Advocacy Kit: Chasing that F-18 Triangle Photo

"There are a lot more sightings than have been made public."

Last week I wrote about the most important photo you’ve never seen. I’m passionate about what’s come to be called the “F-18 Triangle Photo” because I think it presents such a unique opportunity to really advance the conversation on UFOs.

Today, I’m trying something new by marshalling all the facts I’m aware of into one easy-to-read summary. My hope is that it can act as a layup for any interested journalists who might want to chase the story on their own. With no disrespect to Tim McMillan or Tom Rogan, it’s my hope that big brand names like The New York Times might pick up where they left off and bring the story out to a wider audience. This summary should also be helpful if you’d like to ask specific, targeted questions of your local legislator, which, frankly, I think you should.

Here are the facts:

• The “F-18 Triangle Photo” was taken on an unnamed “U.S. defense platform sensor system”¹ mounted to an F/A-18F Super Hornet.²

• Up until this point, many naval aviators have captured images on their personal cell phones from the cockpit of their aircraft.³ The fact that this photo was taken with military technology separates this incident in terms of quality and credibility.

• The F/A-18F is a two-seater fighter jet with a pilot in the front seat and a Weapon Systems Officer (WSO) in the back seat. The WSO is responsible for interacting with sensors and weapon systems on the aircraft and would have been the individual to take this photo while in flight.

• The photo is said to show a clear image of a triangular shaped vehicle, in flight, on a vertical axis. The triangle is reportedly large, equilateral, with rounded edges and perfectly spherical white lights in each corner.⁴

• The description offered by the two naval aviators is that the triangle emerged from the Atlantic Ocean and accelerated rapidly before disappearing above them.⁵⁶

• This photo was taken in “late 2019” off the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, with the F/A-18F operating from either the U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower or the U.S.S. John C. Stennis—both Nimitz Class Aircraft Carriers that were located in the area at the time.⁷

• In April 2019, the United States Navy announced new procedures for reporting UFOs.⁸ It was likely due to this new reporting system that the two naval aviators flagged this incident up the chain of command.

• In Fall 2020, the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force (UAP Task Force) operating in the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) released a position paper on “Unidentified Submersible Phenomena.” This position paper included a copy of the F-18 Triangle Photo and contextual description offered by the two naval aviators.⁹

• Also in Fall 2020, this position paper was circulated widely for comment through the Department of Defense (on SIPRnet), the National Security Agency (on NSAnet), and the Central Intelligence Agency (on CIA Intelink). Based on similar DoD practices, the purpose of this circulation was likely to see if anybody could identify the technology as ours or a known vehicle belonging to a foreign adversary. One source indicated that the paper “went viral” inside the intelligence community.¹⁰

• Two Department of Defense officials and one Intelligence Community official have corroborated details of the position paper and the F-18 Triangle Photo. A further three intelligence officials and one federal law enforcement official confirmed information about the circulation of the position paper.¹¹

• At the time of its circulation, the UAP Task Force was led by Director Jay Stratton,¹² the Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence was Scott Bray,¹³ the Deputy Commander of Naval Intelligence was Andrew Richardson, and the Commander of Naval Intelligence was Rear Admiral Kelly Aeschbach.¹⁴

• On December 2, 2020, Tim McMillan, an investigative journalist, broke the story of the F-18 Triangle photo in an article titled ‘Fast Movers’ and Transmedium Vehicles for The Debrief. Tom Rogan, a national security correspondent for The Washington Examiner, corroborated McMillan’s sources and story in a December 2^nd piece called Confirmed: Navy's previously unreported 2019 Triangle UFO incident. While picked up on December 3^rd by some international outlets, including The Daily Mail, neither piece of reporting received follow-up coverage in mainstream U.S. media outlets.

• In March 2021, former Director of National Intelligence (John Ratcliffe) indicated that “there are a lot more sightings than have been made public.” These include “objects that have been seen by Navy or Air Force pilots … that frankly engage in actions that are difficult to explain.” Ratcliffe, who was the Director of National Intelligence during the period when the F-18 Triangle Photo was circulated, indicated that he had wanted to get more UAP information out to the public before he left office but “we weren’t able to get it down into an unclassified format that we could talk about quickly enough.”¹⁵

• It is unclear which, if any, specific Congressional Committees were briefed on this position paper or saw the F-18 Triangle photo. It should be noted that the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence had received information on prior UAP Task Force efforts. In June 2020, that committee signaled its support for the UAP Task Force in Senate Report 116-233 which included a requirement to submit a formal report to Congress within 180 days. At the time, the membership of this committee¹⁶ was as follows:

• A report titled Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena was delivered by the new Director of National Intelligence (Avril Haines) on June 25, 2021. Neither the classified or unclassified version of this report appear to contain any supporting images.

