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UFO Report (U.S. Intelligence)

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Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena

Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, colloquially known as the Pentagon UFO Report, is a United States federally mandated assessment, published June 25, 2021,[1] summarizing information regarding unidentified flying objects (UFOs), also known as unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAPs).[2][3][4][5] Substantial public attention had been given to the mandated June 25 report, fueled by statements by former high level officials in the U.S. government, including former president Barack Obama, who stated in June 2021 "...there's footage and records of objects in the skies, that we don't know exactly what they are."[6][7]

The report was supposed to give “detailed analysis of unidentified aerial phenomena data and intelligence” that had been compiled by the Office of Naval Intelligence, the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) and the FBI.[8] The report identified national security and pilot safety concerns related with UAPs. U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee stated that he had asked the Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines for additional information in advance of the report's release, terming his request a “pre-briefing.”[9] Rubio stated, regarding the nature of the unknown objects, “There’s stuff flying in our airspace and we don’t know who it is and it’s not ours. So we should know who it is, especially if it’s an adversary that’s made a technological leap.”[10]

A reported 43% of the U.S. public are increasingly interested in the topic of UFOs in the wake of the initial release by the New York Times in December, 2017 of the Pentagon UFO videos, with considerable additional serious U.S. media attention being paid to the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program.[11][12]

Background

A $2.3 trillion appropiations bill, known as the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, itself part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, was signed into law on December 27, 2020.[13] The Senate Intelligence Committee[14] included in its Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 a stipulation that mandated the Director of National Intelligence work with the Secretary of Defense on a report detailing what the government knows about Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), commonly known as UFOs,[15] to be released to Congress in 180 days, meaning no further than June 25, 2021.[16]

The provision demanded that the report include “detailed analysis of unidentified aerial phenomena data and intelligence” gathered by the Office of Naval Intelligence, the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force and the FBI.[17] It further called for “a detailed description of an interagency process” that it would ensure that data can be gathered and analyzed across the federal government.[17][18] Lastly, the report was said to identify potential national security threats and assess whether any of the United States adversaries could be behind such activity.[19] While required to be public, the report could contain a classified annex.[20]

The mandate came after articles published by The New York Times and Politico confirmed the existence of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, a Department of Defense program that began in 2007 to investigate unidentified phenomena, which officially ended in 2012.[21] On August 14, 2020, a successor of this program,[16] the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, was established in the Office of Naval Intelligence. The Department of Defense would eventually release three videos recorded by US Navy pilots that were part of UAPTF investigations, which became collectively known as the Pentagon UFO videos.[15][19]

Report

On June 25, 2021, a nine-page preliminary assessment was issued.[1] It states that the UAPTF focused on 144 observations of "unidentified aerial phenomena" by the U.S Armed Forces, mostly from U.S. Navy personnel, from 2004 to 2021.[22] No details are given in the preliminary assessment. The report found that the UAPTF was unable to identify 143 of these objects. The one object that was able to be identified "with high confidence" was "a large, deflating balloon".[22][23] It asserted 18 of these featured "unusual flight characteristics", these objects “appeared to remain stationary in winds aloft, move against the wind, maneuver abruptly, or move at considerable speed, without discernible means of propulsion."[24] Some of them, the report says, released radio frequency energy that was picked up and processed by U.S. military aircraft,[25][26][27] with further analysis needed to determine if those sightings represented "breakthrough technology".[24][23] The report said that some of these steps are resource-intensive and would require additional investment.[1] It did not link the sightings to extraterrestrial life, with officials saying "We have no clear indications that there is any nonterrestrial explanation for them — but we will go wherever the data takes us".[28][23]

Eleven of the incidents reported were near misses with military planes.[29][30][26] The report established five potential explanatory categories: airborne clutter, natural atmospheric phenomena, U.S. government or American industry developmental programs, foreign adversary systems and a catch-all "other" category.[26][31]

Classified annex

The report was published online[1] and delivered to the House and Senate intelligence committees with a classified annex. One person who attended the classified briefing, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that lawmakers were given "little information beyond what’s publicly available" and that the only videos shown had already been made public.[32]

Reactions and aftermath

The report was largely considered to be inconclusive.[33][34][35]

The UAPTF announced it was working to acquire additional reporting, including from the US Air Force, and had begun receiving data from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).[25] It also announced that "efforts are under way to standardize incident reporting across US military services and other government agencies to ensure all relevant data is captured",[25] noting that no standard reporting mechanism existed before the Navy created one in March 2019.[36]

Deputy Secretary of Defense, Kathleen Hicks, issued a memo[37] following the report's release, saying that it highlights the problem of flight hazards near military training ranges. She ordered the Pentagon’s top intelligence and security official to establish a more formal means of coordinating the collection, reporting and analysis of UAP information, adding that "It is equally critical that all U.S. military aircrews or government personnel report whenever aircraft or other devices interfere with military training. This includes the observation and reporting of UAPs." Furthermore, the Hicks memo said that all members of the Department of Defense will utilize a set of established processes to ensure that the UAPTF "have reports of UAP observations within two weeks of an occurrence."[32] Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said the intelligence office had been ordered to develop a plan to formalize that mission.[23][38][39]

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Mark Warner said that “The United States must be able to understand and mitigate threats to our pilots, whether they’re from drones or weather balloons or adversary intelligence capabilities.” Senator Marco Rubio stated that "This report is an important first step in cataloging these incidents, but it is just a first step", adding that "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."[36]

