What the letters mean

AAROAll-domain Anomaly Resolution OfficeAgency or office

The Pentagon office set up in 2022 to collect and analyze UAP reports across air, sea, space and land. It replaced the UAP Task Force. More →

AATIPAdvanced Aerospace Threat Identification ProgramProgram, on the record

The name used for the Pentagon UAP effort revealed by the New York Times in December 2017. It grew out of AAWSAP; the two names are often used for the same program. More →

AAWSAPAdvanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications ProgramProgram, on the record

The Defense Intelligence Agency study Congress funded in 2008, run under contract by Robert Bigelow's company BAASS. Its records appeared in the sixth 2026 release. More →

AFOSIAir Force Office of Special InvestigationsAgency or office

The Air Force's criminal and counterintelligence agency. Often shortened to OSI. More →

Air Materiel CommandAir Materiel Command (AMC)Agency or office

The Air Force command at what is now Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Its intelligence department, where Col. Howard McCoy was a senior officer from 1946 to 1949, was involved in running Projects Sign and Grudge. More →

Antigravity

Any way of cancelling, blocking or reversing gravity. No accepted experiment has shown one, but it comes up again and again as a way UAP might fly. More →

APROAerial Phenomena Research Organization

A civilian UFO research group active from 1952 to 1988.

ATFLIRAdvanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared

The targeting pod on Navy F/A-18 jets that recorded the 2004 and 2015 Navy videos. It films in infrared and visible light. More →

ATICAir Technical Intelligence CenterAgency or office

The Air Force intelligence center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Project Blue Book was based there from 1952, and field reports of flying discs were sent there for study, as the released Blue Book and FBI files show. More →

BAASSBigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies

Robert Bigelow's company that won the AAWSAP contract in 2008. More →

BattelleBattelle Memorial InstituteAgency or office

A private research nonprofit that runs or helps run several national laboratories. In the 1950s it analyzed Air Force UFO reports for Project Blue Book. Some researchers, including UAP Gerb, say it is central to a legacy program; Battelle has not commented. More →

Biefeld-Brown effect

The push a high-voltage capacitor gives itself, found by Townsend Brown and Paul Biefeld in the 1920s. Brown tied it to gravity; later tests put it down to ion wind. More →

BiologicsAlleged or unconfirmed

Whistleblowers' word for bodies or remains of non-human pilots said to be recovered with craft. David Grusch used it under oath in 2023. More →

Blue BookProject Blue BookProgram, on the record

The Air Force's public UFO investigation from 1952 to 1969, after the earlier Projects Sign (1948) and Grudge (1949). Its records are at the National Archives. More →

CAUS v. NSACitizens Against UFO Secrecy v. National Security Agency

A 1980 FOIA lawsuit over the NSA's UFO records. Judge Gerhard Gesell let the NSA keep them withheld after reading a classified affidavit in private; the appeals court agreed, and the Supreme Court declined the case in 1982. More →

CE1 to CE5Close encounters of the first to fifth kind

J. Allen Hynek's scale: CE1 is a close sighting, CE2 leaves physical traces, CE3 includes beings. Others later added CE4 (abduction) and CE5 (contact people try to start). More →

CIACentral Intelligence AgencyAgency or office

The US foreign intelligence agency. It convened the 1953 Robertson Panel on UFOs, funded the first remote viewing work at SRI, and has released UFO files through FOIA. More →

CICCombat information center

The room on a warship where radar and sensor data are watched. Many Navy UAP accounts start there. More →

Condon ReportProgram, on the record

The 1968 University of Colorado study, funded by the Air Force, that said further UFO study was unlikely to help science. Blue Book closed after it. More →

CRVCoordinate remote viewing

The remote viewing method developed by Ingo Swann at SRI, in which a viewer is given only a set of numbers for a target. More →

CSETICenter for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence

The group Steven Greer founded in 1990. More →

CUFOSCenter for UFO Studies

The research group J. Allen Hynek founded in 1973. It keeps a large case archive. More →

DARPADefense Advanced Research Projects AgencyAgency or office

The Pentagon's research agency for advanced technology.

DHSDepartment of Homeland SecurityAgency or office

The domestic security department. AARO says a UAP program called Kona Blue was proposed to it in 2011 but never funded.

DIADefense Intelligence AgencyAgency or office

The Pentagon's military intelligence agency. It ran AAWSAP.

DIRDDefense Intelligence Reference Document

One of 38 technical papers on future aerospace science written for AAWSAP, on topics like warp drive and invisibility cloaks. More →

DNI / ODNI(Office of the) Director of National IntelligenceAgency or office

The head of the US intelligence community. ODNI published the first UAP assessment for Congress in June 2021 and later annual reports with AARO.