• On November 23, 2021, the UAP Task Force was wound down and transformed into the Airborne Object Identification Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG). This new organization would now operate from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security USD(I&S) nested under the Director of National Intelligence.¹⁷ This removed Navy control over the government’s UFO investigation. It remains unclear what happened to the original staff responsible for the “Unidentified Submersible Phenomena” position paper or its contents, including the F-18 Triangle Photo.

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P.S. Do you want to see better coverage of the UFO Phenomenon? Help me raise awareness of the “F-18 Triangle Photo” and:

And if you’re looking to take things a step further, you might consider expressing your interest to:

Helene Cooper - National Security Reporter for the New York Times (email, Twitter)

Ellen Nakashima - National Security Reporter for the Washington Post (email, Twitter)

Warren Strobel - National Security Reporter for the Wall Street Journal (email, Twitter)

1. Scott, Dave. Tim McMillan - What's up with UFOs? What's happening June 25th? Let's find out! Other. Spaced Out Radio, May 27, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtxhDhfpZ9A. At 1h 54min 50s.

2. Rogan, Tom. “Confirmed: Navy's Previously Unreported 2019 Triangle UFO Incident.” The Washington Examiner, December 2, 2020. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/confirmed-navys-previously-unreported-2019-triangle-ufo-incident.

3. McMillan, Tim. “Leaked UFO Photo Surfaces Showing Purported 'Unidentified Aerial Phenomena'.” The Debrief, December 3, 2020. https://thedebrief.org/leaked-photo-surfaces-of-purported-unidentified-aerial-phenomena-leaked-ufo-photo/.

4. McMillan, Tim. “‘Fast Movers’ and Transmedium Vehicles - The Pentagon's Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force.” The Debrief, December 2, 2020. https://thedebrief.org/fast-movers-and-transmedium-vehicles-the-pentagons-uap-task-force/.

5. McMillan, “‘Fast Movers’ and Transmedium Vehicles.”

6. Rogan, “Confirmed: Navy's Previously Unreported 2019 Triangle UFO Incident.”

7. Rogan, “Confirmed: Navy's Previously Unreported 2019 Triangle UFO Incident.”

Note: In “late 2019” the U.S.S. Eisenhower was conducting a workup training cycle and the U.S.S. Stennis was on a variety of training and PR exercises on the Eastern Seaboard.

8. Bender, Bryan. “U.S. Navy Drafting New Guidelines for Reporting UFOs.” POLITICO, April 23, 2019. https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/23/us-navy-guidelines-reporting-ufos-1375290.

9. McMillan, “‘Fast Movers’ and Transmedium Vehicles.”

10. McMillan, “‘Fast Movers’ and Transmedium Vehicles.”

11. McMillan, “‘Fast Movers’ and Transmedium Vehicles.”

12. Corbell, Jeremy, and George Knapp. “EPISODE #3 : The Pentagon’s Top UFO Hunter.” Weaponized Podcast, February 7, 2023. https://youtu.be/hsyj481bq_U?si=vGg-C-6l6v0J0GPm. At 1h 0min 14s.

Note: John F. Stratton Jr. (a.k.a. Jay Stratton) assumed the lead of the Navy’s UAP Task Force in late 2018. He continued in the role of Director until approximately June 2021, when he was replaced by a man named Brennan McKernan.

13. “Senior Executives Biographies - Scott W. Bray.” United States Department of the Navy, July 2022. https://www.secnav.navy.mil/donhr/About/Senior-Executives/Biographies/Bray,%20S.pdf.

14. “Office of Naval Intelligence Senior Leaders.” United States Navy, June 20, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200628090433/https://www.oni.navy.mil/About/Biographies/.

15. McMillan, Tim. “US Military Has ‘a Lot More’ on UFOs Ex-Intelligence Director Confirms.” The Debrief, March 20, 2021. https://thedebrief.org/us-military-has-a-lot-more-on-ufos-ex-intelligence-director-confirms/.

16. “Committee Members 116th Congress (2019-2020).” U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, May 18, 2020. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/about/committee-members-116th-congress-2019-2020.

17. “DoD Announces the Establishment of the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG).” United States Department of Defense, November 23, 2021. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2853121/dod-announces-the-establishment-of-the-airborne-object-identification-and-manag/.