PURSUE Record — FBI Photo B22: FBI · Western United States · Late 2025

FBI Photo B22 is a declassified PDF released on May 8, 2026 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as part of PURSUE Release 01 — the U.S. Department of War's first coordinated public disclosure of unidentified anomalous phenomenon records. The document centers on a single still image captured by a U.S. military system in late 2025 over the Western United States. The operator could not positively identify what the image shows. That is the entirety of what the record formally establishes.

What this record contains

The record is a single-part PDF submitted by the FBI to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). It originates from a U.S. military imaging system, with the incident dated to late 2025 and located somewhere in the Western United States — the public release does not narrow the location further. Importantly, the release notes that the imagery was altered with redactions before AARO received it, and that no accompanying mission report was provided alongside the image. A technical anomaly is flagged explicitly: the date visible within the image is incorrect because the system's clock was not properly configured at the time of capture.

The official narrative description is spare: a monochrome, grainy frame featuring a simplified central crosshair, with two small, dark, elongated objects visible near the center of the frame in the upper right quadrant. The FBI notes that the operator was unable to positively identify the UAP. No analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination about the nature or significance of what appears in the image is offered in the release.

Historical & documentary context

The FBI's formal role in UAP reporting to AARO reflects an institutional posture that has evolved considerably since the creation of AARO in 2022. Under the framework established by the National Defense Authorization Acts of 2022 and 2023, AARO serves as the centralized intake for UAP reports from across the U.S. government — including law enforcement agencies like the FBI. The bureau's submission here follows a defined protocol: imagery is reported, redacted as necessary, and forwarded without the underlying mission context. That procedural architecture is itself part of the story. The absence of a mission report is not unusual for FBI submissions; it is consistent with how the agency compartmentalizes operational details from analytical referrals.

The system clock error noted in the metadata — where the displayed date is incorrect because the device's time was not set — is a mundane but meaningful data-quality issue. It means the only timestamping available for the image is the operator's reported timeframe of "late 2025," not a machine-verified timestamp. This kind of metadata gap is precisely why AARO was chartered to standardize reporting practices across agencies with different sensor ecosystems and operational cultures.

What this does and does not prove

What the record documents: a military imaging system captured a monochrome frame containing two small, dark, elongated objects that the operator could not identify. The image was redacted before submission. No mission context was provided. The system clock was wrong. That is the documented factual floor. What the record does not establish: the nature, origin, altitude, size, speed, or behavior of whatever appears in the frame. The grainy quality and absence of metadata make independent measurement impossible from the public release. "Unresolved" in the PURSUE framework means the case has not been explained — it does not mean something anomalous has been confirmed. The elongated objects could reflect sensor artifacts, debris, atmospheric phenomena, or something else entirely; the release makes no determination.

How it fits PURSUE Release 01

FBI Photo B22 sits within the FBI-contributed tier of PURSUE Release 01's 162-document set, alongside other bureau-submitted imagery and reports that span from the agency's 1947-era UAP files through contemporary AARO referrals. This record represents the modern end of that continuum — a 2025 submission processed under current inter-agency reporting protocols rather than Cold War-era investigation frameworks. Readers interested in how this case compares to the broader range of sensor records, NASA archive materials, and Department of War mission reports in the release can explore the full catalogue on the SkyLens PURSUE coverage index.

Editorial note: This analysis is independent commentary on a publicly released document. The original record, source links, and full release metadata are catalogued on the SkyLens UAP files page alongside every other case in the PURSUE Release 01 set.