DOW-UAP-D082: Narrative Statement 4, Western United States Event, 2023

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UNCLASSIFIED

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


                                                                                             02 June 2026
      MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD

      SUBJECT: Nairntive from Witness 4 - Western U.S . Event

      References: (a) https://www.war.gov/ufo/#Western-US-Event,VIRIN: 260508-D-D0360-1052,
                  08-MAY 2026.

      1. Executive Sumrna1y.

             This memorandum presents the first-hand naiTative from Witness 4 provided to the All­
     domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) . Witness 4 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.

      2. Witness Na1rntive.

               fu response to AARO 's request to provide a free-fo1m naiTative of the sequence of events
      exactly as they remember them, Witness 4 submitted the following text:

      "Sometime in October 2023 , just after sunset (7PM), I saw a bright ball of light like a shooting
      stai· beam across and over a hillside. The light was approximately 1-2k above ground level, was
      orange/yellow and white in color and appeai·ed for about a second or two. I was approximately
      less than a quaiter of a mile from the hillside, and the ball of light seem ve1y close to me as if it
      was a shooting star coming towai·ds the hillside, towai·d and not away from me. The colors of
      the light went from amber to orange, slightly yellow and white in that order. No other lights
      were seen, nor did I hear any mechanical buzzing or anything like an aircraft at this time and
      kept driving. After about 10 minutes I saw with my naked eye multiple singulai· bright orange
      lights/orbs of vai·ious brightness, size and distance. Using my night vision goggles (NVGs) I
      saw the saine lights in addition to multiple other lights. Some of the lights seen with NVG's
      were organized in a line of three, evenly spaced and at various altitudes, horizontally just above
      the skyline. Most of the lights were only visible for approx. 1-2 seconds before disappeai·ing.
      Later, I observed multiple singulai· ve1y bright orange lights that appeai·ed to shoot out smaller
      orange lights as if being hatched from the lai·ger ve1y bright orange light. The hatching occmTed
      multiple times, I lost track after five occmTences. The smaller lights seemed to travel
      downwards like a falling flai·e. Soon thereafter I saw nine lights fo1med a horizontal line just
      above a ridgeline. The lights were static, not moving, evenly spaced apait and were visible for
      30+ seconds. Smaller lights then appeai·ed below and to the left and right of the line of nine
      lights. These smaller lights seemed to cluster (almost touching) in a combination of three. The
      lights soon disappeared only to appeai· again directly behind me. All these observations occmTed
      within a 2-3 hom span, nonstop.


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The next day between 7-9pm I saw the same light phenomenon; however, I also saw what
appeared to be chemtrails approx. 10 finger lengths from the highest ridge point. I observed for
more than 10 minutes, the chemtrails were white and moved up toward the atmosphere. I did not
see any aircraft or lights at or near the chemtrails; I was observing from about 3k above ground
level. After 10 minutes, I saw 1 chemtrail disappear and the chemtrail below it made a U turn
and headed toward/falling towards the ground very quickly. At this time, I saw a plane in the
same direction (southeast) as the chemtrails. In tandem I saw a string of lights that resembled a
Starlink deployment. Shortly thereafter, I saw what appeared to be one light source just above
the Southeast ridgeline. The lights seemed to produce four smaller lights which traveled
downward as the main light source disappeared. Three of the smaller lights seemed to form a
horizontal line while the fourth traveled westward and away from the line of three. The four
lights were observed for approx. 10 minutes; no other lights were observed thereafter. Later in
the night while stationary in a vehicle on ground level, I watched at least one light source appear
and disappear along a mountain (approx. 4 miles away). The light moved from the top of the
mountain to the bottom of the mountain and at first looked like a vehicle traveling down the
mountain; however, the light darted between the top and bottom of the mountain within seconds,
which would not be feasible for a standard vehicle to do. Moreover, this was desert terrain and
very rough dirt roads; the light produced no dust cloud and moved steadily. I watched this light
traverse between mountain to mountain for approx. 30 minutes and saw a light appear from the
bottom of the mountain disappear and then another light would be seen at the top of the
mountain; unsure if it was the same light. At some point I saw a very bright, white light appear
just below a ridgeline. It was steady and did not pulse or hatch smaller lights. At first, it looked
like a star; however, it was big, very bright and looked like it was in front of and just below a
ridgeline from my eyelevel. The ridgeline was approx. 10 mins of a drive at 60 mph if I were to
guess. I drove towards the light and the closer I got the higher my gaze to look at it. As I was
getting close the light source disappeared from my field of view (right) and an equally bright
light appeared on my left at eye level. Again, I thought it might have been a vehicle but
continued to observe my left field of view while still traveling to get closer to the ridgeline where
I initially saw the first light. By the time I got onto a paved road both lights had disappeared.
The one near the ridgeline never appeared again and the one near the ground also never
reappeared. Later in the night between 1-3am I continued to see same distant lights appear and
disappear within the night sky. Fixed at a specific spot in the sky these lights movements were
different than the stars beyond it. I continued to see three or more lights group together, moved
in a horizontal line, evenly spaced together or move towards another cluster to form a shape, I
remember seeing diamonds or hexagons. It happened for a while that I got bored looking at
them.

A few days later at around the same time (after dusk) I saw lights moving horizontally just above
a ridgeline. Most appeared suddenly and traveled Northbound. Other lights were seen directly
overhead that were either very small or very far away. The lights seemed to cluster and create
patterns such as diamonds, triangles and/or moved in unison together.

The next day I saw at least four lights hovering and moving at approx. 6k above ground level.
The lights seemed to appear out of nowhere and moved horizontally northbound hovering
periodically. At approx. 400 meters away I saw an object that was slightly darker than the sky at
dusk and lighter than the color of the terrain. There was a faint red light on the object which was

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static and hovering in between two mountain ridges. This looked like an actual object and from
my vantage point it seemed to be using the terrain to stay hidden. Based on its orientation, it
would have come from the South. No sounds, emissions observed and no movements despite
heavy winds at that altitude on that evening. Prior to that lights were seen skirting above the
ridgeline from south to north twice in a span of 15 minutes.
Some months thereafter at around midnight I saw a yellow light appear at my eyeline; I was
about 2k above ground. This light did not move and was below the ridgeline of a hillside. There
are buildings on that hill, so I wasn’t sure if it was manmade or not until I saw the light get
brighter and quickly move North to South. I watched it for approximately 10 minutes until it
moved behind another hillside that obstructed my view. To approximate, the light was probably
12 minutes away from me if I was going 80 mph, so maybe 16 miles away.”

Sketch provided by Witness 4

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                                                                    rJ
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                                                                 Jon T. Kosloski
                                                                 Director, AARO


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