"A memorable moment came when he co-authored a draft academic paper positing that the unidentified objects AARO is studying could be alien probes from a mothership sent to study Earth.
"Kirkpatrick said the document that was posted online was in draft form and did not have permission to be published. However, he does not regret his involvement."
"In fact, he believes “the best thing that could come out of this job is to prove that there are aliens” — because the alternative is a much bigger problem.
“If we don’t prove it’s aliens, then what we’re finding is evidence of other people doing stuff in our backyard,” he said. “And that’s not good.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/07/pentagon-ufo-boss-00125883