DoD / DoWDepartment of Defense / Department of WarAgency or office

The Pentagon. It took Department of War as a second name in 2025, which is why the UAP records are at war.gov/ufo. More →

DOEDepartment of EnergyAgency or office

Runs the national laboratories, such as Los Alamos, Sandia and Oak Ridge. Some whistleblowers and researchers say recovered material may be studied there; DOE has not said so.

DUMBDeep underground military baseAlleged or unconfirmed

Researchers' term for large underground facilities they say hide UAP work. Some underground military sites are public; the UAP claims are not confirmed. More →

EHDElectrohydrodynamics

Thrust from high-voltage electric fields moving air, as in Thomas Townsend Brown's "lifters". More →

Electrogravitics

The 1950s idea that strong electric fields could be used to control gravity, behind Townsend Brown's work and the aerospace gravity research of 1955 and 1956. More →

EO/IRElectro-optical / infrared

Camera sensors that see visible light and heat. Most released military UAP videos are EO/IR.

FBIFederal Bureau of InvestigationAgency or office

Federal law enforcement. Its online Vault holds UFO files including the 1950 Hottel memo, and its agents' 2025 interviews are in the 2026 releases. More →

Five observables

Luis Elizondo's list of traits seen in UAP reports: sudden acceleration, hypersonic speed without signs like sonic booms, low observability, travel across air, water and space, and lift with no wings or engines. More →

FLIRForward-looking infrared

A heat-sensing camera pointed ahead of an aircraft. People also use it as a nickname for the 2004 Nimitz video. More →

FOIAFreedom of Information Act

The law that lets anyone request federal records. Much of what is known about older UFO files came out through FOIA requests. More →

Green fireballs

Bright green lights reported over New Mexico from December 1948, near Los Alamos and other sites. Scientists at a 1949 Los Alamos conference, including Edward Teller and meteor expert Lincoln LaPaz, could not agree on a cause; a leading idea was meteors at a shallow angle. More →

Grill Flame, Center Lane, Sun StreakProgram, on the record

Earlier names of the government remote viewing program that became Stargate. More →

GSW v. CIAGround Saucer Watch v. Central Intelligence Agency

A FOIA lawsuit brought by the UFO group Ground Saucer Watch in 1977. It led the CIA to release about 900 pages of UFO documents in 1978. More →

ICIGIntelligence Community Inspector GeneralAgency or office

The watchdog for the intelligence agencies. David Grusch filed his complaint there in 2022. More →

Immaculate ConstellationAlleged or unconfirmed

An alleged secret program to collect UAP imagery, described in a 2024 whistleblower report published by Michael Shellenberger. The Pentagon says it has no record of it. More →

IONSInstitute of Noetic Sciences

The consciousness research group founded by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell in 1973. More →

IPUInterplanetary Phenomenon UnitAlleged or unconfirmed

An Army unit said to have looked into UFO crashes in the 1940s and 1950s. The Army has said it has no records of it; some researchers say documents point to it. More →

Kona BlueProgram, on the record

A UAP study program proposed to the Department of Homeland Security in 2011 by people tied to AAWSAP. AARO's 2024 report says it was never approved or funded.

LANLLos Alamos National LaboratoryAgency or office

The Department of Energy lab in New Mexico where the atomic bomb was built.

Legacy programAlleged or unconfirmed

Whistleblowers' term for an alleged decades-long secret program to retrieve and study non-human craft. The Pentagon says it has found no evidence one exists. More →

MJ-12Majestic 12Alleged or unconfirmed

An alleged secret group of officials set up in 1947 to manage recovered craft, known from papers that surfaced in the 1980s. The FBI marked its copy "bogus," and the Air Force calls them fakes; some researchers still argue for them. More →

MogulProject MogulProgram, on the record

A secret Army Air Forces balloon program to detect Soviet nuclear tests. The Air Force says Roswell debris came from a Mogul balloon. More →

Moon Dust and Blue FlyProgram, on the record

Cold War Air Force projects to recover fallen space objects and foreign debris, which show up in released UFO-related files.

MQ-9

The Reaper drone. Several released UAP videos were filmed by MQ-9s.

MUFONMutual UFO Network

The largest civilian UFO reporting group in the US, founded in 1969.

NARANational Archives and Records AdministrationAgency or office

The federal archive that holds the Project Blue Book records and a UAP records collection set up by the 2024 defense bill.

NARCAPNational Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena

A group founded by former NASA scientist Richard Haines in 1999 to study pilot reports. More →

NASANational Aeronautics and Space AdministrationAgency or office

The space agency. It ran an independent UAP study that reported in 2023 and named a director of UAP research. More →

NDAANational Defense Authorization Act

The yearly defense bill. Most UAP laws, including the one that created AARO, were added to it.

NGANational Geospatial-Intelligence AgencyAgency or office

The agency that analyzes satellite and aerial imagery. David Grusch worked there.

NHINon-human intelligence

A term used in the UAP Disclosure Act and by witnesses for any intelligent non-human source, without saying where it comes from.

