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FBI Photo B22

Official PDF: Open Sky release file copy

Release 01#war-gov#pursue#release-01#official-source#evidence#fbi#still-image#pdf

FBI Photo B22

Evidence media

Derived official PDF page render: FBI Photo B22

The page render shows the one-page released still-image PDF: a noisy monochrome frame with top and side redactions, a central white reticle, and the visible 12/31/99 18:19:19 overlay. The release description says the image date is incorrect because the system date/time was not set.

Embedded image object extracted from the official PDF: FBI Photo B22

The extracted raster is the actual 1280 x 960 image object embedded in the PDF. It shows the same reticle/redaction layout and two compact dark adjacent unresolved features slightly above and to the right of the reticle intersection; the public still alone does not provide distance, motion, range, platform, or collection geometry.

Investigation reading

FBI Photo B22 is a one-page PDF container for a single still image released in PURSUE Release 01. The release record places the underlying incident in late 2025 in the Western United States, identifies the agency as the FBI, and says the image was derived from a U.S. military system before being redacted and submitted to AARO. No accompanying mission report is included in this released file.

The verified release-file copy is 434,482 bytes with SHA-256 932c53d8d8031325459c479e54a6c44ea9408faa26344f2a983417ed437d0dc5. PDF inspection shows one encrypted/copy-restricted page containing one RGB embedded image at 1280 x 960 pixels. The searchable PDF text layer contains no substantive body text; the cached OCR for the page only preserves the image timestamp line: 12/31/99 18:19:19.

What the file appears to contain

The visible source image is a noisy monochrome sensor-style frame with a central white reticle/crosshair. A long black redaction bar covers the upper portion of the image, and additional black redaction rectangles cover portions of the left and right side readouts. The lower-left timestamp reads 12/31/99 18:19:19; the release description states that the date in the image is incorrect because the system date/time was not set.

Two small dark adjacent features are visible near the reticle. In the extracted embedded image they sit to the right of the vertical reticle line and above the horizontal reticle line, close to one another and near the frame center. The left feature appears slightly lower/left of the right feature. This is broadly consistent with the release description that two small dark elongated objects are visible near the center in the upper-right quadrant. The image quality is limited by noise, compression/blocking, and redactions, so this draft describes the features only by their visible position and appearance; it does not identify them.

Source custody and provenance

  • Official/source URL: fbi-photo-b22.pdf
  • Open Sky release-file copy: war-gov-fbi-photo-b22-dc9f45a9
  • Release row: 126
  • Agency: FBI
  • Source/container type: one-page PDF still-image container
  • File size: 434,482 bytes
  • Verified SHA-256: 932c53d8d8031325459c479e54a6c44ea9408faa26344f2a983417ed437d0dc5
  • OCR coverage: one page, with only the visible timestamp line captured

The source record says the original imagery was altered with redactions before submission to AARO. The public file therefore preserves an official release object, not an unredacted source frame, full system record, or mission report.

Graph context

The graph currently links this asset to the Release 01 record for FBI Photo B22 and summarizes 22 extracted claim records, 14 entity mentions, four sensor/platform-event cues, and no table rows. The useful graph-level context is narrow: it preserves the file pointer, the FBI/AARO release chain, the still-image description, the operator statement that the object was not positively identified, and the late-2025 / Western United States release metadata.

The four sensor/platform cues should be treated as navigation aids, not independent instrument tracks. They are derived from source phrases such as “still image” and “military system,” not from a released radar plot, track table, telemetry file, or mission report. One graph-derived manifest text chunk appears to point at CSV row 129, which belongs to FBI Photo B3 in the source inventory, while the verified B22 asset and release record point to row 126; that mismatch should be checked as a provenance-cleanup lead rather than treated as evidence about the image.

Leads to check

  • Compare FBI Photo B22 against adjacent FBI Photo B-series frames to determine whether the redaction layout, reticle, timestamp behavior, and two-feature placement are part of a sequence.
  • Verify the official CSV row mapping for B22 (126) against any derived manifest text that references row 129.
  • Locate any unredacted source frame, mission report, sensor log, operator note, or AARO/FBI submission metadata if later releases provide it.
  • Check whether the incorrect 12/31/99 timestamp appears across the B-series images, and whether the time-of-day value can still support sequence ordering.
  • Evaluate mundane image-level explanations such as compression artifacts, sensor noise, display overlays, or redaction/rendering effects before treating the two dark marks as physical objects.

