The Pentagon is dropping the term UFO for the more accurate UAP – or Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon.
- Lately it seems like major news organizations in the United States are all talking about the same thing – the Pentagon’s concern over UFOs.
Are UFOs real?
- In short, a UFO is an unidentified flying object that looks and moves differently from any aircraft used by the US or any foreign country.
- The Pentagon is dropping the term UFO for the more accurate UAP – or Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon.
- It’s more accurate because the phenomenon in question may not be an “object” and it may not even be “flying” – it could simply be lights.
- It’s also important to realize that a UAP does not mean that the phenomenon is from outer space. It’s just an event in the sky that has not been identified by experts yet.
- So when the Pentagon is expressing concerns about increased sightings of UAPs around military bases, they are mainly concerned about how secure the US is from foreign attacks.
Why are UAPs suddenly being talked about by news organizations?
- Last year’s initial COVID-19 relief bill was over 5,500 pages long and contained more information than just stimulus benefits for struggling citizens.
- The lengthy legislation contained the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021. This basically told the Pentagon that they have to release all their information about USPs to Congress and that this information must be made public.
- That report is set to be released next month and the Pentagon has already released several classified videos.
- In April 2020, the Pentagon released three short videos from military cameras that appeared to show flying objects moving quickly.
- “The aerial phenomena observed in the videos remain characterized as ‘unidentified,’” Pentagon officials said in a statement at the time.
Is the US military concerned about UAPs?
- Florida Senator Marco Rubio told 60 Minutes reporter Bill Whitaker, “Anything that enters an airspace that’s not supposed to be there is a threat.”
- In 2007, the US military quietly started the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program in order to look into UAP sightings.
- The secret US$22 million initiative was shut down in 2012 because the Defense Department decided that there were more important things that needed funding.
- It wasn’t until 2017 when the public was made aware of the secret program after The New York Times published a piece detailing the government’s involvement in establishing the UAP program.
What are military officials saying about UAP sightings?
- The US military has been more open with the public regarding these sightings, including conducting interviews with news organizations like Politico.
- “There have been a number of reports of unauthorized and/or unidentified aircraft entering various military-controlled ranges and designated air space in recent years,” the Navy said in a statement to Politico. “For safety and security concerns, the Navy and the [US Air Force] takes these reports very seriously and investigates each and every report.”
- Christopher Karl Mellon, the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence in the administrations of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, has given multiple interviews about UAPs.
- In an interview with NBC News, Mellon said “unidentified vehicles … are brazenly and repeatedly violating restricted U.S. airspace … Our people are naturally and rightly concerned and almost nothing has been done to address their concerns.”
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