Skeptic science writer Mick West said that “The advocates of alien disclosure are encroaching on these real issues of UAPs"[40] and that the report has been mischaracterized in the media and by UFO enthusiasts, saying "UAPs are unidentified because of limited data; that's what makes the cases difficult to explain," adding that "The report suggests the majority of cases, if solved, would turn out to be a variety of things like airborne clutter or natural atmospheric phenomenon. A lack of data does not mean aliens are the likely answer."[39]

The report mentioned that the agencies would update Congress on their progress within the next 90 days.[41]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena" (PDF). Office of the Director of National Intelligence. June 25, 2021. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  2. ^ "Pentagon UFO report: Here's what we know". bbc.com. June 23, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  3. ^ David, Leonard (June 8, 2021). "Experts Weigh In on Pentagon UFO Report". Scientific American. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  4. ^ Mack, Eric (June 24, 2021). "The Pentagon UFO report lands in Congress any minute now: What to know". cnet.com. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  5. ^ Shinkman, Paul (June 24, 2021). "The U.S. Is About to Change the Way the World Thinks About UFOs". usnews.com. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  6. ^ Brown, Matthew (June 24, 2021). "The congressional UFO report is expected within days. Here's what we know about it and when you can expect it". yahoo.com. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  7. ^ Stieb, Matt (June 24, 2021). "What Can We Expect From the Pentagon's UFO Report?". nymag.com. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  8. ^ Stieb, Matt (June 24, 2021). "What Can We Expect From the Pentagon's UFO Report?". nymag.com. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  9. ^ Desiderio, Andrew (June 23, 2021). "'We've got to get an answer': UFOs catch Congress' interest". politico.com. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  10. ^ Desiderio, Andrew (June 23, 2021). "'We've got to get an answer': UFOs catch Congress' interest". politico.com. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  11. ^ Pedroja, Cammy (June 8, 2021). "43% of Americans Are More Interested in Aliens After Pentagon UFO Report". msn.com reprinting usnews.com. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  12. ^ Cooper, Blumenthal and Kean (December 16, 2017). "Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program". nytimes.com. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  13. ^ "Trump signs stimulus and government spending bill into law, averting shutdown". Washington Post.
  14. ^ "How UFO sightings went from joke to national security worry in Washington". Washington Post.
  15. ^ a b Danner, Matt Stieb, Chas (2021-06-25). "Pentagon Releases UFO Report: Here's What We Know". Intelligencer.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ a b Barnes, Julian E.; Cooper, Helene (2021-06-03). "U.S. Finds No Evidence of Alien Technology in Flying Objects, but Can't Rule It Out, Either". The New York Times.
  17. ^ a b "Thanks to Trump-era covid relief bill, a UFO report may soon be public — and it'll be big, ex-official says". Washington Post.
  18. ^ "It came out of the sky: US releases highly anticipated UFO report". The Guardian. 2021-06-25.
  19. ^ a b Kaur, Harmeet (2021-06-25). "Live updates: UFO Intelligence report". CNN.
  20. ^ Mack, Eric. "The much-anticipated Pentagon UFO report lands today: What to know". CNET.
  21. ^ Roulette, Joey (2021-06-25). "Everything you need to know about the Pentagon's UFO report". The Verge.
  22. ^ a b "UFO report: US finds no explanation for sightings". BBC. 2021-06-25.
  23. ^ a b c d "UFO report: Government can't explain 143 of 144 mysterious flying objects, blames limited data". NBC News.
  24. ^ a b Forrest, Brett (2021-06-25). "UFO Report Says 'Unidentified Aerial Phenomena' Defy Worldly Explanation". Wall Street Journal.
  25. ^ a b c "They're real, but are they alien? – key takeaways from the Pentagon report". The Guardian. 2021-06-25.
  26. ^ a b c "Watershed U.S. UFO report does not rule out extraterrestrial origin". Reuters. 2021-06-25.
  27. ^ Lee, Ella. "Is there proof extraterrestrials are real? Five questions left unanswered by the US government UFO report". USA TODAY.
  28. ^ Merchant, Nomaan. "No ET, no answers: Intel report is inconclusive about UFOs". apnews.com. Associated Press. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  29. ^ Edelman, Courtney Kube and Adam (2021-06-25). "UFO report: Government can't explain 143 of 144 mysterious flying objects, blames limited data". CNBC.
  30. ^ Nast, Condé. "The Unexplained Phenomena of the U.F.O. Report". The New Yorker.
  31. ^ Editor-at-large, Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN. "Analysis: 8 takeaways from the government's big UFO report". CNN. {{cite news}}: |last1= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  32. ^ a b "No ET, no answers: Intel report is inconclusive about UFOs". AP NEWS. 2021-06-25.
  33. ^ "The Government's UFO Report Is Here. Its Findings? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯". Time.
  34. ^ "The highly-anticipated UFO report is 'rather inconclusive'". news.yahoo.com.
  35. ^ "US intel report on UFOs inconclusive: Reports". LiveMint. 5 June 2021.
  36. ^ a b "Pentagon task force's UFO report released — many cases remain unexplained". www.cbsnews.com.
  37. ^ "MEMORANDUM FOR SENIOR PENTAGON LEADERSHIP COMMANDERS OF THE COMBATANT COMMANDS DEFENSE AGENCY AND DOD FIELD ACTIVITY DIRECTORS SUBJECT: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Assessments" (PDF).
  38. ^ "Statement by Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Assessme". U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.
  39. ^ a b June 2021, Leonard David 28. "Up in the air! US government's UFO report stirs range of reactions". Space.com.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  40. ^ David, Leonard. "Experts Weigh In on Pentagon UFO Report". Scientific American.
  41. ^ Barnes, Julian E. (25 June 2021). "U.S. Has No Explanation for Unidentified Objects and Stops Short of Ruling Out Aliens". The New York Times.
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