Pentagon “blow-the-lid-off” reports have a habit of not living up to the hype. Do not be surprised if that is the case with the much-anticipated Pentagon report on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) to be released in June 2021. The report is, after all, being written by the humorless bureaucrats at the Department of Defense. The recent interest in UAPs – more commonly known as UFOs – comes with the unauthorized release of U.S. Navy videos showing radar and video footage of objects executing maneuvers that appear to defy known capability.
The credibility of the videos was validated when the Pentagon verified the authenticity. Liberty Nation’s Pennel Bird said:
“The reluctance of the Pentagon to offer elucidation on the subject is no surprise – but their admission is startlingly atypical. Institutional eye-rolling and flying saucer mockery have been a kind of parlor game or national pastime over the last half-century or more worldwide. For the Pentagon to admit – albeit with buttoned lip – that this footage is no fraud or fake is noteworthy.”
So it is significant that the Pentagon has publicly and boldly (for the Pentagon) acknowledged the events and sightings that prompted then-Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist to establish the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF). UAPTF started work on August 4, 2020, and is managed by the Department of the Navy under the watchful eye of the under secretary of defense for intelligence and security.
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), when he was still chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, requested the director of national intelligence and the Defense Department to provide an unclassified report. Demonstrating the seriousness of Rubio’s intentions, the committee put the following language in the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021:
“Therefore, the Committee directs the DNI, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the heads of such other agencies as the Director and Secretary jointly consider relevant, to submit a report within 180 days of the date of enactment of the Act, to the congressional intelligence and armed services committees on unidentified aerial phenomena (also known as ‘anomalous aerial vehicles’), including observed airborne objects that have not been identified.”
The committee is focused on military adversary technical capability that could threaten national security. The subject of UAPs became more mainstream when CBS ran a segment on 60 Minutes that explored the experiences of several U.S. Navy aviators. Flying Boeing F/A-18F fighters, they saw, tracked, and captured video of flying objects with maneuvers and shapes for which the aviators could not account. The stories were thoughtful descriptions that registered the concern that Rubio raised: If an adversary has this capability, then there is a real threat, and the U.S. must understand that threat.
The problem with the whole subject of UFOs or UAPs – or pick your favorite three-letter acronym – is that the topic is seldom bound by common sense. The straight facts are that naval aviators saw what appeared to be objects behaving in ways they couldn’t explain. Those facts quickly morph into “Navy confirms mysterious flying objects.” From there, it is “Navy sees extraterrestrial objects,” Roswell and Area 51, then The X-Files as a documentary. Then it’s every moviegoer who saw The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 version) and believed – there is no end to it.
Skepticism in the whole idea of UFOs is by no means dead. In a recent broadcast on his new radio program, Dan Bongino interviewed former President Donald Trump. The subject of UFOs came up, and Bongino pointed out that a lot of people aren’t confident the government is telling them what it knows. The former president said, “I’m not such a believer, but some people are, so I don’t want to hurt their dreams or their fears.”
In the meantime, to those interested: Be patient, get your coffee ready and maybe a 2-Pack Nodoz Max Strength Alertness Aid, and wait for the Pentagon’s report. The short version will no doubt be something along the lines of, “People have seen flying objects that they cannot explain. We should study these sightings more thoroughly,” with no drum roll, rimshot, or cymbal crash.
Or, as Project Blue Book, the U.S. Air Force’s long-running (1948-1965) investigation into over 10,100 sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects, concluded in 1966: “… there has been no evidence indicating that sightings categorized as unidentified are extraterrestrial vehicles. The Air Force will continue to investigate all reports of unusual aerial phenomena over the United States.” And (pause for effect) … the government should.
If you are interested in learning more on this subject, watch LN’s Mark Angelides’ interview with former U.K. Ministry of Defence UFO investigator Nick Pope.
The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliation.
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