WEIRD NEWS: What the U.S. Government Wants You to Know About UFOs

Last year was so weird in many ways and this year is turning out to be kind of strange as well. One example is the U.S. intelligence community's release of an unclassified report on UFOs/UAPs (Unidentified Flying Objects/Unidentified Aerial Phenomena). 

This report was released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) on June 25th without much fanfare due to a requirement last year by Congress that the U.S. intelligence community prepare both unclassified and classified reports about what the U.S. government knows about UAP's.

The incidents reviewed for this report occurred in the seven year period between November 2004 and March 2021. They involved military aviators as well as data collected from sensors and other systems thought to be reliable.

     Quote from Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena report

"Some UAP appeared to remain stationary in winds aloft, move against the wind, maneuver abruptly, or move at considerable speed, without discernible means of propulsion."

As you probably know already, the government did not come forward and say they had discovered evidence of alien life and their really cool spacecraft, as some predicted might happen.

What was somewhat surprising is how strongly the report claims UAP are thought to pose safety issues for pilots and aircrafts and are possibly a danger to U.S. national security.          

     Quote from Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena report

"Most of the UAP reported probably do represent physical objects given that a majority of UAP were registered across multiple sensors, to include radar, infrared, electro-optical, weapon seekers, and visual observation...144 reports originated from USG sources. Of these, 80 reports involved observation with multiple sensors."

Only one reported UAP was able to be dismissed with high confidence when the object was identified as a big, “deflating balloon". The others remain unexplained and were said to fall under one of five possible categories: “airborne clutter, natural atmospheric phenomena, USG or U.S. industry developmental programs, foreign adversary systems, and a catchall “other” bin."

Another fact revealed in this report is that the U.S. government is no longer completely dismissing UAP sightings as misidentifications of other things like swamp gas. 

Recently Navy pilots and others have even been talking to the media about some of the things they have seen, as shown in this footage from a recent 60 Minutes episode.

The unclassified report lays out a plan to commit further resources to figuring out what is is behind this phenomena and to determine if there is a threat to U.S. interests. It also discusses the need to distigmatize UAP sightings and formalize reporting to collect better data regarding these incidences.

The U.S. government's  sharp change in attitude about sightings that have been occurring since at least the 1950s (and many claim much earlier than that) is a mystery itself to many who have researched this subject for years. 

This revealing quote from the report could well explain why this change in attitude might have occurred: "Most reports described UAP as objects that interrupted pre-planned training of other military activity."

So for now, unless 2021 gets even weirder, the mystery of UAP appears as if it will be staying a mystery.

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