Short Note / Jul 23, 2026

Gallaudet Called Kirkpatrick's AARO Tenure a Disinformation Campaign. Kirkpatrick Said "Yes, sir."

By Jan for UAP Logbook / Published

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Kirkpatrick took his "no alien technology" case to a friendly skeptics' room in Arlington. A retired Navy two-star took the open mic and called the office he used to run a disinformation campaign. Kirkpatrick said, "Yes, sir."

Editorial illustration of a 1960s panel-stage set-up: a single wooden lectern in a long line, a closed manila folder on top, two empty wooden chairs on the panel side, a tall standing lamp at one end, a small American flag at the other, and a half-empty room of folding chairs facing it.
Editorial illustration by UAP Logbook. It depicts a generic skeptics-meeting panel set-up rather than any specific person, room, or event. It is not a photograph, a witness sketch, or a depiction of the National Capital Area Skeptics' April 9, 2026 program.

Retired Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet stood up during a Q&A in a Washington-area skeptics' meeting on April 9, 2026, and told former AARO director Sean Kirkpatrick to his face that he had run a "misinformation, disinformation campaign." Kirkpatrick's reply, on the recording, was two words: "Yes, sir."

The exchange happened at a regular monthly program of the National Capital Area Skeptics in Arlington, Virginia — not a UFO conference, but a room whose default posture leans toward Kirkpatrick's own "no alien technology" conclusions. Kirkpatrick had just spent roughly an hour restating the case he has made since his 2023 resignation and January 2024 Scientific American op-ed: no alien technology, no unauthorized legacy programs, no government-wide conspiracy, and a "group of people who have been trying to milk this for many, many years." He also attributed the 2004 USS Nimitz "Tic Tac" encounter to a calibration sphere or optical illusion rather than a transmedium craft.

Mid-century editorial infographic: side-by-side comparison of Kirkpatrick's case and Gallaudet's response, with bullet points, key quotes, and a 'What is still open' footer.
Editorial infographic by UAP Logbook. Visual summary of the April 9, 2026 exchange. Not a transcript or primary document.

Two programs, one contested backstory

The new material in Kirkpatrick's talk centered on two long-disputed program names.

On Kona Blue, Kirkpatrick described it as a 2011 to 2012 proposed Special Access Program at the Department of Homeland Security that was never approved and never operated. Intelligence-community veteran Dennis Cox, who says he designed the program, has publicly disputed that characterization since 2023.

On Yankee Blue, Kirkpatrick called this a roughly 30-year Air Force tradition — including at U.S. Central Command — in which new security-control officers are handed a fake alien-program quad chart, made to sign a non-disclosure agreement, and monitored to see how long it takes them to realize it is a hazing exercise rather than a real program.

What Gallaudet actually disputed

Gallaudet's confrontation had two distinct layers, and reporting since April has clarified both.

The first was personal and specific. Kirkpatrick had previously implied on social media that Gallaudet visited AARO seeking a job and was rejected for being "prone to conspiracy theories without evidence." Gallaudet called that "an outright lie," saying the actual meeting was with acting AARO director Tim Phillips in May 2024 — after Kirkpatrick had already left the office — at the invitation of Navy intelligence representative Mike Wells. Independent UAP researcher D. Dean Johnson later posted a 2024 email on X supporting parts of Gallaudet's timeline while also noting Gallaudet has endorsed other disputed claims, including a June 2025 account of a 1962 UFO recovery story — a caveat worth including for balance.

The second was broader. Gallaudet told Kirkpatrick "it's really clear you've been executing a misinformation, disinformation campaign," adding "I know you can't acknowledge it because whoever you're on the payroll with won't allow you to." Kirkpatrick's on-the-spot response — "that's a great statement that has absolutely no bearing from reality" — came before his later, quieter "Yes, sir" as the exchange wound down.

The room and the bigger picture

Gallaudet is a credentialed figure in this fight: a retired Navy two-star, former Oceanographer of the Navy, former Acting NOAA Administrator, and Scripps-trained oceanographer who served on the federal UAP Task Force. He has been amplifying similar claims elsewhere — telling Fox News's Tomi Lahren in a May 14, 2026 interview that he has "zero doubt" about "higher order non-human intelligence" connected to UAP activity, and suggesting oceans are a likely hiding place for undetected craft. He also appeared in the 2025 documentary "The Age of Disclosure," which argues for an 80-year cover-up and an active reverse-engineering effort — context that shapes how skeptics read his credibility on this specific dispute.

The Arlington clash did not happen in isolation. It landed amid two active congressional threads: Anna Paulina Luna's Declassification Task Force, where she called Kirkpatrick a "documented liar" in a September 2025 hearing and floated a subpoena, and Tim Burchett's H.R. 8197, a bill to abolish AARO outright. Ross Coulthart discussed the confrontation on NewsNation's "Reality Check" the following month, and the clip has since circulated widely across UAP-focused YouTube and social channels, amplifying the story well beyond the original room.

What is still unresolved

Three things are not in dispute. Kirkpatrick did speak at a skeptics' meeting in Arlington on April 9, 2026. Gallaudet did confront him on mic. Kirkpatrick did re-state his no-alien-technology position, his Kona Blue characterization, and his Yankee Blue account.

A few specific points remain contested or undocumented in public reporting.

Tim Phillips, the acting AARO director Gallaudet says hosted the May 2024 meeting, has not issued an independent public statement confirming or denying Gallaudet's account in the sources reviewed here, despite some secondary commentary claiming he "officially" disputes Kirkpatrick's version. No outlet has published a full, verified transcript reconciling the different quoted wordings of the "disinformation campaign" line — IBTimes UK, Reddit-sourced clips, and YouTube commentary all render it slightly differently ("misinformation, disinformation campaign" vs. "conducting a disinformation campaign"). Kirkpatrick has not made any subsequent on-the-record statement addressing the Luna subpoena threat or the Burchett bill; the Arlington appearance remains his most substantial public response to date. Audience reaction inside the room, including whether anyone challenged Gallaudet's accusation, is not captured in any source reviewed here.

The next chapter in the dispute is expected at future congressional hearings, where both Kirkpatrick and Gallaudet are likely to be called.

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