Media
Mike Gold on ABC News: Pentagon UFO Investigations and the Push for Transparency
June 5, 2025
Former NASA Associate Administrator Mike Gold joins ABC News alongside AARO Chief Dr. Jon Koslowski to discuss the state of Pentagon UAP investigations, the push for government transparency, and why studying UAP data could yield scientific breakthroughs regardless of origin.
Mike Gold
Advisory Board Member
In this ABC News Prime Focus segment, reporter Devon Dwyer explores the current state of Pentagon UAP investigations with AARO Director Dr. Jon Koslowski and Disclosure Foundation advisory board member Mike Gold.
The segment covers AARO’s work resolving over 1,800 UAP cases since 2022, the challenges of identifying truly anomalous objects, and the growing bipartisan push in Congress for greater disclosure.
Key Moments
Dr. Koslowski discusses AARO’s methodology for triaging and resolving cases, noting that while most are readily explainable — large birds, balloons, debris, or drones — several dozen cases remain genuinely anomalous, including the famous 2004 Tic-Tac incident observed by Navy pilot David Fravor.
“If we study UAP, not only can we help with national security, and even if we don’t discover something exotic, what’s the worst case scenario? We discover an incredible new physical phenomena.” — Mike Gold, Former NASA Associate Administrator
Gold, who served on NASA’s UAP Independent Study Team, advocates for an executive order to declassify UAP-related information and for Congress to support more aggressive analysis of existing government data.
On Transparency
The segment highlights growing tension between the Pentagon’s official position — that no evidence confirms extraterrestrial technology — and congressional whistleblower testimony claiming the existence of crash retrieval and reverse engineering programs.
“The issue is when we mix secrecy with a stigma and create such a stigma around a phenomena that it becomes difficult if not impossible for agencies, for academics, for people to look at the issue seriously.” — Mike Gold
Gold expresses optimism about the current administration’s posture, citing President Trump’s transparency pledges and DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s explicit mention of UAP during her congressional hearing.