AARO Shutdown Bill Targets UAP Office Now

On April 6, 2026, Congressman Tim Burchett introduced H.R. 8197, a bill to terminate AARO, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, the Department of Defense body currently responsible for UAP investigation. According to the bill’s text, the Secretary of War would have 60 days to shut the office down and transfer its functions across other DoD elements. The legislation also includes a hard prohibition preventing either the Secretary of War or the Director of National Intelligence from creating any new centralized replacement office, making a simple rebrand legally impossible.

The move followed a March 21st post on X by Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna publicly recommending to the Chairman of the congressional DOGE subcommittee that AARO be completely disbanded and defunded. Luna’s frustration with the office runs deep. In April 2024 she walked out of a classified AARO briefing calling it a nothingburger. By September 2025 she was calling former AARO director Sean Kirkpatrick a documented liar on the congressional record, and reading into that record a critique from former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Christopher Mellon, who described AARO’s historical report as the most error-ridden government document he had encountered in decades of service. AARO has not published its 2025 annual report and has not briefed reporters in nearly a year.

The legislative push gains additional weight when considered alongside recent statements from Dr. James Lacatski, the scientist who directed AAWSAP, the largest government-funded UAP investigation in United States history. Lacatski stated recently that Congress is currently being led in the wrong direction on UAP matters and that he cannot correct what has already entered the official record. Columbia University astronomer Dr. David Kipping separately noted that without coordinated investigative infrastructure, the scientific framework to formally evaluate UAP evidence does not yet exist at institutional scale. H.R. 8197 is now before the House Committee on Armed Services and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. No vote has been scheduled.

Sources

Burchett, T. (n.d.). H.R.8197 — To terminate the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office of the Department of Defense, and for other purposes. In Congress.gov. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/8197/text

Dr. Mayim Bialik. (2026, April 7). The Disturbing Truth about Aliens & Why We’re running out of time | Dr. David Kipping [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=763y6r2KatE

Jeremy Corbell. (2026, April 8). Dr. James Lacatski — This is UFO disclosure, as far as it can go [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW02-PuPMJ8