DISCLOSURE / FILE
This unclassified Department of War memorandum records Witness 2's first-hand account to AARO of three October 2023 UAP encounters in the western United States involving orb-like lights, red formations, vehicle-like mimicry, and one referenced video recording.
DOW-UAP-D080, Narrative Statement 2, Western United States Event, 2023
This unclassified Department of War memorandum records Witness 2's first-hand account to AARO of three October 2023 UAP encounters in the western United States involving orb-like lights, red formations, vehicle-like mimicry, and one referenced video recording.
The June 2, 2026 memorandum says Witness 2 was one of several U.S. federal law enforcement special agents who reported UAP observations over two days in October 2023 in the western United States. The witness describes repeated bright orb-like lights that expelled smaller red lights, low objects that appeared to mimic vehicles over rugged terrain, and a later road encounter involving a single orb-like light and an apparent semi-truck. The account repeatedly states there were no acoustic, interference, or physiological effects, while describing movement the witness considered controlled, reactive, and inconsistent with normal vehicle travel.
Witness 2 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
The object floated with an impossible, eerie stillness.p.2
The object’s travel was inconsistent with a vehicle’s travel over rugged terrain; the object appeared to hover and floated smoothly across rugged terrain.p.2
The object covered approximately four miles of rugged terrain within approximately one minute.p.3
We travelled approximately 80 miles an hour and could not catch up to it.p.3
The video footage captures some of it, but more valuable is the audio of our reactions.p.4
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UN CLASSIFIED 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 2 - Western U.S. Event References: (a) https://www.war.gov/ufo/#Western-US-Event,VIRIN : 260508-D-D0360-1 052, 08-MAY 2026. 1. Executive Sumrna1y . This memorandum presents the first-hand naiTative from Witness 2 provided to the All domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). Witness 2 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. ill response to AARO 's request to provide a free-fo1m naiTative of the sequence of events exactly as they remember them, Witness 2 submitted the following text: "illcident 1 ill October 2023, my paitner and I were tasked to survey an area for individuals launching drones. My paitner and I were positioned in a valley, with mountain ranges to the west and east and more distant ranges to the north; we had teams positioned throughout the ai·ea as well. The weather was clear; we sat [and] watched the sunset as dusk trnnsitioned into darkness. At approximately 1900 hours, I obse1 ved a bright circulai· orb-like light approximately 35-45 degrees above the n01thern/no1 theastern horizon. Originally, the light was not dissimilar to that of a luminescent planet obse1ved in the night sky but grew slowly brighter. The bright orb-like light had a smaller red orb-like light within it. As the bright orb-like light grew lai·ger, it expelled three or four red lights from it. The red lights accelerated instantly and maneuvered with perfect, smooth coordination into a horizontal fonnation. The red lights were approximately 1/15 the size of the orb-like light. The bright orb-like light did not appear to be an aitificial neon glow, but rather a bright natural light with a slight halo effect. The red lights were less luminescent and appeai·ed to be more like artificial lights (e.g., taillights). Following the expulsion of the smaller red lights, the bright orb-like light dimmed and faded from sight. From approximately 1900 hours to approximately 1930 hours, I witnessed the process repeat approximately five times across the n01thern, northeastern, and eastern horizon. Our teams confnmed they obse1 ved the same objects. The last grouping of red lights moved in a horizonal pattern to the southern horizon where they remained the rest of the evening. The three red lights were all aligned and remained equally spaced. From approximately 1930 hours until approximately 2300 hours, the red lights hovered above the southern horizon. The red lights sometime dipped below the horizon, out of sight but consistently rose back up. At 1 UNCLASSIFIED
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UNCLASSIFIED approximately 2300 hours we departed the area. There were no acoustics, interreference or physiological effects experienced during the incident. The objects appeared to move with purpose in a coordinated fashion, but it did not appear to be a defensive countermeasure. It looked like a mix of mechanical deployment and biological division; it appeared too smooth and agile to be mechanical, but too structured/coordinated to be a biological division. To offer an obscure yet similar description, I find the characterization of portals oddly comparable to the event I witnessed. The bright orb-like light was small, grew larger, appeared to project objects out of it, and then it dimmed until it was no longer visible; not dissimilar to the opening and closing of a portal through which objects travel and deploy forward. I am not saying or suggesting that was what we observed but rather offering that as a similar/applicable description. Incident 2 In October 2023, my partner and I