PURSUE Release 03 — Narrative 5 Western US Event (DOW-UAP-D083)

Source: U.S. Department of War, PURSUE (Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters) — Release 03 (third tranche), published 12 June 2026. Document DOW-UAP-D083.
URL: release portal https://www.war.gov/UFO/release/03/ · bundle https://www.war.gov/medialink/ufo/061226/release_03/release_03_documents.zip (file: DoW-UAP-D083_Narrative-5_Western-US-Event.pdf)
Captured: 2026-06-12. Text below is the clean born-digital / OCR text extracted from the released PDF (5 pages).
What this is: Narrative 5 Western US Event. Index/analysis: ../../../sources/pursue-release-03-uap-records.

UNCLASS IFIED
OFFICE OF THE UNDER SECRETARY OF WAR
5000 DEFENSE PENTAGON
WASH INGTON , DC 20301-5000
INTELLIGENCE
AND SECURITY

02 JUNE2026
MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD
SUBJECT: Nairntive from Witness 5 - Western U.S . Event
References: (a) https://www.war .gov/ufo/#Westem-US-Event,VIRIN: 260508-D-D0360-1052,
08-MAY 2026.

Executive Summa1y.
This memorandum presents the first-hand naiTative from Witness 5 provided to the All
domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) . Witness 5 was one of several United States (U.S .)
federal law enforcement special agents who reported observing unidentified anomalous
phenomena (UAP) over a period of two days in October 2023 in the western United States.
Witness Na1rntive.
In response to AARO 's request to provide a free-fo1m nairntive of the sequence of events exactly
as they remember them, Witness 5 submitted the following text:
SA -

'■ October 2023
and myself, headed for the-Gate ai·ound 1630.

We headed south on and took note of two males (20s) car and plate I sedan;
plate: after we asked if they had car trouble. They responded with something
like "Thank you for your concern, but we are just taking a few pictures."
There was a Trailer and white minivan to the left of the road sho1tly after as well.

1111

We found our tum off towai·ds
I just before the sign' Wildlife National park"
(?name). The road was unpaved and rough. There were signs saying to not sleep in vehicle when
we entered. About two miles into this road, there was a trailer, a white jeep wrangler, and an old
red volkswagon van. I think I saw a screen on inside the trailer.
The sun was setting, but there was still sunlight to see the mountain fo1mations. On this road,
ahead and slightly to our right, at 1858, we noticed a lai·ge orange light. Upon closer look, the
orange light appeared to be placed on something, although nothing could be identified to be
holding it up. It seemed to be hovering with zero resistance or movement, or to be suspended just
over a distinctive peak in the ridge line. I think the light lasted less than or about a minute, but it
was longer than just a flash of light.
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5.1. ■■ October 2023, looking at google maps of location, SA and I believe this orange
light was at coordinates ■■■■■■

■

We could not travel much farther in the vehicle, parked, and continued on foot around 1910.
Around 1918 we saw a large red orb at a further distance, facing North and slightly West, past
the peak of . I am certain I saw two red, smaller orbs release from the larger one going
west, towards . One released at a steady speed and horizontally. I also saw another small red orb
go up, but it may have had a slight angle. This orb was fainter, than the horizontal one
identified. They were simultaneously released, moving away from the larger orb. The larger orb
did not move during this time, and all lights were gone from every orb in about 10 seconds.
Either while the lights were on, or shortly after they were out of sight, we saw a white flash of
light in the sky to the West.
We continued to hike west up the road and saw the large orb again, at 1937, but to our left - in
front of . I don't recall if this had any smaller released, and the large orb lasted about
10 seconds again. There was a similar white flash of light in the sky more southwest.
Approximately 3 miles from where we parked the vehicle, we set up a camera in hopes to
catch photos if anything returned to sight.
9.1. There was intermittent radio, but when we had radio, we could hear other teams, but after
reconvening on ■■
■ October, found out that other teams could not hear us when we were
responding.
We had heard the other teams leave around 2330, and started to pack our gear to hike back to
the vehicle.
■■
■ October 2023
We made it to our vehicle around 0130. We made our way down the mountain and got turned
around in the wildlife area on our way out. We made it back to Highway ■ about 0330 and to
the-gate about 0415.