Lead check notes

  • Checked — The verified Open Sky release-file copy contains one embedded RGB image object (1280 x 960) and no embedded attachments; the derived page render and extracted raster above come from that PDF.
  • Blocked — Less-redacted source imagery, original frame export, adjacent frames/video, mission report, collection log, platform/sensor geometry, and AARO/FBI source package are not present in the released PDF or record.
  • Partial — The visible 12/31/99 18:19:19 overlay is present in the PDF/OCR, but the release description says the image date is incorrect because the system date/time was not set; the collection window remains only Late 2025 in the release record.
  • Partial — Current source records place B22 at CSV row 126; a separate manifest-description fragment surfaced row 129, which belongs to FBI Photo B3 in the source inventory, so row numbering remains a provenance-cleanup lead before sequence analysis.
  • Checked — Rendered-page and embedded-raster review confirm two compact dark adjacent unresolved features slightly above and to the right of the reticle intersection. The released still does not support distance, motion, identity, or source-cause determination.
  • Needs external source — Sensor blemish, dust/debris, compression/display/redaction artifact, distant aircraft, bird, balloon, terrain contrast, weather, illumination, and line-of-sight checks require unredacted imagery, adjacent frames, source metadata, exact location/time, or environmental data.

Deep investigation — graph + web reconnaissance

Source reread

The source remains a one-page official PDF still-image container, not a mission report or video packet. The verified release-file copy is 434,482 bytes with SHA-256 932c53d8d8031325459c479e54a6c44ea9408faa26344f2a983417ed437d0dc5; PDF inspection shows one encrypted/copy-restricted page, one embedded RGB image object at 1280 x 960, and no embedded attachments. Frontier OCR/text extraction only preserves === Page 1 === and the visible overlay timestamp 12/31/99 18:19:19.

Visual reread of the extracted embedded image confirms the large top redaction band, side redaction blocks, central reticle/crosshair with small tick/3 marks, and two small adjacent dark unresolved marks slightly above and right of the reticle intersection. The release description says the image date is incorrect because the system date/time was not set, so the 12/31/99 overlay should not be used as the incident date.

Graph connections

Read-only graph checks found the exact asset node by URL/hash/title, with full_download_sha256 matching the verified PDF and the file URL fixed to fbi-photo-b22.pdf. The graph currently carries 22 machine-extracted Claim nodes, 14 EntityMention nodes, and 4 SensorEvent nodes for this asset; those records are marked machine_extracted_needs_human_review / not_a_finding. The sensor events are source-word cues such as still image and military system, not independent radar, telemetry, track-table, or raw sensor records.

The useful graph caution is provenance hygiene: one same-title release-record node labelled FBI Photo B22 points to a stale B2 file URL/length, while another current-row record labelled FBI Photo B3 points at the B22 file URL/length. The stable identity for this page is therefore the exact official PDF URL plus SHA-256, not the row-derived title alone. No direct CANDIDATE_CROSSLINK edges were found for the B22 asset. A secondary UFO-USA GitHub conversion is linked as a derived lead only, not as independent corroboration.

External provenance and sequence context

Live official probes of the WAR.GOV PDF, WAR.GOV landing page, and both known release-CSV paths returned 403 Access Denied during this check; that is an access/custody limitation, not a contradiction, because the cached official-primary release-file copy still verifies by size, hash, PDF structure, OCR, and public release-file route. The Internet Archive availability endpoint returned no archived snapshot for the exact B22 PDF URL, and a CDX query timed out. A DVIDS title search returned an empty 202 response, while AARO and Defense.gov probes returned 403; no official companion video, mission report, or public AARO/FBI source packet was surfaced in this pass.

Adjacent B-series inventory/OCR timestamps place B22 inside a visible sequence lead: B19 18:18:53, B20 18:18:58, B21 18:19:06, B22 18:19:19, B23 18:19:33, and B24 18:19:40. Because the release says the system date/time was not set, these overlays can support only a cautious relative-sequence question unless a source log or unredacted collection record confirms what the clock represented.

Prosaic checks before escalation

The released evidence does not provide exact collection time, coordinates, platform, sensor model, range, look angle, weather, traffic, or adjacent frames. That blocks meaningful astronomy, weather, launch, satellite, aircraft, balloon, or terrain-correlation checks. Image-level explanations remain first-line checks: sensor blemish, dust/debris, compression or display artifact, redaction/rendering artifact, distant aircraft, bird/balloon, terrain contrast, illumination, or a frame-sequence artifact. None of those can be resolved from this still alone.

Follow-up leads and limits

  • Reconcile the row/title drift in the graph before using B22 for sequence analysis.
  • Locate an official source package with the unredacted frame, adjacent frames/video, mission report, collection log, platform/sensor geometry, and AARO/FBI submission metadata.
  • Compare B19-B24 visually only as a provenance/sequence exercise until source timing and collection geometry are released.
  • Treat the operator-reported inability to positively identify the object as a source statement, not as an analytical finding by Open Sky.

Audit note: this section is based on the verified release-file copy, OCR text, visual review of the PDF’s embedded image object, read-only Neo4j graph checks, and bounded official/archive web probes. It does not write to the graph or create a finding, hypothesis, or resolution decision.

Limits

This page is an investigation draft for source navigation. It is not a finding, identification, or resolution. The released file is a redacted still image only. It does not include a mission report, platform details, location coordinates, weather context, chain-of-custody notes beyond the release record, or raw sensor data. The image is low-detail and redacted, so visual description should remain conservative.

Sources