Admiral Confronts Ex AARO Director On UFO Disinfo

After resigning from the All Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, AARO, in late 2023 and going quiet for nearly two years, the office’s first director, Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, returned to a public stage on April 9th, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia. Kirkpatrick doubled down on the conclusions that have made him one of the most polarizing figures in the UAP community. He stated, on record, that AARO found no evidence of alien technology and no evidence of any unauthorized legacy programs.

According to his public criticism record, Kirkpatrick’s March 2024 historical report drew sharp pushback from former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Christopher Mellon and from Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies analyst Robert Powell, both of whom flagged factual errors and sourcing problems. David Grusch publicly disputed Kirkpatrick’s characterization of his role with the office. And during a September 2025 House Oversight hearing, Chair Anna Paulina Luna called Kirkpatrick a documented liar from the hearing room and floated a subpoena.

Reference to AARO’s February 2024 declassification, Kirkpatrick described Kona Blue as a 2011 to 2012 proposed Special Access Program at the Department of Homeland Security that was never approved and never received material. He framed the broader story as a small group trying to extract congressional earmarks. The man who actually designed Kona Blue, however, tells a different story. According to Dr. James Lacatski’s 2023 book and his Weaponized Podcast appearance with Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp, Lacatski stated to a sitting senator and a DHS undersecretary that the United States is in possession of a craft of unknown origin and had successfully gained access to its interior. In his March 2026 follow up book, Lacatski hints that some portion of Kona Blue did move forward, just not under the original DHS umbrella.

Kona Blue

Kirkpatrick also revisited what he calls Yankee Blue, a tradition he claims has run across multiple Air Force commands, including Central Command, for around thirty years. New security control office officers, he says, are handed a quad chart describing a fictional alien program, made to sign a non disclosure agreement, and then watched to see how long it takes them to figure out it is not real.

Tim Gallaudet (left) and Sean Kirkpatrick (right)

The most direct confrontation of the night came from retired Navy Admiral Tim Gallaudet, a former NOAA administrator with a doctorate in oceanography. After Kirkpatrick attributed the 2004 Nimitz Tic Tac to a calibration sphere, Gallaudet pushed back face to face, stating he had no other geophysical explanation for what those Navy pilots described. He then accused Kirkpatrick of running a misinformation and disinformation campaign. Kirkpatrick rejected the characterization on the spot.

According to exclusive Ask a Pol UAP interviews by Matt Laslo Capitol Hill is moving against the office Kirkpatrick built. Representative Tim Burchett confirmed AARO briefers were present at a recent UAP related SCIF, and on April 6th he introduced House Resolution 8197, a four page bill that would abolish AARO within sixty days, redistribute its functions, and bar any centralized successor. As of this recording, the bill sits with the House Armed Services Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Reference to a March 2026 X post, Anna Paulina Luna publicly recommended to Burchett that AARO be completely defunded. Representative Eric Burlison confirmed the forty six classified UAP video files at the center of Luna’s task force are being assembled for Congress, though he warned they may not be released to the public.

Luna's X post

Sources

Laslo, M. (2026a, April 23). UAP Caucus Co-chair attended 2 classified SCIF briefings in 2 weeks. Ask a Pol UAP. https://www.askapoluaps.com/p/2-ufo-briefings-in-a-week

Laslo, M. (2026b, April 25). Intel community prepping videos for UAP Caucus, not public. Ask a Pol UAP. https://www.askapoluaps.com/p/burlison-ufo-files-dubious-missing-scientists

National Capital Area Skeptics (NCAS). (2026, April 27). All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO): a Duality in Mission Regarding UAPs (Sean Kirkpatrick) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi0H_mkwTW0