No firm conclusions in official report on ‘aerial phenomena’
THE office of the US Director of National Intelligence has made public a highly anticipated report examining “unidentified aerial phenomena”, telling Congress that it could not draw “firm conclusions” on more than 140 instances.
“In a limited number of incidents, UAP reportedly appeared to exhibit unusual flight characteristics. These observations could be the result of sensor errors, spoofing, or observer misperception and require additional rigorous analysis,” the report reads.
The report concluded that a “unique, tailored reporting process” should be implemented to better be able to assess unidentified aerial phenomena, but found no evidence of extraterrestrial life.
However, neither did it rule out any explanations either with the “lack of a single explanation”, although some could perhaps be technologies from another nation like China or Russia or “attributable to developments and classified programs by US entities”.
“This report is an important first step in cataloging these incidents, but it is just a first step,” said Senator Marco Rubio, the ranking member and former chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, in a statement.
“The Defense Department and Intelligence Community have a lot of work to do before we can actually understand whether these aerial threats present a serious national security concern.”
Sightings of objects in American skies with no explanation have been the subject of public fascination for decades.
The highly-anticipated report was expected to add more details to reported incidents and sightings.
“We should approach these questions without preconceptions to encourage a thorough, systematized analysis of the potential national security and flight safety risks posed by unidentified aerial phenomena, whether they are the result of a foreign adversary, atmospheric or other aerial phenomena, space debris, or something else entirely,” said Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
Video declassified by the Pentagon years ago showed high-speed objects with no clear propulsion outpacing Navy pilots’ jets.
Since 2007, the Pentagon has been tracking UFOs.
“Is it some sort of new type of cruise missile technology that China has developed? Is it some sort of high-altitude balloon that’s conducting reconnaissance? Ultimately when you have exhausted all those what-ifs and you’re still left with the fact that this is in our airspace and it’s real, that’s when it becomes compelling, and that’s when it becomes problematic,” Luis Elizondo, former director of the defense department’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, told American news programme “60 Minutes” earlier this year about unidentified flying objects.
Explanations of sightings of aerial phenomena most often include potential weather incidents, routine natural events or otherwise identifiable cases, like weather balloons or misfires in sensor systems and cameras.
The Defense Department said after the report’s release that it would direct the creation of a formalised plan to address the issues highlighted in the report.
According to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, the plan will “Establish procedures to synchronize collection, reporting and analysis on the UAP problem set, and to establish recommendations for securing military test and training ranges.”