were tasked to survey an area for individuals launching drones. My partner and I drove northwest on a rural highway and turned right onto a dirt road heading north/northeast up a valley toward a mountain range. We drove for approximately 10 miles before parking a small hill at approximately 1800 hours. The weather was clear; we sat [and] watched the sunset as dusk transitioned into darkness. At approximately 1845 hours, I observed two circular orb-like lights appearing to be headlights of a vehicle to the south approximately five to seven miles away. The headlights sat still in the valley while we sat and continued to observe the area. At approximately 1900 hours, I observed a row of red lights appearing to hover approximately 15 degrees above the southern horizon (I do not recall how the lights entered the area). The lights were consistent with the glow of a taillight and appeared to be arranged in a triangular formation or attached to unobservable vehicle of some sort; they appeared to cover the area of a football field, hovering over a significant portion of the horizon. The object floated with an impossible, eerie stillness. At that same time, I observed the vehicle to the south of our location flash its lights toward us; the flashing appeared to be consistent with a white pulse. Soon after, what appeared to be headlights of a second vehicle approximately one mile east of the first vehicle, still approximately five to seven miles from our location. The second vehicle flashed their lights in the same manner as the first vehicle. The two vehicles appeared to hover within, approximately, a six-mile by six-mile box between the southern tips mountains ranges surrounding the valley. While the two vehicles moved in between the mountain ranges, the row of red lights remained in place, appearing to still hover above the southern horizon. At approximately 1915 hours, one of the vehicles appeared to move north toward our location. We decided to drive toward the objects. One set of lights turned off but the other remained in view. We drove with our headlights off only utilizing night vision equipment; at one point reaching approximately 70 miles per hour. At some point while driving toward it, the headlights morphed into one bright white/orange orb-like light with a halo-like glow. Around two or three miles north of the original highway we exited from, we appeared to be gaining on the object; at approximately 50 yards away we thought were going to encounter it. The object then accelerated instantly to the south, traveling at least one mile south in less than a minute across the rugged terrain. We continued south toward the object for a short distance; the object shifted east and continued eastward until it stopped at the base of the mountain range, dimmed and turned off. The object’s travel was inconsistent with a vehicle’s travel over rugged terrain; the object appeared to hover and floated smoothly across rugged terrain. We parked on 2 UNCLASSIFIED
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UNCLASSIFIED Incident 3 Jon T. Kosloski Director, AARO 8 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.
UN CLASSIFIED 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 2 - Western U.S. Event References: (a) https://www.war.gov/ufo/#Western-US-Event,VIRIN : 260508-D-D0360-1 052, 08-MAY 2026. 1. Executive Sumrna1y . This memorandum presents the first-hand naiTative from Witness 2 provided to the All domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). Witness 2 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. ill response to AARO 's request to provide a free-fo1m naiTative of the sequence of events exactly as they remember them, Witness 2 submitted the following text: "illcident 1 ill October 2023, my paitner and I were tasked to survey an area for individuals launching drones. My paitner and I were positioned in a valley, with mountain ranges to the west and east and more distant ranges to the north; we had teams positioned throughout the ai·ea as well. The weather was clear; we sat [and] watched the sunset as dusk trnnsitioned into darkness. At approximately 1900 hours, I obse1 ved a bright circulai· orb-like light approximately 35-45 degrees above the n01thern/no1 theastern horizon. Originally, the light was not dissimilar to that of a luminescent planet obse1ved in the night sky but grew slowly brighter. The bright orb-like light had a smaller red orb-like light within it. As the bright orb-like light grew lai·ger, it expelled three or four red lights from it. The red lights accelerated instantly and maneuvered with perfect, smooth coordination into a horizontal fonnation. The red lights were approximately 1/15 the size of the orb-like light. The bright orb-like light did not appear to be an aitificial neon glow, but rather a bright natural light with a slight halo effect. The red lights were less luminescent and appeai·ed to be more like artificial lights (e.g., taillights). Following the expulsion of the smaller red lights, the bright orb-like light dimmed and faded from sight. From approximately 1900 hours to approximately 1930 hours, I witnessed the process repeat approximately five times across the n01thern, northeastern, and eastern horizon. Our teams confnmed they obse1 ved the same objects. The last grouping of red lights moved in a horizonal pattern to the southern horizon where they remained the rest of the evening. The three red lights were all aligned and