It’s been five decades since Congress took up the question of UFOs, then the subject of formerly top-secret DoD intelligence known by the code name “Project Blue Book,” which documented encounters with Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), today often referred to as Unexplained Aerial Phenomena (UAP). On Tuesday, they did it again, as a subcommittee of the House Intelligence Committee had hearings to get the straight scoop from DoD officials—they also held a top-secret session, where specific information about military hardware, especially cameras and other sensors, were discussed in a classified session.
Last year, the DoD released a trove of information, including several videos, that seem to document visual contact with UFOs, and at this point, it’s probably sorry that it did. The Navy’s deputy director of intelligence, Scott Bray, was on the hot seat, fielding questions from Representatives. Bray stuck to the DoD’s narrative, that these things are something, they do things we don’t know how to do and they don’t know what they are. They are, specifically, not saying that they think they’re from other worlds, but they are expressly not not saying that either. They’re following the information to see where it leads, Bray told the subcommittee members, some of whom weren’t convinced.
It didn’t help that DoD assistants couldn’t stop the video they were using as evidence on the proper frame to show the object in question and took several minutes trying in vain to do that.
In terms of the credibility of the DoD’s reporting, they have more than 400 reported sightings, many of which were captured on aircraft sensors and exhibited far beyond hypersonic speeds and seemed to move with no visible means of propulsion.
One representative attempted to put the DoD officials on the hot seat, saying that their lack of conclusion about what these objects are represents a failure of military intelligence, and he expressed concern that these objects, which can go at speeds unattainable by known human technology, might be Russian or Chinese hardware. Much publicized but likely immature hypersonic weapons have been shown off by both states over the past couple of years. For its part, the DoD said it didn’t think the objects were from Russian or China, but it would surely keep a close eye out on that possibility.
Several of the representatives seemed to have personal theories, either that UFOs might be alien phenomena or that UFOs don’t exist/are not of alien origins. One member was sure he knew that one of the images in question was of a balloon, and he was surprised everybody didn’t see that too.
What was the result of Tuesday’s show? If it was anything of import, it didn’t take place during the public session. And after all was said and done, the fact remains, the DoD is aware of objects that do things we can’t even properly dream of doing and it has no idea what they are nor how to pursue that question. Like the rest of us, it will have to wait until more evidence presents itself, that is, if the House Intelligence Subcommittee’s circus show didn’t scare them away forever.
Do you want to read more about UFOs? Check out “Mysteries of Flight: Are UFOs real?”
