Public disclosure of Pentagon UFO program

There has been a surge of UFO excitement in the past three days.

Most astonishing of all, it has been in reputable news publications.

Both The Washington Post and The New York Times ran stories disclosing a recent Pentagon project that studied UFOs or "anomalous aerial vehicles" as it turns out they are called by the military. The program was overseen by Luis Elizondo, whom I've previously covered. 

It was called the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program. It's an accurate moniker, even if it doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Much of the work in Elizondo's program entailed analyzing copious amounts of video. These videos came from gun cameras on military fighter planes and were released along with the stories profiling the AATIP (you can see those videos at the WaPo and NYT links above.) Elizondo recently retired from intelligence work and facilitated the release of this information. He now works for a new company dedicated to UFO research for "scientific and entertainment purposes," (quoted from Washington Post) co-founded by Tom DeLonge. That guy from Blink-182.

But WaPo reports that officials familiar with AATIP claim that the program was still collecting data as recently as last month. Also interesting is the fact that AATIP was (or is) operated not only out of the Pentagon but an underground facility at Bigelow Aerospace in Las Vegas. Robert Bigelow, CEO of Bigelow Aerospace, was quoted on 60 Minutes as saying he is "absolutely convinced" that aliens not only exist but have visited Earth.

What do I think of this? A few things...

-I'm surprised, but not surprised. It raised my eyebrows to see this public admission that the U.S. government has taken UFO sightings seriously in the post- Project Blue Book era. Still, it makes sense. An unknown craft flying in U.S. airspace or in close proximity to U.S. military aircraft should be a concern and should be treated seriously. The craft could be drones under the control of foreign powers (Russia, China, etc). If they are more advanced than our current capabilities, as the videos suggest, then that's a concern. Additionally, even if the chances of the craft being alien in origin are about 1%, it still should be considered and examined.

-They're not that concerned. The funding for AATIP is reported as being $22 million. That's a joke. The military probably spends more on underwear. If this were of greater concern, there would be a lot more money involved. Yeah yeah, I know...classified blah blah...black projects blah blah...

-While he's certainly successful at building space technology, Bigelow has a reputation for being something of an eccentric. That by itself doesn't mean anything, but it should be factored into the entire picture.

-The release of this information comes in conjunction with the start-up of DeLonge's new company. As I've said before, forgive me for being suspicious.

-Nothing physical has been presented.

And yet...and yet...

-That video footage is quite something. Seasoned fighter pilots of the United States military, likely the best of their kind in the world, are noticeably aghast at what they're seeing. Just watch. Unless these videos are faked, and I find that unlikely as they were no doubt vetted before release, then what they show is significant.

-One section of text from the NYT story stood out to me: "Under Mr. Bigelow’s direction, the company modified buildings in Las Vegas for the storage of metal alloys and other materials that Mr. Elizondo and program contractors said had been recovered from unidentified aerial phenomena. Researchers also studied people who said they had experienced physical effects from encounters with the objects and examined them for any physiological changes."

What. The. Heck?

Why aren't we talking more about this? If there is physical, metallic evidence then there's the goods. If this metal were conclusively proven to be not of this Earth, then that would force me to reconsider my own Ufological suspicions, that combination of great skepticism and Vallee's "ultraterrestrials" and Keel's "super spectrum."

Shrugging my shoulders at much of this. Excited by other aspects. Ultimately, as is so often the case with these things, it only raises more questions.


Follow me on Twitter: @Jntweets