remained equally spaced. From approximately 1930 hours until approximately 2300 hours, the red lights hovered above the southern horizon. The red lights sometime dipped below the horizon, out of sight but consistently rose back up. At 1 UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED approximately 2300 hours we departed the area. There were no acoustics, interreference or physiological effects experienced during the incident. The objects appeared to move with purpose in a coordinated fashion, but it did not appear to be a defensive countermeasure. It looked like a mix of mechanical deployment and biological division; it appeared too smooth and agile to be mechanical, but too structured/coordinated to be a biological division. To offer an obscure yet similar description, I find the characterization of portals oddly comparable to the event I witnessed. The bright orb-like light was small, grew larger, appeared to project objects out of it, and then it dimmed until it was no longer visible; not dissimilar to the opening and closing of a portal through which objects travel and deploy forward. I am not saying or suggesting that was what we observed but rather offering that as a similar/applicable description. Incident 2 In October 2023, my partner and I were tasked to survey an area for individuals launching drones. My partner and I drove northwest on a rural highway and turned right onto a dirt road heading north/northeast up a valley toward a mountain range. We drove for approximately 10 miles before parking a small hill at approximately 1800 hours. The weather was clear; we sat [and] watched the sunset as dusk transitioned into darkness. At approximately 1845 hours, I observed two circular orb-like lights appearing to be headlights of a vehicle to the south approximately five to seven miles away. The headlights sat still in the valley while we sat and continued to observe the area. At approximately 1900 hours, I observed a row of red lights appearing to hover approximately 15 degrees above the southern horizon (I do not recall how the lights entered the area). The lights were consistent with the glow of a taillight and appeared to be arranged in a triangular formation or attached to unobservable vehicle of some sort; they appeared to cover the area of a football field, hovering over a significant portion of the horizon. The object floated with an impossible, eerie stillness. At that same time, I observed the vehicle to the south of our location flash its lights toward us; the flashing appeared to be consistent with a white pulse. Soon after, what appeared to be headlights of a second vehicle approximately one mile east of the first vehicle, still approximately five to seven miles from our location. The second vehicle flashed their lights in the same manner as the first vehicle. The two vehicles appeared to hover within, approximately, a six-mile by six-mile box between the southern tips mountains ranges surrounding the valley. While the two vehicles moved in between the mountain ranges, the row of red lights remained in place, appearing to still hover above the southern horizon. At approximately 1915 hours, one of the vehicles appeared to move north toward our location. We decided to drive toward the objects. One set of lights turned off but the other remained in view. We drove with our headlights off only utilizing night vision equipment; at one point reaching approximately 70 miles per hour. At some point while driving toward it, the headlights morphed into one bright white/orange orb-like light with a halo-like glow. Around two or three miles north of the original highway we exited from, we appeared to be gaining on the object; at approximately 50 yards away we thought were going to encounter it. The object then accelerated instantly to the south, traveling at least one mile south in less than a minute across the rugged terrain. We continued south toward the object for a short distance; the object shifted east and continued eastward until it stopped at the base of the mountain range, dimmed and turned off. The object’s travel was inconsistent with a vehicle’s travel over rugged terrain; the object appeared to hover and floated smoothly across rugged terrain. We parked on 2 UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED the road and watched in the direction the light had been. After a short while, the light turned back on, and the object began to move west across the valley. Again, the object appeared to hover over the terrain as it moved across in a gliding motion approximately half a mile south of our location. After passing the dirt road we were parked on, the light transformed into a group of orange and purple lights in the shape of a box (not dissimilar to a semi-truck in shape and opaqueness). We started to drive south toward the highway. The box of lights continued uninterrupted north/northwest toward the mountain range on the west side of the valley. The object glided smoothly across the rugged terrain as if traveling at a high rate of speed on a non - existent road. The object covered approximately four miles of rugged terrain within approximately one minute. The object came in proximity to the mountain range, the lights turned off, and the object was not seen again. Once the lights near the mountain range were no longer visible, the row of red lights hovering above the southern horizon were gone as well. The incident concluded at approximately 2000 hours. There