Colorado Springs UAP, Cheyenne Mountain
February 15, 2022 sighting over Cheyenne Mountain near Colorado Springs. Subject described as a potato-shaped object with creamy or whitish opalescent color. Released June 12, 2026 with a formal Intelligence Community Assessment, the first ICA published as part of PURSUE.
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ICA-UAP-D001 primary PDF ↗Official description
ICA-UAP-D001: a four-page Intelligence Community Assessment of a specific UAP incident. The subject is described as roughly potato-shaped, of creamy or whitish opalescent color, observed against the daytime sky in the vicinity of Cheyenne Mountain. The assessment was produced by an IC partner agency in coordination with AARO.
Editor's context
Cheyenne Mountain houses NORAD's Cheyenne Mountain Complex, one of the most sensitive air-defense installations in the United States. The February 2022 incident occurred during a period of heightened NORAD activity related to balloon-tracking and the run-up to the February 2023 shootdowns. The ICA is significant not for its content but for its form: it is the first time a formal Intelligence Community Assessment of a specific UAP incident has been published as a primary record.
Prevailing explanation
What scientists and analysts generally think
The Intelligence Community Assessment offers a low-confidence hypothesis that the observed object was sunlight backscattering from snow cover on Cheyenne Mountain illuminating the underside of a cloud. The assessment explicitly rules out foreign-adversary technology. It does not formally close the case; PURSUE lists it as unresolved.
In the margins
Transcribed redactions, stamps, and handwritten markings, the paratext of the file. Often the most human part of a declassified document, and worth reading on its own.
- Stampp. coverINTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT
- StampDECLASSIFIED PER PURSUE, June 12, 2026
- AnnotationDocument length: four pages.
- AnnotationConfidence level: low. The sunlight-backscattering hypothesis is presented as one plausible interpretation, not a definitive identification.
- AnnotationPURSUE catalog status: unresolved.
Cite the primary source
Citations center the originating government agency and link to the official record. This archive is listed as the access point, not the author.
U.S. Department of Defense. "Colorado Springs UAP, Cheyenne Mountain." Released via PURSUE program, 2026-06-12. File ID: PURSUE ICA-UAP-D001. https://www.war.gov/medialink/ufo/061226/release_03/documents/ICA-UAP-D001_Analysis_Colorado-Springs-UAP-Incident.pdf. Accessed 2026-06-17 via Social Media for Aliens archive, https://socialmediaforaliens.com/files/colorado-springs-cheyenne-2022.
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