Does the Pentagon’s UFO videos prove they’re treating them as a threat?
In the past, UFOs have been the subject of conspiracy theories and science fiction novels. Now, it seems there may be more fact than fiction to UFO sighting stories. Last year, the Pentagon revealed they’ve been studying UFO reports for quite some time, and they even have videos of certain events that cannot be explained.
In August of 2020, Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist publicly acknowledged the existence of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force. The Task Force has been studying a plethora of UFO sightings for over a decade. They don’t believe UFOs represent a national security threat, but they admitted some incidents cannot be explained.
The Task Force will be making at least some of their findings public. The 2021 Intelligence Authorization Act, passed by Congress last December, requires the government to release a report of finding this June.
The UFO Craze
For as long as people have walked the Earth, they’ve looked at the stars and wondered what’s out in the cosmos. In the United States, fascination with alien life in general, and “unidentified flying objects” in particular, became rampant in the 1940s.
In July of 1947, an object crashed near Roswell, New Mexico. The Air Force claimed it was a weather balloon, but many have said they believe the object was in fact a flying saucer. Roswell is the most well-known UFO incident, but it’s far from the only one.
There have been tens of thousands of UFO sightings, inside and outside the United States, since the Roswell incident. Many come from unreliable sources or have been easily debunked. Hundreds remain entirely unexplainable.
The study and careful documentation of UFO sightings are usually associated with conspiracy theorists. However, serious scientists and even government officials have been involved in UFO investigations since the very first reported sightings. Despite that, the United States government had long denied the existence of UFOs. That all changed four years ago.
December 2017
On December 16th, 2017, The New York Times published a front-page story about UFOs. The story, which included two videos of supposed UFOs, revealed the Pentagon had been running a secret program to study the objects for ten years. The two Pentagon videos were recorded by the Navy and contain what officials call “unidentified aerial phenomena”.
The shift from UFO to UAP is a purposeful move to separate the phenomena from the popular mythology of human contact with aliens. While the December 2017 Times story made it impossible for the government to deny the existence of UFOs, there is still no proof whatsoever that the objects are related to extraterrestrial life.
The Times article caused a massive shift in public opinion of UFOs and the government’s approach to them. The stigma surrounding belief in UFOs began to fade. Last August the government openly acknowledged the existence of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force. Soon, some of the Task Force’s findings will be made public.
Public Report
In response to growing demand for knowledge about UFOs, Congress passed the 2021 Intelligence Authorization Act in December of 2020. The Act dictates that the government gather data from the various organizations studying UFOs and publish a public report of the findings this June.
So far, it seems like the government hasn’t considered UFOs to be a threat to national security. Instead, the Pentagon has been gathering videos & data on UFOs simply because there are too many reported incidents to ignore. Though many of the thousands of reported incidents have simple explanations, there are still several hundred that remain inexplicable even after close scrutiny.
The simple fact that the Pentagon has kept UFO videos secret for decades is enough to convince some that the government knows more than they’ll ever admit. The report this June will be deeply illuminating, but hardcore UFO believers may still have doubts that the government is being forthright. Still, the public admission that some recorded events can’t be explained is a step in the right direction for UFO truthers.