were no acoustics, interreference or physiological effects experienced during the incident. The objects in the valley appeared to stay within 20 feet of the ground and did not extend beyond that. The objects appeared highly reactive to our interaction with them. The objects initially appeared to mimic vehicles (my best example is the flying car from the Harry Potter book series). The object then appeared to mimic a box truck (superficially) but was inconsistent with what an actual vehicle travel. The object appeared to “toy” with us (flashing headlight on and off and moving abruptly once we came in proximity). The movements appeared very controlled, and the sudden transition of the object felt very purposeful. The “headlights” and “box-truck” did not appear organic; the orb-like light is harder to define. All the objects did appear significantly technologically advanced, and their behavior was inconsistent with physics. The triangle/red lights over the horizon were reminiscent of the Phoenix lights event/incident in the 1990s. Incident 3 In October 2023, my partner and I were tasked to survey an area for individuals launching drones. Sometime between approximately 2100 and 2300 hours, my partner and I pulled off onto a side of the road to observe an orb-like light we saw sitting on the on the road at the crest of a hill. The night was clear and dark. At this point we had seen several unusual objects and so we stopped to observe the object. The object was on a rural highway approximately one to two miles northwest of us just sitting on the road. It was similar to a single headlight but was a bit brighter and larger in size. It caught our attention because, if it were headlights, the lights should theoretically be moving west to east. We decided to drive towards to catch up with it and observe the object more closely. As we started driving towards it, the object began to travel west on the road as if it were a vehicle. It hovered above the right lane at approximately the height of a vehicle. It was unusual because if it were an actual vehicle we would expect to see taillights, there would be two lights not one, we would be gaining on it, and gravity would force the vehicle to follow the road pattern exactly; the object we saw only has one center light and loosely followed the road pattern, gliding very smoothly. If I recall correctly, on several occasions the bright orb-like light dimmed out and transitioned to what appeared to be a single red taillight but then transitioned back to the single bright orb-like light. The object maintained this behavior for approximately 10 to 15 miles. We travelled approximately 80 miles an hour and could not catch up to it. Towards the end of the interaction, we saw the object abruptly transition into an orange light/orb-like-disk with a halo glow and glide to the side of the road at the base of a hill. The 3 UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED road we were driving on curved to the left where the orb-like-disc landed. As we neared it, what appeared to be a semi-truck came around the corner and was driving right toward us. If I recall correctly, at that moment we were not sure if this was the same object that had transitioned into a semi-truck coming at us or if this was an actual vehicle on the road. In the video footage, I believe we say something about thinking it was going to hit us. The apparent semi-truck passed us at a high rate of speed and appeared to continue down the highway eastward. Having focused our attention back to the side of the road, we saw that the orb-like-disc was no longer there. There were no acoustics, interreference or physiological effects experienced during the incident. The object appeared highly reactive to our interaction with it. It sat still on the road and did not start moving until we pulled onto the road and began driving toward it. The object appeared to mimic a car (my best example is the flying car from the Harry Potter book series, if it had a single center headlight); the mimicking felt specific and off-putting. Other vehicles passed heading east and no one appeared to react to the object we were seeing (i.e., no vehicles pulled over or stopped abruptly). The sudden transition/appearance of the object felt very purposeful. I do not know if the semi-truck that came around the corner had anything to do with the object disappearing, but it felt similar to when we approached the other object on the dirt road, and it appeared to move far away instantly as soon as we thought we were going to encounter it. It felt like it was drawing us in and had control to disappear instantly. The video footage captures some of it, but more valuable is the audio of our reactions. 4 UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED Drawings or Sketches The following are AI-generated images of the three incidents based on prompts and descriptions I provided. The images make no reference to a specific location or geological features and contain only generic landscape features. The lights/orbs displayed are merely a rendering of relative size but are not to exact scale. Also, please note, these are being generated two and a half years after the events.” Incident 1 5 UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED Incident 2 6 UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED 7 UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED Incident 3 Jon T. Kosloski Director, AARO 8 UNCLASSIFIED