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The Federal Bureau of Investigation submitted a single, redacted still image of an unidentified anomalous phenomenon to the Pentagon’s official investigation office in late 2025, according to records released by the U.S. Department of War. The image, designated “FBI Photo B11,” was made public on May 8, 2026, as part of the PURSUE archive, a new government initiative to declassify UAP-related materials.
The FBI document, titled “FBI Photo B11,” states that the image was derived from a U.S. military system and was altered with redactions before being submitted to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). The record’s official summary offers limited detail beyond the image’s provenance. No accompanying mission report was provided by the FBI, and the operator who captured the original imagery reported that they were unable to positively identify the UAP. The document notes that the date embedded in the image is incorrect because the system’s date and time were not set.
Description of the Image
According to the official narrative description released alongside the document, the monochrome image displays a grainy texture with a central crosshair reticle. A small, dark, circular object is visible in the upper right quadrant of the frame. The background appears to show an indistinct mountain range. The Department of War explicitly cautions that this narrative description is provided for informational purposes only and should not be interpreted as reflecting any analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination regarding the described event’s validity, nature, or significance.
The incident is listed as having occurred in the Western United States during late 2025. The FBI submitted the still image to AARO, the office established by the Department of Defense to coordinate investigations into unidentified anomalous phenomena across all domains, including air, sea, space, and land.
Context of the Release
The release of “FBI Photo B11” is part of a broader declassification effort. Per a Wikipedia summary of the United States UFO files, the materials are “a collection of declassified United States government records concerning UFOs, also called unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), released by the administration of Donald Trump beginning on May 8, 2026, and announced to continue as repeated, ongoing, expanding releases of UFO materials.” The Wikipedia entry notes that these files are often referred to as the “UFO files” or the “UAP files.”
The PURSUE archive, hosted at war.gov, is the official government portal for these releases. The “FBI Photo B11” document is the first item from the FBI to appear in the archive, signaling that multiple agencies may contribute materials to the ongoing declassification process. The original PDF of the document is available at the war.gov domain.
The involvement of the FBI in UAP reporting is notable. While the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies have historically been the primary channels for such reports, the FBI’s submission to AARO indicates that law enforcement agencies may also encounter and document anomalous phenomena. The document does not specify how or why the FBI obtained the imagery from a U.S. military system, nor does it explain the nature of the redactions applied to the original image before submission.
What Remains Unanswered
The “FBI Photo B11” document raises several questions that are not addressed by the released materials. First, the absence of an accompanying mission report means that there is no narrative context for the sighting, such as the duration of the observation, the type of military system that captured the imagery, or the actions taken by the operator after the sighting. Second, the document does not indicate whether AARO reached any conclusion about the object’s identity or whether the case remains open. Third, the redactions applied to the image obscure whatever additional information was present in the original frame, leaving readers to wonder what was removed and why.
The incorrect date stamp on the image further complicates any effort to correlate the sighting with other known events or data. The FBI document acknowledges this limitation but does not provide a corrected date or time for the incident.
Readers should watch for future PURSUE releases, which the government has announced will continue as repeated, ongoing, and expanding disclosures of UFO materials. Future documents may include additional imagery, mission reports, or analytical assessments from AARO that could provide context for this and other sightings. The absence of a definitive identification in this case leaves the nature of the object observed in the Western United States in late 2025 an open question, pending further declassification.