We were driving around- lake, headed towards- base. Around 0430, I notice two
lights in the distance about 2-3ft above the ground. The lights stayed on the far side of the road,
but directly over the pavement. One was white and square, the second was round and red. The
red light was diagonally to the left above the white lite. I watched it and wondered if someone
decided to take a bike ride.
Another vehicle started approaching from the opposite traffic side as we were approaching the
red and white light pair. I started to notice the pair drifting into the sand, off the side of the
road. I pointed out to SA■■■ I that the lights seemed odd and asked if he could see it. We
were quickly approaching the lights and started to slow down, maybe 100 ft or so in front of us.
The lights made it hard to see what would have been displaying the lights themselves. It
appeared that the lights may have been directly facing us.

2
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4. As we were slowing our vehicle, and the opposite traffic vehicle quickly approached, the red
and white light pair hovered, with zero resistance, or change in height, over the bushes to the
right
at about 15-20 mph. The light pair stopped just as we stopped our vehicle and I pulled out the
Night Vision Goggles (NVGs) to take a look. I saw the light pair for a split second in the NVGs
before the lights turned off and I saw a very thin line remain, maybe 4 ft wide, horizontal to the
earth (See Image 1). It began moving at the same speed, 15-20 mph, and I could not see it for
more than a second or two before I lost track of it. It also seemed to move up in height with this
movement, but remained a flat line.
5. SA ■ notified- of the location and activity.- said it was clear.

We drove to building. to notify and inquire. They did not see it at the time, but said they
would look into it and notified us ■■■ I had left

SA■■■ I told him what we saw and .. volunteered to return to our sighting location and
search.
We returned to our sighting location and maneuvered the vehicle around trying to shine the
headlights to stir something. We also looked through NVG and ■■■■ looked through the
thermal binoculars. He found a few "cold" spots to search, but they turned out to be ■--.

■

It may have been about 0530 when SA-was using the NVG and said "I see it!" and
added something about a cobweb that made me notice a cobweb. There was an identical cob
web floating nearby, but floating and flowing down towards the earth. The second was moving
up, but not with a natural flow. That's when I could see a shape, not perfectly outlined, but faint
lights in a perfect formation that moved together (See Image 2). While SA■■■■ was
watching it in the NVG at the same time I saw it with my naked eye. It seemed to be moving up
and slightly side to side. This gave the perception of trying to evade being noticed, or blend into
the stars as it was now more than 20 ft in the air. I could not judge how far away. I tried to look
at a reference point to describe it and looked at a bright light in the distance, which cause my
eyes to adjust differently and I lost the formation of faint lights. When my eyes readjusted, a few
seconds later, I saw the exact formation of faint lights again but at the opposite angle and at the
same height and location (See Image 3). I could not see it much longer as the lights grew fainter.

We continued to test maneuvering the truck and shining lights to see any movement, but we
could not identify anything. We drove around for a short time while the sun was approaching
sunrise, and drove up the road and hill on the opposite side that the initial sighting was near.
Here we noticed the truck location parked by-and the- as a marker for more
investigation at a later time (placed earlier that morning around 0345 at their speculated
sighting). I noted that the tire tracks of this truck led back to the road and location that we saw
the red and white pair of lights at about 0430.
I rested from 0700-1030 and then returned to the field ·of the 0430 sighting with the other
agents to look for anomalies.
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We noted odd scrapes in the ground around a certain plant. This appeared to show that the
particular plant was susceptible to wind, but it was not windy the night before and the dirt
movement looked very sharp and very fresh. The sharp cut in the dirt was symmetrical and
round, but did not always make a full circle. At other times, this exact plant did not have any
similar markings, regardless of size.”

Image 1

I I

White light

lmage2

Ourllne was not deAnlM.
but location of nahts mvecf
In eltaCt formadon.

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Image 3

Jon T. Kosloski
Director, AARO

5
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