A single heavily censored FBI photograph has been submitted to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office as the only documentation of an unidentified anomalous phenomenon from late 2025 in the western United States. The file, labeled “FBI Photo B24” within bureau records, was made public on May 8, 2026, through the Department of War’s PURSUE archive.
The available information is minimal. According to the file, the photograph was “derived from a U.S. military system in 2025,” which represents the entirety of its known origin. The image itself is a grainy black-and-white picture dominated by a simplified central crosshair, or reticle.
Positioned just above the reticle’s center is a single dark, irregularly shaped object. The official summary provides a basic description but includes a notable warning: it “should not interpret any part of this description as reflecting an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination regarding the described event’s validity, nature, or significance.” This caution indicates the bureau’s concern about readers drawing conclusions from a single pixelated shape in one frame.
No analytical judgment, conclusion, or factual determination is offered. The operator who captured the image reported being unable to positively identify the object, making that the only operational detail on record. The document notes the stamped date on the image is incorrect, as the system date and time had not been configured.
The incident date is listed only as late 2025, with no month, day, or hour specified. The most significant gap is the absence of a mission report.
The FBI document states that an accompanying mission report was not provided to AARO. Typically, UAP reports to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office include a narrative from the aircrew or sensor operator describing the encounter, including what was observed, duration, maneuvers, and tracking methods. None of that information exists in this case.
The image was also redacted before submission, though what was removed is not specified. The context of this release is noteworthy.
The PURSUE archive serves as a repository for declassified UAP records and is managed by the Department of War. The FBI is not the primary agency for airspace incidents, which typically falls to the military and intelligence community. That the bureau filed a report at all, especially one consisting of a single redacted photograph without supporting narrative, is unusual.
This suggests the incident crossed a threshold that brought it to FBI attention, but the exact nature of that threshold remains unexplained in public records. The document functions as a placeholder, confirming an encounter occurred, an image was taken, the operator could not identify the object, the date is wrong, the mission report is missing, and the photo was redacted.
These are the complete set of facts. For researchers and transparency advocates, this pattern of redacted imagery and absent narratives does not build public trust but rather suspicion. The government has acknowledged UAPs as a national security issue, and AARO was created to centralize and analyze reports. However, when a report arrives with so little substance, it remains unclear what was observed, who observed it, or what actions were taken.
The FBI Photo B24 file reveals almost nothing about the event it describes, while highlighting the limitations of the current system for disclosing such incidents to the public. The image exists.
The description exists. The analytical judgment does not.
