The UAP Task Force (UAPTF) was an official U.S. Department of Defense body established in August 2020 under the FY2020 NDAA, mandated by Congress to detect, identify, and attribute unidentified aerial phenomena. It was the direct predecessor to aaro (All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office), which superseded it in 2022.
Origins and Mandate
The UAPTF was stood up following the June 2020 Senate Intelligence Committee provision directing the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security to establish a formal UAP reporting and analysis process. It operated under the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI).
Activities
- In October 2020, the UAPTF Director met with Space, Intelligence, Engineering, and Oversight leadership at the DoW OIG — the contents of this meeting were withheld under FOIA Exemption (b)(5) deliberative-process privilege per src-dow-oig-foia-uap-redacted-2026-06.
- Produced the June 25, 2021 unclassified “Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” — the first official UAP report to Congress since Project Blue Book.
- The DoW OIG’s Evaluation Proposal 585 (FOIA case DODOIG-2021-000806), which reviewed the DoD’s actions regarding UAP, explicitly examined the UAPTF and is substantially classified. Per src-dow-oig-foia-uap-redacted-2026-06, the entire “Potential Benefits of Performing” section and methodology steps remain redacted under national-security exemptions.
Transition to AARO
The UAPTF was dissolved and replaced by aaro in July 2022 per the FY2022 NDAA, which expanded the mandate to all domains (air, land, sea, space, undersea, transmedium).