But so far, there’s been no associated operational or safety impacts to troops on the ground there, defense officials told reporters Tuesday.

“The U.S. military are guests in England … at the indication of the government of the United Kingdom. So, certainly we’re working very closely with the authorities there. We are taking it seriously. We’re monitoring and taking appropriate measures,” Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said at a briefing Tuesday afternoon.

Beyond that, he and other American and British defense officials who spoke to DefenseScoop about the incursions this week declined to share explicit details about the type of drones or their features — or the tactics and procedures the U.S. and U.K. forces could apply to counter them.

The first reports of these still-unexplained unmanned aerial system capabilities surfaced about a week ago in notable locations where the two militaries and some of their closest allies are jointly operating. Among other U.S. assets deployed across these bases, Lakenheath is headquarters for the Air Force’s 48th Fighter Wing, deemed the “foundation of USAFE’s combat capability.”

“The number of systems has fluctuated, and they have ranged in sizes and configurations. Our units continue to monitor the airspace and are working with host-nation authorities and mission partners to ensure the safety of base personnel, facilities and assets,” a spokesperson for Air Forces in Europe and Africa told DefenseScoop in an email Tuesday.

They added that, to date, installation leaders have determined that none of the incursions have harmed residents, facilities or assets on any of the bases.

In response to questions at the Pentagon press briefing, Ryder told DefenseScoop: “Right now, the assessment is that these drones have had no operational impact or safety impact on our personnel at any of these facilities — and we’re keeping a close eye on them.”  

The press secretary would not comment on whether these UAS appeared to be the same as or similar to those that were detected over Langley Air Force Base in October. 

Regarding defense mechanisms to pinpoint and take down the drones, Ryder said the U.S. and U.K. militaries have a variety of methods at their disposal — and that they are committed to protecting personnel and facilities.

Spotlighting the emerging and historic nature of this threat, Ryder noted that the Defense Department and Federal Aviation Administration are beginning to cooperatively explore — “in this modern era of small aircraft” — the best approach to ensure they are responsibly protecting all assets, without assuming every new aircraft is a threat.

“I have a very close relative of mine who’s a drone pilot, and he flies his drone all over and does amateur photography,” he said.

“Just to kind of put this into context, even here in the United States, if there are drones that are being flown by hobbyists or some other entity, you want to make sure that you’re doing due diligence — not only to protect yourself and the safety of others — but also using appropriate measures in order to not inadvertently create second-order effects, or in other words, potentially harming the civilian communities in which we operate in and around,” Ryder told DefenseScoop. 

Spokespersons from the U.K.’s Ministry of Defence on Tuesday did not confirm whether they have determined the source of the latest drones reported or how the military forces are planning to counter any future incursions.

“We take threats seriously and maintain robust measures at defence sites. We are supporting the U.S. Air Force response,” an MOD spokesperson told DefenseScoop in an email.

The post US, UK jointly tracking mysterious drone incursions near England military bases appeared first on DefenseScoop.

Teixeira is set for an initial appearance at the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, where he was arrested Thursday.

“FBI agents took Teixeira into custody earlier this afternoon without incident,” Garland confirmed in a press briefing shortly after the suspect was arrested. The attorney general said the arrest is directly associated with the federal “investigation into alleged unauthorized removal, retention, and transmission of classified national defense information.”

This arrest comes after U.S. authorities scrambled for days to hunt down the source of the leaked materials, which allegedly encompassed sensitive details about Ukrainian military operations and other classified national security and intelligence information that was shared globally on social media for a notable period of time before being taken down.

Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder would not confirm initial reports that a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman was taken into custody Thursday in response to questions during a weekly Defense Department briefing that occurred at roughly the same time as Teixeira’s arrest.

“I don’t want to speculate or get ahead of the DOJ investigation — we need to allow that to run its course,” Ryder repeatedly told reporters.

Still, he did confirm that the Office of the Secretary of Defense is conducting its own internal review of multiple factors relating to safeguarding classified materials.

“This includes examining and updating distribution lists, assessing how and where intelligence products are shared, and a variety of other steps. I would say, though, that it is important to understand that we do have stringent guidelines in place for safeguarding classified and sensitive information. This was a deliberate criminal act — a violation of those guidelines,” Ryder said. 

In response to DefenseScoop’s questions at the Pentagon briefing, Ryder would not confirm whether the Defense Department is deploying technologies right now to spot leaked documents online and track potential indicators of internal leaking-type practices.

“I’m not going to get into the specifics of where, how and when we conduct our intelligence activities. But we’re always looking at potential gaps or potential vulnerabilities — and that’s something that will just be ongoing,” Ryder told DefenseScoop.

The post FBI agents arrest Air Force National Guard member in connection with DOD documents leak appeared first on DefenseScoop.

