Overview

• A 1980s Air Force colonel admitted to AARO investigators that he distributed falsified flying saucer photographs at a Nevada bar to mask F-117 Nighthawk tests near Area 51.
• Investigators uncovered a Pentagon hazing ritual called “Yankee Blue” that duped new commanders into believing they were joining an alien research unit before the Defense Department banned the practice in 2023.
• AARO’s probe revealed that former Air Force captain Robert Salas was misled about a 1967 Montana missile-site incident that he believed was a UFO encounter but was actually an electromagnetic pulse test.
• Department of Defense officials confirmed that UFO conspiracy theories were deliberately inflated over decades to obscure classified weapons research during the Cold War.
• The Pentagon now faces congressional scrutiny as the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office continues to investigate 21 unexplained aerial incidents and prepares a follow-up historical report later this year.