ODNI USPER Narrative: First-Person Account of a Senior US Intelligence Official, Late 2025

Source file: ODNI-UAP-D001_USPER_Narrative_Senior_USIC.pdf Originating agency: Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) Date range: Late 2025 Page count: 2 (all read) PURSUE Release: 2 (released May 22, 2026; corrected May 26, 2026)

Summary

This is the first-person written narrative of a senior US intelligence officer (referred to in the PURSUE collection as a "USPER," a US person) describing a sustained series of close UAP encounters over a military test range in late 2025. The officer, accompanied by a colleague and two pilots, departed a Joint Operations Center (JOC) by helicopter to investigate loud "thuds" heard in the mountains that coincided with several nights of UAP sightings. What began as a debris search became, by the officer's own account, "a series of close UAP encounters lasting over an hour." This document is the witness's own narrative of the same incident captured in the Release 1 FBI 302 interview; it is substantially richer in detail, adding the cave entrance, specific hovering altitudes, the oval orange orb morphology, the "T" and triangle formations, and the striking observation of orbs apparently shadowing launched fighter jets.

Research Article

Introduction and context

The narrative opens in late 2025, "during early evening daylight hours." The author identifies himself plainly: "I – a senior U.S. intelligence officer – along with a colleague and two pilots, departed our Joint Operations Center (JOC) in a helicopter." The stated mission was prosaic: "to investigate loud thuds heard in the mountains on the test range, which coincided with Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) sightings reported over the previous several nights." The team aimed "to search remote mountain areas for possible debris or objects that might explain the orb-like sightings."

The document carries a formal correction notice. As footnoted on the first page, the version originally posted to the PURSUE collection on May 22, 2026 contained a typographic error describing the helicopter flight profile as "map-of-the-earth"; the corrected term, reflected in the May 26, 2026 update, is "nap-of-the-earth" — a standard low-altitude, terrain-following flight profile.

The search phase

Flying a low-altitude nap-of-the-earth route through the mountain range for several hours, the crew repeatedly spotted debris and descended to inspect it, each time determining it was "remnants from rockets and other projectiles that had crashed during years of weapons testing on the range." Near areas of reported orb activity they "discovered a large cave entrance with no visible end in sight." The surrounding terrain offered no safe landing spot, so the officer instructed the pilot to orbit it for observation; the location was noted and the team pressed on.

Running low on fuel, the crew detached the colleague at a rendezvous point with a ground team and proceeded to a prepositioned tanker for refueling. The plan was to return to base. Instead, the JOC requested a search of a nearby mountain for debris spotted by a ground team. By then the sun had set; the pilots switched to Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) and Night Vision Goggles (NVG), while the officer "continued using the unaided naked eye."

The encounters begin

The turning point came as the crew began returning to the JOC: "I then received a message from the JOC: radar had detected hits several miles up range from our position – the same area where UAP activity had been observed on prior nights." The crew altered course to intercept. "What followed was a series of close UAP encounters lasting over an hour."

En route, ground teams reported a UAP on FLIR, "describing it as 'super-hot,' low to the ground, and moving east then south at high speed. The object then split into two and changed direction." On arrival the crew scanned with NVG, FLIR, and the naked eye. The ground team 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." The crew pursued briefly but broke off, "unable to match its speed."

The swarm and the "T" formation

Directed to nearby radar detections, the crew took a hovering position at approximately 700 feet above ground level (AGL). "In the distance, we saw countless orange orbs swarming in all directions against the backdrop of the mountain. The display lasted several minutes before fading."

Redirected by fresh radar hits and hovering again at 700 feet AGL, the officer and pilots observed the encounter's most detailed phase: "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." Seconds later, "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." The officer notes candidly: "I didn't take photos, as I was focused on assessing what it was and whether it posed a threat."

The fighter jets

The JOC informed the crew that "several fighter jets had launched on a training mission in our operating area and requested their assistance in identifying the UAP." The crew spotted the jets entering visual range at approximately 23,000 feet AGL, identifiable by their blinking navigation lights. Then: "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." The officer "remarked to the pilots that it seemed the same orbs we had encountered were now 'chasing' the fighters." The crew also observed orange orbs "flaring up and down around us for several minutes, forming a distinct triangle before vanishing."

Low on fuel, the pilots returned to the JOC. After landing, the officer spoke briefly with them, "mostly to express thanks. We were virtually speechless after these observations." He then entered the JOC for a quick debrief before driving home.

Significance

This narrative is among the highest-value testimonial documents in either PURSUE release. Its evidentiary weight rests on several factors. The witness is a senior US intelligence officer writing in the first person, not a third-party paraphrase. The account is multi-sensor and multi-witness: FLIR, NVG, the naked eye, ground teams, helicopter crew, and radar all independently registered the phenomena. The reported behaviors — a "super-hot" object closing to within ten feet then accelerating beyond pursuit, structured "T" and triangle formations of oval orange orbs flaring and dimming in sequence, and orbs apparently shadowing fighter jets and matching their flight path — describe coordinated, responsive activity rather than mundane misidentification.

Critically, this is the witness's own narrative of the incident already documented from the FBI's side in the Release 1 FBI 302 interview (see the cross-referenced article). Where the FBI 302 is an investigator's summary, this is the primary first-person source. The two documents corroborate each other on the core facts — the helicopter search, the "super-hot" orb, the swarm, the repeated flaring of four-to-five orbs over roughly half an hour — while the ODNI narrative supplies detail the 302 omits, most notably the fighter-jet "chase" sequence and the precise orb morphology.

Key People

Locations

Incidents

Notable Quotes

"I – a senior U.S. intelligence officer – along with a colleague and two pilots, departed our Joint Operations Center (JOC) in a helicopter." — page 1

"What followed was a series of close UAP encounters lasting over an hour." — page 1

"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." — page 1

"In the distance, we saw countless orange orbs swarming in all directions against the backdrop of the mountain." — page 2

"They were oval-shaped, orange with a white or yellow center, and emitted light in all directions." — page 2

"...forming a total of four or five in a 'T' formation under the original two. Moments later, they dimmed in reverse order... The entire event lasted 10-15 seconds. I didn't take photos, as I was focused on assessing what it was and whether it posed a threat." — page 2

"I remarked to the pilots that it seemed the same orbs we had encountered were now 'chasing' the fighters." — page 2

"We were virtually speechless after these observations." — page 2