NICAPNational Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena

A civilian group founded in 1956 that pressed for open UFO hearings. Donald Keyhoe led it from 1957. More →

NIDSNational Institute for Discovery Science

Robert Bigelow's research group from 1995 to 2004, which studied Skinwalker Ranch. More →

NOAANational Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationAgency or office

The weather and ocean agency, once led on an acting basis by Tim Gallaudet. More →

NORADNorth American Aerospace Defense CommandAgency or office

The US-Canada command that watches the skies over North America. It shot down several unidentified objects in February 2023.

NRONational Reconnaissance OfficeAgency or office

The agency that runs US spy satellites. David Grusch worked there.

NSANational Security AgencyAgency or office

The US signals intelligence agency. It has released a small set of UFO-related documents through FOIA, many heavily blacked out.

ONIOffice of Naval IntelligenceAgency or office

The Navy's intelligence service. It led the UAP Task Force.

Operação PratoOperation Saucer, Brazilian Air Force, 1977Program, on the record

The Brazilian Air Force team sent to Colares and nearby towns in 1977 after villagers said lights in the sky had burned them. Its files were shown to researchers in 2005. More →

ORNLOak Ridge National LaboratoryAgency or office

A Department of Energy lab in Tennessee, run with Battelle. AARO has used labs like it to test claimed UAP material.

OUSD(I&S)Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and SecurityAgency or office

The Pentagon office that oversaw the UAP Task Force and AARO in their early years.

POSSPalomar Observatory Sky Survey

The photographic map of the sky made from 1949 to 1957. The VASCO project studies short flashes on its plates. More →

Project CapellaProgram, on the record

A December 2008 plan written for Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) under AAWSAP: a data warehouse to collect, sort and search reports of unusual aerial phenomena. Released in October 2026. More →

Project StorkProgram, on the record

Battelle's 1950s contract to analyze Air Force UFO reports, which produced Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14 in 1955. More →

PURSUEProgram, on the record

The name the Department of War uses for its 2026 UAP record releases at war.gov/ufo. More →

Reverse engineeringAlleged or unconfirmed

The claim that recovered craft have been taken apart to learn how they work. Whistleblowers say it has gone on for decades; the Pentagon says it has found no evidence. More →

Robertson PanelProgram, on the record

A CIA-sponsored panel of scientists in January 1953 that recommended the government reduce public interest in UFOs.

RVRemote viewing

Trying to describe a distant or hidden target with the mind. The US government funded research into it from 1972 to 1995, under names including Stargate. More →

S-4Alleged or unconfirmed

The site near Area 51 in Nevada where Bob Lazar says he worked on recovered craft. More →

SAP / USAP(Unacknowledged) special access programProgram, on the record

A classified program with extra access limits. An unacknowledged one is not admitted to exist. Whistleblowers say UAP work is hidden in them.

SCIFSensitive compartmented information facility

A secure room for classified briefings. Members of Congress hear classified UAP briefings in one.

SCUScientific Coalition for UAP Studies

A volunteer group of scientists and analysts that publishes case studies. More →

Sign and GrudgeProject Sign (1948) and Project Grudge (1949)Program, on the record

The Air Force's first UFO projects, before Project Blue Book. More →

SRIStanford Research Institute (now SRI International)

The research institute where the government's remote viewing work began in 1972. More →

StargateProgram, on the record

The best-known name of the government remote viewing program, which ran from the 1970s until the CIA ended it in 1995. More →

TTSATo The Stars Academy of Arts and Science

The company Tom DeLonge founded in 2017 with Hal Puthoff, Jim Semivan and others. It helped bring the Navy videos to the public. More →

UAPUnidentified anomalous phenomena

The government's current term. It meant "unidentified aerial phenomena" until 2022, when it was widened to cover objects in space and underwater.

UAPDAUAP Disclosure Act

The 2023 bill from Senators Schumer and Rounds that would have set up a review board for UAP records. A smaller version became law. More →

UAPTFUAP Task ForceAgency or office

The Navy-led Pentagon group from 2020 to 2022 that wrote the June 2021 assessment. AARO replaced it. More →

UFOUnidentified flying object

The older term, coined by the Air Force in the early 1950s. More →

USOUnidentified submerged object

An unknown object seen in or under water. More →

USSFUnited States Space ForceAgency or office

The military branch for space, created in 2019. It tracks objects in orbit.

VASCOVanishing and Appearing Sources during a Century of Observations

Beatriz Villarroel's project comparing old sky photos with modern surveys to find objects that vanish. More →

Wilson-Davis memoAlleged or unconfirmed

Typed notes, attributed to Eric Davis, said to record a 2002 talk in which Admiral Thomas Wilson described being refused access to a crash-retrieval program. They surfaced in 2019; Wilson calls them fiction. More →

Missing a term? Tell us.