What does the military know about UFOs? Senate committee wants public report
A U.S. Senate committee wants a public report on just how much the military and intelligence agencies know about “unidentified aerial phenomenon,” also known as UFOs.
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence included the provision in its annual intelligence authorization bill, which still has to go to the full Senate for approval.
The request comes months after the Department of Defense declassified three videos from Navy pilots showing “unidentified aerial phenomenon.” The videos, shot in 2004 and 2015, were leaked before the Pentagon ultimately decided to release official versions.
The Senate intelligence committee provision, if approved, means the Department of Defense and the intelligence agencies would have 180 days to produce a public report on what they know about UFOs.
The committee said the report must be unclassified but can include a classified annex when it’s presented to the Senate intelligence and armed services committees.
The provision states, “the Committee remains concerned that there is no unified, comprehensive process within the Federal Government for collecting and analyzing intelligence on unidentified aerial phenomena, despite the potential threat.”
“The Committee understands that the relevant intelligence may be sensitive; nevertheless, the Committee finds that the information sharing and coordination across the Intelligence Community has been inconsistent, and this issue has lacked attention from senior leaders,” the intelligence committee said.
Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio chairs the intelligence committee.
Christopher Mellon, a former Senate staff member who had served as a top intelligence official for the Pentagon, told Politico, “Assuming the report is properly prepared and delivered, there is no telling what the impacts could be.”
“That could range from revealing an unknown threat or military vulnerability to there have been probes visiting our planet, or anything in between,” he said.
“It further legitimizes the issue,” Mellon told Politico. “That in itself is extremely important. People can talk about it without fear of embarrassment.”
The Pentagon released a brief statement when department officials released the Navy videos in April.
“DOD is releasing the videos in order to clear up any misconceptions by the public on whether or not the footage that has been circulating was real, or whether or not there is more to the videos. The aerial phenomena observed in the videos remain characterized as ‘unidentified,’” the department said
This story was originally published June 25, 2020 at 6:16 AM with the headline "What does the military know about UFOs? Senate committee wants public report."
