DISCLOSURE / FILE
DOW-UAP-D079 is a June 2, 2026 Department of War memorandum preserving Witness 1's first-hand AARO narrative about October 2023 UAP sightings by federal law enforcement special agents in the western United States.
DOW-UAP-D079, Narrative Statement 1, Western United States Event, 2023
DOW-UAP-D079 is a June 2, 2026 Department of War memorandum preserving Witness 1's first-hand AARO narrative about October 2023 UAP sightings by federal law enforcement special agents in the western United States.
Witness 1 reported that other teams saw weird lights on the first night, then described several sightings on the second night: a bright circular orange object near a hillside, later orange lights with red lights appearing to fly out of them, and a silent vehicle-like object that moved off-road without dust or terrain bounce. The witness estimated the first glowing circle at about 20 feet or more in diameter and later measured the hillside distance at about 1,100 meters. The final described object appeared 15 to 20 feet up, partly transparent, with the witness saying they could see a star, hill crest, and vegetation through it. The memorandum is signed by AARO Director Jon T. Kosloski and classified UNCLASSIFIED.
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.p.1
As we headed through a valley area we suddenly noticed a large glowing ball to our right 90 degrees from where we were.p.1
It was just a circle of light that looked like a swirly pattern of bright lava.p.1
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.p.1
While it was lit, it appeared three red lights flew out of and away from it.p.2
It did not bounce or move with the terrain, but seemed to hover.p.2
When we stopped the lights turned off and I could see a darker object moving up and toward behind us as it flew away.p.2
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.p.2
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UNCLASSIFIED OFFICE OF THE UNDER SECRETARY OF WAR 5000 DEFENSE PENTAGON WASH INGTON , DC 20301-5000 INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY 02 June 2026 MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD SUBJECT: Nairntive from Witness 1 - Western U.S . Event 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 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
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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 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 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
Concatenated page-by-page transcript. Born-digital pages came through pdf.js; scanned pages were transcribed by Claude vision OCR. Pages marked unreadable failed multiple OCR retries (heavy redaction, microfilm artifacts, or blank separators) and are kept in place for audit.
UNCLASSIFIED OFFICE OF THE UNDER SECRETARY OF WAR 5000 DEFENSE PENTAGON WASH INGTON , DC 20301-5000 INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY 02 June 2026 MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD SUBJECT: Nairntive from Witness 1 - Western U.S . Event 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 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 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 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