Even if some Americans firmly believe in UFOs, there is no credible evidence that US authorities are covering up extraterrestrial life in the form of unidentified flying objects, a Pentagon report said Friday.
A number of explanations were given in the report as to what led to it more than 40% of Americans He thinks that creatures from another galaxy are visiting the earth.
The 63-page report on “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP)” concludes: “Investigative efforts have determined that the majority of sightings are the result of misidentification of ordinary objects and events.”
“While many of the UAP’s reports are still unresolved, AARO (All Domain Anomaly Resolution Office) estimates that if additional qualitative data were available, most of these cases could be identified and resolved as routine objects or events.
Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, a spokesman for the Department of Defense, insisted that “there is no verifiable evidence for claims that the US government and private companies have access to or reverse-engineered extraterrestrial technology.”
“Furthermore, AARO has found no evidence that any US government investigation, academically funded study, or official review group has confirmed that any of the UAP images represent terrestrial technology,” he said. “All investigative efforts, at all levels of classification, have concluded that the majority of sightings are ordinary objects and events and are the result of mistaken identification.”
But Luis ElizondoThe former head of the Pentagon’s Advanced Aerospace Threat IS Program took issue with Friday’s report, particularly its strong language dismissing all possible UAP evidence.
“The government has reams of UAP documents going back decades that interfere with our critical military technologies,” Elizondo said.
“Trying to put the cat back in the bag like they did is extremely disingenuous and against the interest of the American people.”
The report listed several satellites and other data-gathering devices, usually developed in secret by the government and private industry, that could easily be identified as UFOs by the general public.
The craft, created by companies such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, says: “The examples below are a sample of original declassified and declassified national security programs that AARO has evaluated.”
The report said that Americans’ belief in UFOs is unlikely to change.
“In addition to fraud and forgery, misinformation and disinformation are now more widespread and easier to spread than ever, especially with today’s advanced photo, video and computer-generated imaging tools,” the report said. “Internet search and content recommendation algorithms, while helping to educate and inform people, serve to reinforce individuals’ preconceptions and confirmation biases.”
Friday’s report looked like this conflicting with at least some elements A House Oversight subcommittee hearing last July put UAPs firmly in the public consciousness.
Former US intelligence official David Grusch told the panel he knew of “numerous colleagues” injured by UAPs and had interviewed people who had recovered “non-human biological material” from crashed UAPs.
He declined to elaborate and Pentagonat that time he categorically rejected Grush’s claims.
Helen Kwong and Chelsea Damberg contributed.