On April 6, 2026, Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN) introduced H.R. 8197, a bill to terminate the Department of Defense’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). The bill was referred to the House Committee on Armed Services and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
What the Bill Would Do
Under the legislation, the Secretary of Defense would have 60 days to shut down AARO and transfer its functions to other elements within the Department of Defense. The bill includes a provision prohibiting either the Secretary of Defense or the Director of National Intelligence from establishing any new centralized office to replace AARO, a clause intended to prevent a rebranding of the office under a different name.
H.R. 8197 was introduced without cosponsors at the time of filing.
Background
AARO was established in July 2022 as the successor to the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF), which operated from 2020 to 2021. Congress mandated AARO’s creation through the FY2022 National Defense Authorization Act to serve as the central body for receiving, analyzing, and resolving UAP reports from military and intelligence community personnel.
Since its establishment, AARO has faced sustained criticism from multiple members of Congress. During a September 2025 hearing of the House Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, whistleblowers testified that AARO held video records of UAP sightings that had never been disclosed. Representative Luna, who chairs the Task Force, walked out of a classified AARO briefing in April 2024, publicly calling it inadequate.
AARO has also drawn scrutiny for not publishing its 2025 annual report and for not briefing reporters on its efforts in over a year, according to DefenseScoop reporting.
Legislative Context
The bill follows a March 21, 2026 public statement by Representative Luna recommending to the chair of the congressional DOGE subcommittee that AARO be disbanded and defunded. It also arrives amid a broader legislative push on UAP transparency in the 119th Congress, including the UAP Whistleblower Protection Act (H.R. 5060) introduced by Representatives Burchett and Luna, and Luna’s March 31 demand for 46 specific UAP videos from the Pentagon by April 14, 2026.
AARO’s caseload currently exceeds 2,000 UAP reports, according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s February 2026 statements. The office held an invite-only workshop in March 2026 focused on standardizing UAP data collection and analysis methods, as reported by DefenseScoop.