DoW UAP D079 Narrative 1 Western US Event
Department of War · release 3
This memorandum from the Office of the Under Secretary of War presents a witness narrative of observing unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) in the western United States during October 2023. The witness, a federal law enforcement special agent, described seeing a large glowing ball of light on the second night of the event.
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Ask the archive about this →UNCLASSIFIED
OFFICE OF THE UNDER SECRETARY OF WAR
5000 DEFENSE PENTAGON
WASH INGTON , DC 20301-5000
INTELLIGENCE
AND SECURITY
MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD
SUBJECT: Nairntive from Witness 1 - Western U.S . Event
02 June 2026
References: (a) https://www.war.gov/ufo/#Western-US-Event,VIRIN: 260508-D-D0360-1052,
08-MAY 2026.
1. Executive Sumrna1y.
This memorandum presents the first-hand naiTative from Witness 1 provided to the All
domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). Witness 1 was one of several United States (U.S .)
federal law enforcement special agents who reported observing unidentified anomalous
phenomena (UAP) over a period of two days in October 2023 in the western United States.
2. Witness Na1rntive.
fu response to AARO 's request to provide a free-fo1m naiTative of the sequence of events
exactly as they remember them, Witness 1 submitted the following text:
"It staiied the first night with other teains repo1iing weird lights moving along in groups miles
away. From my vantage point I could not see them, though in theo1y should have been able to.
Because of my location I did not see anything specific the first night. The second night another
teain member and I were out working and driving to our destination. As we headed through a
valley area we suddenly noticed a large glowing ball to our right 90 degrees from where we
were. It looked like it was between us and a hill face, and initially I guessed it was 500 to 600
meters away, though another later day I was able to use a range finder to put the distance to the
hillside at about 1100 meters. The ball appeared close to the hill face. It was just a circle of light
that looked like a swirly pattern of bright lava. It was bright in the dusk light, the time was just
before 7 pm I think. It
later day I was able to use a range finder to put the distance to the
hillside at about 1100 meters. The ball appeared close to the hill face. It was just a circle of light
that looked like a swirly pattern of bright lava. It was bright in the dusk light, the time was just
before 7 pm I think. It was not visible up to the moment we first saw it, though the hillside face
behind it was visible as we drove for some distance before we saw the object. The object's
lighted ai·ea was a well defined circle, but had no visible strncture at the edges to show what
contained the light or why it was where it was. Looking at it through binoculars it almost
appeared to have a line or spindle below possibly touching the hillside below. It was not
possible to verify for sure because of the distance. There was no observed glow behind or below
the object on the hillside or ground. It was only observed for a minute or two before we could no
longer see it. It did not fade out, we just could not see it anymore. There was no paii iculai·
sound heai·d with it. All seemed quiet and it was pretty remote. I would have guessed the circle
to be 20 feet or more in diameter. We sta1ied driving and drove a few more minutes. Then we
stopped and had to get out of the vehicle. About 20 minutes later to the front, another object that
looked similar lit up in the sky over the top of another hillside slightly to the right of front. It
appeai·ed to be several miles away. It only lit up for a second or two and then was gone again.
1
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
While it was lit, it appeared three red lights flew out of and away from it. They seemed evenly
spaced apart and moved pretty fast, quickly disappearing from sight. At the same time the
orange light lit up, there appeared to be a flash from over the horizon to the left. The flash lit up
the sky pretty well, though very briefly. About twenty minutes later the experience repeated
except this time the orange ball appeared to the front and
. They seemed evenly
spaced apart and moved pretty fast, quickly disappearing from sight. At the same time the
orange light lit up, there appeared to be a flash from over the horizon to the left. The flash lit up
the sky pretty well, though very briefly. About twenty minutes later the experience repeated
except this time the orange ball appeared to the front and slightly to the left this time. This time
however, the red lights appeared to leave in a different pattern as one flew straight out, one
appeared to fly up horizontally and another flew down horizontally, appearing to fly away in a
vertical alignment of three lights. A flash accompanied this event as well and all three sightings
appeared to be similar though at different distances. Several hours later we departed from where
we were at to drive to another location in preparation for work the next day.
It took several hours of driving, and as we were driving hours later still, we observed a car
driving ahead of us on the road, we were gaining on the car and as we got closer I noticed it
appeared one taillight cover was broken because one taillight was red and one was white. They
were also different because one was round and one was square. Another vehicle approached
from the opposite direction and as it was about to pass the vehicle in front of us, the car changed
direction and moved off the road to the right. The oncoming vehicle continued driving and
passed us, almost like it did not even see the vehicle move of the road as it passed. It did not
bounce or move with the terrain, but seemed to hover. It did not kick up any dust either. It
stopped on the road next to it, and the lights appeared to be in the same position facing us even
though we were in a different direction from it. When we stopped the lights turned off and I
could see a darker object moving up and toward behind us as it flew away. When we stopped we
already had the windows rolled down and I did not notice any sound at any point. It reminded
me of a Toyota Prius for some reason. It was hard to identify the exact shape though. The
hillside was about 200 meters away, and when it stopped it was less than halfway to the base of
the hillside. We started looking
we stopped we
already had the windows rolled down and I did not notice any sound at any point. It reminded
me of a Toyota Prius for some reason. It was hard to identify the exact shape though. The
hillside was about 200 meters away, and when it stopped it was less than halfway to the base of
the hillside. We started looking around the area and approximately an hour or two later as we
were stopped we observed some dust and thick spider web looking material floating in-front of
us. We then saw what looked like the same object floating in a more vertical orientation floating
with the dust. It was still at an off angle. I could see where the spots were for the two lights and
one being round and the other square. The lights were not on though. The object itself was still
hard to define its shape and borders visually. It was in the air about 15-20 feet up and as it
floated past I could see a star through the object, as well as the crest of the hill and some
vegetation. It was almost like looking at something through water where it was not completely
clear.
We eventually continued to our destination and I did not have any other contact or sightings of
those objects of that night that I observed.”
Jon T. Kosloski
Director, AARO
2
UNCLASSIFIED
Original source: view the released document
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