A newly declassified government report revealed that most of the 510 UFO sightings that have been reported in the US are decidedly not aliens, however scores of other strange sightings still have no official explanation.
The summary report, released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Thursday, said that the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena or UAP, as they’re called in the report, still pose a threat to the US even if they are not extraterrestrial advanced technology.
The events “continue to occur in restricted or sensitive airspace, highlighting possible concerns for safety of flight or adversary collection activity,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence wrote.
The 510 objects include 144 objects previously reported and 366 new reports since the last report on UAPs was released in 2021. More than half of the reports have been determined to exhibit “unremarkable characteristics.”
Of the 366 new reports, 163 could be characterized as balloon-like objects, while 26 were likely unmanned aircraft systems and another six sightings were attributed to “clutter,” such as a flock of birds or airborne debris, according to the report.
A remaining 171 incidents have not been explained, which led to frustration among intelligence officials as the unexplained sightings have further fueled conspiracy theorists, according to The New York Times.
Some of those “appear to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities, and require further analysis,” the report found, likely to stir speculation on the fringe.
“If they had a case that had enough information to determine something was genuinely doing unusual things, that would be a huge deal,” Science and conspiracy-debunker Mike West told The Times. “But what they are basically saying is they don’t have cases where it is unambiguously something interesting.”
There is no explicit mention in the new document regarding extraterrestrial life, however Pentagon officials have previously stated publicly there is no evidence for aliens and that they have not collected any materials that would indicate that there may be.
At a Defense Department briefing in December, Ronald Moultrie — the Pentagon’s top intelligence official — was asked if there was any “affirmative evidence” for aliens, the newspaper reported.
“At this time, the answer’s no, we have nothing,” he said, adding that his department had not seen anything “that would lead us to believe that any of the objects that we have seen are of alien origin, if you will.”
“If we find something like that, we will look at it and analyze it and take the appropriate actions,” he said.
The majority of the new UAP reports come from US Navy and Air Force aviators who witnessed something while flying on-duty and reported to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office [AARO], which was created by the Department of Defense last July as the “focal point” for UAP reporting.
The office is also tasked with reporting any movements or reports of objects that may indicate that a potential adversary has a new technology or capability.
The sudden uptick in sightings can be explained by a concerted effort between intelligence agencies and other government agencies to collect and report UAP.
“The establishment of AARO and application of AARO’s new analytic process to this detailed reporting will increase resolution of UAP events,” the report summary said.
With Post Wires
