What Counts as Evidence in a UAP Case?

Evidence begins with provenance

A video can be authentic while the object in it remains unidentified. The first questions are therefore where the original file came from, whether it has been altered, when and where it was recorded, and what information was removed during copying or release.

SCRIBE rule: authenticity answers “is this the original record?” It does not answer “what is the object?”

The evidence ladder

1 · Recollection: useful for sequence and context, but weak for precise distance, speed and size.

2 · Contemporaneous report: notes, radio traffic and immediate debriefs preserve the earliest account.

3 · Authenticated media: the original recording and chain of custody are known.

4 · Context-rich sensors: mode, calibration, field of view, platform motion, weather and range assumptions are available.

5 · Independent corroboration: separated observers or different instruments record the same event.

6 · Physical evidence: recovery, controls and repeatable independent laboratory analysis are documented.

Why geometry matters

Angular motion on a screen is not physical speed until range is known. A small nearby object and a large distant object can cross the same pixels. Camera motion, zoom, tracking behaviour and parallax can also create apparently abrupt motion.

What unresolved means

Cases remain unresolved for different reasons: missing information, conflicting records, or strong measurements that survive known explanations. Public discussion often treats all three as equivalent. They are not.

Official imagery update — 8 May 2026

AARO released a new batch of official UAP imagery and case records drawn from U.S. military reports spanning multiple years and sensor types. The release adds useful primary material for case-by-case analysis, but AARO explicitly states that its narrative descriptions are informational rather than analytical judgments or determinations about a case's validity, nature or significance.

Evidence boundary: an official military sensor recording is stronger provenance than a reposted clip, but it still does not establish extraordinary speed, technology or origin without the range, calibration, platform geometry, metadata and independent corroboration needed to reconstruct the event. Review AARO's current imagery table.

Official imagery update — 7 August 2026

AARO listed DOW-UAP-PR117 through PR122 as secondary cellular-device recordings of an infrared sensor display aboard a U.S. Special Operations Forces AC-130J Gunship. AARO says these are not native primary sensor data and that the secondary recording method limits fidelity, resolution and overall visual quality; screen-recording artefacts such as blurring or flickering may be present.

What this changes: the release adds an official record and clarifies a material limitation, but it does not by itself establish extraordinary speed, manoeuvre, technology or origin. Those stronger claims still require calibrated native data, reconstructable range and geometry, metadata and independent corroboration. AARO says its public video descriptions are informational, not analytical judgments or factual determinations about the event. Review AARO’s UAP report documents.

SCRIBE VERDICT

Evidence quality decides the claim

An unusual appearance justifies investigation. Extraordinary performance requires calibrated measurements and reconstructable geometry. Extraordinary origin requires still more: evidence that survives serious competing explanations and can be examined independently.

Primary sources

AARO FY2025 consolidated annual report NASA UAP Independent Study Team report NASA UAP FAQs AARO official imagery and case products