Sean M. Kirkpatrick

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Sean Kirkpatrick
1st director of the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office
In office
July 20, 2022 – December 1, 2023[1]
PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byTim Phillips (acting)[2][3]
Personal details
Born
Sean Michael Kirkpatrick

1967 or 1968 (age 55–56)
Columbus, Georgia, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Georgia (BS, MS, PhD)
Scientific career
InstitutionsAFRL, CIA, DIA, USSC, University of Georgia, AARO
ThesisExperimental and Theoretical Investigation of Nonequilibrium Acoustic Phonon Dynamics in Praseodymium-Doped Fluorides (1995)
Doctoral advisorWilliam Dennis

Sean Michael Kirkpatrick (born 1967/1968)[4] is an American laser and materials physicist and was the first director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office at the United States Department of Defense.[5] Kirkpatrick is also an adjunct assistant professor of physics at the University of Georgia.[6]

Early life and education[edit]

Kirkpatrick was born in Columbus, Georgia to an Army family.[7][8] He studied physics at the University of Georgia, where he received his BS in 1991 and Ph.D. in 1995 under the supervision of William Dennis. His doctoral research was focused on nonlinear and nonequilibrium phonon dynamics of rare earth doped fluoride crystals.[9]

Kirkpatrick conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and at the United States Naval Research Laboratory with a National Research Council Fellowship.[10] He joined the Air Force Research Laboratory in 1997 and moved to the Central Intelligence Agency in 2003.[11]

Career[edit]

Intelligence work[edit]

Between 2012 and 2016, he served as the Defense Intelligence Officer for Scientific and Technical Intelligence for DIA.[7][8]

From 2016 to 2017, he served as Deputy Director of Intelligence of the U.S. Strategic Command.[7]

Director of AARO and work with UAPs[edit]

In March of 2023, Kirkpatrick and Avi Loeb released a manuscript on the physical constraints of hypothetical alien spaceships existing in the solar system.[12][13] The unfinished draft by Kirkpatrick and Loeb included a consideration of the idea that UAPs, "which appear to defy all physics, could be 'probes' from an extraterrestrial 'parent craft'".[14]

Kirkpatrick as sole witness before subcommittee hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 19, 2023 to testify about UAPs and his work as director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office

Kirkpatrick testified on April 19, 2023 as sole witness before a subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee in a hearing about UAPs chaired by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).[15][16]

In the first public meeting of NASA's UAP independent study team on May 31, 2023, Kirkpatrick was invited to give the opening remarks.[17] Kirkpatrick thanked NASA for bringing additional expertise to the task of UAP data collection and analysis. In answer to later questions, he noted that U.S. military personnel are observing "metallic orbs" in many locations "all over the world", that spherical objects account for the largest proportion — nearly half — of all UAP reports received by his office, and that some of these objects are capable of "very interesting apparent maneuvers".[18]

Slide from presentation by Sean Kirkpatrick, Director of AARO, on May 31, 2023 to NASA's UAP independent study team

Following the July 26, 2023 Congressional UAP hearing that included testimony from David Grusch, Kirkpatrick wrote that, "contrary to assertions made in the hearing", Grusch "has refused to speak with AARO" so that some details said to have been given to Congress had not been provided to his office and also that the hearing was "insulting ...to the officers of the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community who chose to join AARO, many with not unreasonable anxieties about the career risks this would entail".[19][20]

On November 7, 2023, it was reported that Kirkpatrick will step down as the director of AARO effective December 2023.[21] Since December 2023, Kirkpatrick joined the Oak Ridge National Laboratory as the Chief Technology Officer for defense and intelligence programs.[22]

In January 2024, Kirkpatrick published an op-ed in Scientific American, stating that he had found no evidence of aliens as director of AARO, and that the allegations of a coverup of UFOs by the US government "derive from inadvertent or unauthorized disclosures of legitimate U.S. programs or related R&D that have nothing to do with extraterrestrial issues or technology. Some are misrepresentations, and some derive from pure, unsupported beliefs. In many respects, the narrative is a textbook example of circular reporting, with each person relaying what they heard, but the information often ultimately being sourced to the same small group of individuals." describing these individuals as “a small group of interconnected believers and others with possibly less than honest intentions.” who promote a “whirlwind of tall tales, fabrication and secondhand or thirdhand retellings".[23]

