Mystery solved with the release last week of the U.S. government’s investigation into numerous reports of UFO’s, right? Uh, no. Citizens will glean as much insight into the origin of these strange occurrences by looking to the sky as they will into the report released on June 25th. Just another example of our taxes dollars hard at work bringing fruitful results–NOT!
Didn’t hear of the much-anticipated report’s release? What a surprise. One would think a report on such an intriguing topic would be top news. But that’s what happens when the government issues the results of the investigation on a Friday night during the summer.
And why wouldn’t the government want the findings of months of digging and research to be trumpeted to the masses? I’m guessing because little to nothing was found as evidenced by the voluminous NINE-page (sarcasm font in use) report summarizing the findings. I’m sure Uncle Sam was trying to conserve paper, but he could’ve done a better job with a one-page report concluding simply, “We don’t know.”
The entity doing the actual investigating was the UAPTF which, duh, was tasked with investigating UAP’s. But wasn’t it UFO’s to be investigated? The government prefers the fancy acronym UAP, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, over UFO. So the UAPTF, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, adds yet another acronym to the government’s ever-growing list of them.
Floridians can thank Sen. Marco Rubio for getting this investigation started. As acting chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee (SIC?), he inserted a demand for transparency about UFO/UAP’s (use your acronym of choice) into a federal appropriations bill. As a result, the government was required to turn over its full assessment of UFO’s by the end of June 2021. August 2020 saw the establishment of the UAPTF which released its 9-page report (representing less than a page for each month of work) almost a week before the deadline.
Anyone expecting a detailed explanation of what’s been happening up in our skies was sorely disappointed. Of the 144 reported incidents reviewed by the UAPTF, 143 could not be explained due to insufficient information. According to my cell phone’s handy dandy calculator, that’s 99.3% of the incidents selected for review. The one object which could be explained was determined to be a large, deflating balloon.
Just what were the incidents which the task force reviewed? Most of them were incidents from the past two years and were reported by military aviators. Presumably military members were deemed to be reliable sources as opposed to the average Joe who spots a strange object in the sky while out walking his dog one night. But the scary conclusion about this pool of reports which were researched is that there were 144 reports in a two year period, and they were typically from only one source–the military. Who knows how many UFO’s have actually been seen over time by the citizenry as a whole?
The number of UAP sightings by the military is certainly lower than the number of actual incidents which have occurred. Why? The military had no standard reporting mechanism for observing UAP’s until the Navy established one in 2019. The U.S. Air Force just instituted one a mere six months ago. Even had there been a reporting system in place, it is likely many reports would not have been made. Military members cite disparagement for pointing out, reporting, or discussing UAP’s. Now that the issue has been brought to the forefront by the UAPTF investigation and news coverage of it, incident reports are likely to rise.
The brief task force report, while not pinpointing the cause for these sightings, did offer five basic categories of explanations which are likely resolutions of the issue: airborne clutter; natural atmospheric phenomena; U.S. government or industry developmental programs; foreign adversary systems; and “other.” Well, that about covers the possibilities, doesn’t it?
The report confirms what was sighted was not part of any U.S. military operations. (And we all believe what the government tells us, so I’m still not ruling that one out.) Of course, the most interesting, and scary, possible explanations are the last two. While the report doesn’t mention aliens, extraterrestrial beings would certainly be categorized under “other.” Highly advanced aircraft developed by other nations would be the “foreign adversary systems.” By insufficient information to determine the origin of a UAP, the task force might mean the videos didn’t zoom in close enough to see if “Made in China” was stamped on the UFO.
Given that UAP sightings tend to cluster around U.S. training and testing grounds, the foreign adversary system explanation is troubling. The UAPTF report declares the obvious when it states UFO’s “clearly pose a safety of flight issue and may pose a challenge to U.S. national security.” Because of these threats, lawmakers both before and after the report’s release are demanding the government do more to investigate.
John Ratcliffe, the former Director of National Intelligence under President Trump, reacted to the report shortly after its release. This man, who oversaw the nation’s 18 spy agenices and presumably know many things the general public does not, noted, “There are technologies we don’t have and frankly that we are not capable of defending against.” That’s comforting, huh? This assessment was made with the knowledge some reported sightings involved aircraft that appeared to remain stationary in winds, which could move against the winds, and that could maneuver abruptly or move at considerable speed and without means of propulsion. Sounds like advanced technology to me, right ET? Along those lines, the New York Times reports American intelligence and military officials are worried “China or Russia could be experimenting with hypersonic technology.”
The inconclusive report produced by the UAPTF after months of work and who knows how many millions of dollars simply doesn’t cut it. Something’s out there, and, for the safety and security of our country, we must figure out what it is and how to deal with it. Whether it be little red men from Mars paying a visit or technology from China’s Red Army being used for sinister purposes, answers are needed so we can be prepared to take appropriate action. I’d like to think UFO’s are not threatening, but it’s better to be safe than sorry and identify what so far is still unidentified.
Just WONDER-ing:
Have you ever spotted a UFO or know someone who did? If you saw a UFO, would you be reluctant to report it? Does the lack of an explanation for these incidents in the UAPTF report concern you?
WONDER-ing WOMAN -- Alice H. Murray 