After mounting public pressure, lawmakers passed provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2022 requiring the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Defense Department to submit “a report on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP)” to appropriate congressional committees by Oct. 31 2022, and annually thereafter through 2026. A classified version of ODNI’s 2022 annual report was delivered to Congress on Wednesday, several months after it was due, and an unclassified version was released publicly Thursday.

In that public, 12-page review, officials provide brief details about “366 additional reports of UAP” since the government’s preliminary assessment identified 144 reports — a total of 510 cataloged accounts to date. 

The “majority of new” UAP reporting originates from Navy and Air Force aviators and operators who “witnessed UAP during the course of their operational duties and reported the events” to DOD’s now-defunct UAP Task Force and its recently formed All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO, through “official channels,” the report states. 

“Broadly speaking, when it comes to the types of processes and procedures that have been established, [AARO], as you highlighted, has closely worked with each of the service branches to come up with a streamlined reporting system to be able to collect that information. And then, in addition to the military branches, it is also working with the interagency — so, organizations like NOAA, the Coast Guard, and the Department of the Energy, just to name a few,” Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told DefenseScoop during a press briefing on Friday.

“And so, by establishing those reporting procedures, what it does, and I think you’ll see this in the report, is it allows the collection of data, and more data allows us to be a little bit more rigorous in terms of how we go after investigating these incidents,” Ryder added.

Notably, when AARO was established by Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks in July 2022, the Pentagon also updated its official terminology for UAP to mean unidentified anomalous phenomena — and no longer unidentified aerial phenomena — to account for reported objects that appear to move between mediums. NASA quickly followed suit.

DefenseScoop confirmed with a Pentagon spokesperson on Thursday that, while all the future annual UAP reports through 2026 will account for that update and include data on anomalous phenomena, this 2022 review refers to airborne happenings in U.S. airspace.

In that public assessment, officials wrote that “UAP continue to represent a hazard to flight safety and pose a possible adversary collection threat” to the U.S., at this point. However, improved coordination between the intelligence community, DOD and other agencies has resulted in more data sets that span air, sea and space. 

“AARO, in coordination with the IC, is focused on identifying solutions to manage and alleviate the resulting data problem, including the intake, indexing, visualization, and analysis of that data across multiple security domains,” officials wrote. 

Of the 366 newly-identified reports, 26 have been characterized as unmanned aircraft systems or other drone-like entities; 163 have been characterized as balloons or balloon-like items; and 6 have been attributed to clutter, like birds or debris, they noted. 

Those reports are not yet fully resolved — but again, some progress has been made.

At this point, though, the government also has evidence of 171 uncharacterized and unattributed UAP reports that each requires further analysis for clarity, according to the review. 

In an online response to the report, Chris Mellon — a national security expert who previously served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence under presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush — argued that it demonstrates how “major progress in developing an effective government capability for investigating the UAP enigma and kicking down the doors of ignorance that for far too long have prevented progress in understanding the phenomenon.”

The war unfolding in Ukraine and recent conflicts in Armenia and in Yemen are revealing how drones are increasingly integral in modern military conflicts, another factor that plays into investigating UAPs.

“Therefore, any capability that helps to reduce clutter and identify genuine aerial threats is of great value to the military and national security. In that regard, Congressional initiatives related to UAP are already paying dividends by improving our ability to distinguish legitimate threats from innocuous balloons and other airborne clutter,” Mellon wrote.

Still, in his view, the new report also “presents the bare minimum of information needed to comply with Congress’ request” for an unclassified assessment. He noted that there was no indication if the uncategorized reports captured so far were in space or underwater, or they were attributable to foreign governments. 

“Unanswered questions abound,” Mellon wrote.

Since the IC’s first preliminary UAP assessment in June 2021, “UAP reporting has increased, partially due to a concentrated effort to destigmatize the topic” and instead recognize the safety risks or adversarial activity it implies, officials wrote in the first NDAA-mandated UAP annual assessment. They also expressed confidence that AARO, and its new analytic process being applied to its expanding portfolio of reports “will increase resolution of UAP events.”

Among other notable inclusions, the 12-page public assessment confirmed that there have “been no encounters with UAP confirmed to contribute directly to adverse health-related effects to the” observers to date. Military aviators in the past have reportedly experienced adverse health effects with symptoms like that of the mysterious Havana syndrome, which has impacted U.S. spies and diplomats.

When asked by DefenseScoop during the Pentagon briefing on Thursday whether the department or ODNI could share more details about what any anomalous health incidents associated with UAP sightings actually ended up being due to, Ryder said that he did not have further information to provide at the time.

“I would say, broadly speaking, I think one of the key points in this report, you know, is given the potential hazard that UAPs do present — notably — there’s been no reported collisions of military aircraft, or U.S. aircraft rather, and UAPs. But in terms of those specifics, I’d refer you back to the report,” Ryder said.

The post New ‘official channels’ for sharing data on unexplained phenomena leads to uptick in Pentagon’s collection of evidence appeared first on DefenseScoop.