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PURSUE/usper-narrative-firsthand-2025  /  2025-late  /  PURSUE / ODNI

ODNI-UAP-D001 — The USPER Narrative: First-Person Account of the Late-2025 Test-Range Encounter

CLASSIFICATION PUBLIC RELEASE  /  CONFIDENCE LOW  /  PURSUE Release 02

Summary

This is the single most important document in PURSUE Release 02. It is the first-person, narrative account written by the senior U.S. intelligence officer whose encounter was summarized third-hand in the USPER Statement of PURSUE Release 01. Release 01 gave us AARO summarizing an FBI 302 summarizing this witness. Release 02 gives us the witness’s own words, in the first person, two pages, produced in Microsoft Word and released through ODNI as ODNI-UAP-D001.

The narrative describes a multi-hour helicopter mission on a U.S. test range in late 2025 to investigate “loud thuds” in the mountains coinciding with several nights of orb sightings. It escalates into “a series of close UAP encounters lasting over an hour,” with FLIR, night-vision, and naked-eye observations by the officer, two pilots, and ground teams, plus radar correlation from the Joint Operations Center and the involvement of fighter jets on a training mission.

Why This Is the Key Release-02 Document

The Release 01 USPER case was heavy precisely because it was a high-rank witness — but it reached us heavily mediated and redacted. This document collapses that distance. It is the primary narrative the FBI 302 and AARO summary were built on. Several details that were compressed or absent in the Release 01 summary appear here in full:

  • The mission’s actual purpose (investigating thuds and prior-night orb activity, searching for debris).
  • A large cave entrance “with no visible end in sight” discovered near the orb-activity area, noted and revisited.
  • The transition to FLIR and NVG after sunset while the officer used the naked eye.
  • The “super-hot” object approaching within ten feet of the helicopter, dropping below it, then accelerating away — and splitting into two as a smaller object emerged.
  • Fighter jets launched on a training mission being asked to assist; orbs then appearing directly above the fighters at ~23,000 feet AGL, flaring in formation, matching the jets’ speed and flight path.
  • Hovering observations at 700 feet AGL of orbs in a “T” formation and, separately, a triangle.

Verbatim — The Close Approach

“The ground team suddenly radioed that the object had risen from the ground, approached within ten feet of the helicopter, dropped below us, and then sped away. The pilots observed it through NVGs and saw it split into two as a smaller object emerged before it accelerated out of sight. We briefly pursued but broke off, unable to match its speed.”

Verbatim — The T-Formation

“Through NVGx, the pilots and I (using the naked eye) observed two large orbs flare up side by side, close to the helicopter — stationary and just above the rotor disk to our right. They were oval-shaped, orange with a white or yellow center, and emitted light in all directions. After a few seconds, a third orb flared up below the pair, followed by a fourth below that, forming a total of four or five in a ‘T’ formation under the original two. Moments later, they dimmed in reverse order, remaining stationary until they vanished from view. The entire event lasted 10-15 seconds.”

Verbatim — Orbs Over the Fighters

“We then spotted the fighter jets entering visual range at about 23,00[0] feet AGL, identifiable by their blinking navigation lights. As [we] watched from afar, the same type of orbs appeared directly above the fighters. They flared up one at a time in a horizontal formation, matching the jets’ speed and flight path. After 10-15 seconds, they dimmed sequentially and disappeared. This repeated several times as the jets transited the airspace and eventually landed.”

How It Reconciles With the Release 01 Summary

The Release 01 USPER Statement (an FBI 302, summarized by AARO) reported: a “super-hot” orb, a 20-mile helicopter pursuit the orb outran, a “swarm” of lights, and four-or-five orbs “flaring up, then down” repeating over thirty minutes across the area. Every one of those elements is present in this first-person narrative, with additional structure:

Release 01 (AARO summary of FBI 302)Release 02 (first-person narrative)
“super-hot” orbobject reported “super-hot” on FLIR by ground team
orb outran the helicopter”we briefly pursued but broke off, unable to match its speed”
swarm of lights, all directions”countless orange orbs swarming in all directions” at ~700 ft AGL hover
4-5 orbs flaring up then down, ~30 min4-5 orbs in a “T” formation flaring then dimming in reverse; repeated displays
(not in summary)object approached within 10 ft, split into two
(not in summary)orbs appeared above fighter jets at ~23,000 ft AGL, matched their flight path

The two documents are consistent and mutually corroborating. The narrative is richer; the 302 is the sworn instrument. Together they are the most complete public record of a single high-rank-witness UAP encounter in either release.

Caveats

  • The narrative is unsigned and the witness is identified only as “a senior U.S. intelligence officer” (USPER = U.S. Person, standard redaction). We do not know the officer’s agency, the specific range, or the date beyond “late 2025.”
  • It is a written recollection, not a sensor record. No imagery is attached; the officer states he “didn’t take photos, as I was focused on assessing what it was and whether it posed a threat.”
  • “Super-hot,” “countless,” and distance/altitude figures are observational estimates, not instrument readings. One altitude reads “23,00 feet AGL” in the source (OCR/typo for 23,000).
  • The encounter occurred on a weapons test range where rocket and projectile debris is common; the narrative explicitly notes that earlier “debris” finds were identified as test remnants. That context cuts both ways — it explains away the ground clutter and underlines that the orb behavior was distinct from it.

What Would Move This From Heavy to Decisive

  • The FLIR and NVG recordings the pilots and ground teams were watching in real time.
  • Radar track data from the JOC (“radar had detected hits several miles up range”).
  • The fighter jets’ onboard sensor data from the same airspace and time window.
  • The officer’s identity and agency, declassified or testified under oath.

The narrative confirms these records existed (FLIR, NVG, radar). None are attached to Release 02.

Provenance

Connections

Open Questions

  • Which test range, and which fighter unit was on the training mission that night?
  • Were the FLIR/NVG/radar records preserved, and will a later tranche release them?
  • Is this the same range and timeframe as the Release 01 Bronze Ellipsoid (Sept 2023) and orbs-launching-orbs (2023) cases, or a distinct western-US site?
  • The “large cave entrance with no visible end” is noted twice and never explained. Was it ever investigated on the ground?
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