Honors[edit]

In 2010, the University of Georgia Department of Physics & Astronomy created a Sean M. Kirkpatrick award for outstanding graduate research in his honor that is given annually to a graduate student for their research work.[24]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Vincent, Brandi (November 30, 2023). "Pentagon's UAP investigation chief to depart Dec. 1". DefenseScoop. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
  2. ^ Seligman, Lara (November 7, 2023). "Pentagon UFO boss to step down next month". POLITICO. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  3. ^ Degges, Ireland (November 8, 2023). "AARO Shakes Up Executive Team With 2 New Leadership Changes; Kathleen Hicks Quoted". Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  4. ^ https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/11/12/sean-kirkpatrick-ufos-pentagon-00126214
  5. ^ "USD(I&S) Ronald Moultrie and Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick Media Roundtable on the All-domain Anoma". U.S. Department of Defense. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
  6. ^ "Sean Kirkpatrick, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Physics". University of Georgia.
  7. ^ a b c "Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick Deputy Director of Intelligence and DNI Representative, USSPACECOM" (PDF).
  8. ^ a b "Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick Director, All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on May 13, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  9. ^ "Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick – Symposium365". Archived from the original on April 22, 2023. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
  10. ^ Brott, Lawrence L.; Naik, Rajesh R.; Pikas, David J.; Kirkpatrick, Sean M.; Tomlin, David W.; Whitlock, Patrick W.; Clarson, Stephen J.; Stone, Morley O. (2001). "Ultrafast holographic nanopatterning of biocatalytically formed silica". Nature. 413 (6853): 291–293. Bibcode:2001Natur.413..291B. doi:10.1038/35095031. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 11565027. S2CID 4431815. Archived from the original on October 30, 2022. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
  11. ^ "Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick - Potomac Officers Club". potomacofficersclub.com. Archived from the original on April 22, 2023. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
  12. ^ "Physical Constraints on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on April 25, 2023. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
  13. ^ Osborne, Hannah (March 25, 2023). "Alien mothership lurking in our solar system could be watching us with tiny probes, Pentagon official suggests". Space.com. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
  14. ^ Seligman, Lara (April 14, 2023). "Alien motherships: Pentagon official floats a theory for unexplained sightings". Politico. Archived from the original on June 16, 2023. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  15. ^ Loeb, Avi (June 1, 2023). "Second UAP Senate hearing highlighted the need for better data". The Hill. Archived from the original on May 13, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  16. ^ "DOD Official Testifies Before Senate Subcommittee". Defense.gov. April 19, 2023. Archived from the original on July 28, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  17. ^ Kirkpatrick, Sean (May 31, 2023). "Opening Remarks by Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, Director of AARO at NASA Public Meeting on UAP" (PDF). NASA. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 13, 2023. Retrieved June 23, 2023.
  18. ^ Von Rennenkampff, Marik (June 2, 2023). "US military has been observing 'metallic orbs' making extraordinary 'maneuvers'". The Hill. Archived from the original on June 13, 2023. Retrieved June 23, 2023.
  19. ^ Seligman, Lara (July 28, 2023). "'Insulting': Pentagon's UFO boss torches claims of alien coverup". Politico. Archived from the original on July 29, 2023. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
  20. ^ Merchant, Nomaan; Copp, Tara (July 28, 2023). "The UFO congressional hearing was 'insulting' to US employees, a top Pentagon official says". ABC News. Archived from the original on July 29, 2023. Retrieved June 29, 2023.
  21. ^ Seligman, Lara (November 7, 2023). "Pentagon UFO boss to step down next month". POLITICO. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  22. ^ "Sean M Kirkpatrick | ORNL". www.ornl.gov. Retrieved January 6, 2024.
  23. ^ Kirkpatrick, Sean (January 19, 2024). "Here's What I Learned as the U.S. Government's UFO Hunter". Scientific American. Retrieved January 21, 2024.
  24. ^ "The University of Georgia Department of Physics and Astronomy newsletter, 2010 Fall" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on April 22, 2023. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
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