed report on historical UFO programs allegedly overseen by the U.S. government.
Meantime, Kilpatrick said his office does not currently have evidence that any such programs ever existed.
"We do have a requirement by law to bring those whistleblowers or other interviewees in who think that it does exist, and they may have information that pertains to that," he said in a statement. "We do not have any of that evidence right now."
The Department of Defense is currently in the process of searching for Kilpatrick's replacement.