“AARO has yet to find any credible evidence”. Not saying that they haven’t heard of or come across any evidence of reverse engineering programs, just that they haven’t deemed any credible. Phrasing is always important in written statements like this. I’m not suggesting to read between the lines, because people will just fill it in with their own beliefs. But, when you see specific language like that or the use of “extraterrestrial” instead of NHI, you are potentially seeing them covering themselves with uncertainty. It’s hard to say something is “extraterrestrial”, but it’s not hard to say it’s NHI. The same way they can’t say for sure if evidence is “credible” or not, if they haven’t pursued confirming it. I’m not here to say whether AARO is credible or not, but be careful listening to any group speak on the subject and take everything with a grain of salt.

Grusch claimed early on that he had tried to reach out to AARO for years before the whistleblower hotline came available. He also claims he tried repeatedly leading up to his tapping the hotline, and he was routinely ignored. This unfortunately tracks with AARO’s public face; they have expressed more than once that they do not follow up on the majority of tips they receive as they discount them as “not credible.”

It’s his word against Kirkpatrick, in this case, and Kirkpatrick has not shown a great deal of willing, or even interest, in this regard.

I wish he would make an official statement and not this: a post to his LinkedIn that he only shared with 1st connections.