September 26, 2024
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What really happened in the Pentagon’s once-hidden UFO office?
A department of the Defense Department began investigating UFOs and paranormal activity more than a decade ago, leading to a lengthy saga that has led to congressional hearings and the breathtaking news stories of today. But the real story isn’t an alien cover-up, but rather a personal myth that a former defense official seems to be alluding to.
A historic photo of the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.
ClassicStock/Alamy Stock Photo
After a long hiatus from systematic UFO research by the US government, a Defense Department agency quietly resumed such an effort in 2008. Called the Advanced Aerospace Weapons Systems Applications Program (AAWSAP), the program was funded to the tune of $22 million.cancel Four years later, the Defense Intelligence Agency program was the subject of congressional hearings, UFO “whistleblower” claims, and a new public furor about aliens. But the real story was More vile than sensational.
in 2022 The US Department of Defense is a completely new and independent All-Area Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) investigates the military’s reports of UFOs, now called Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs). Now, AARO offers the government a unique opportunity to put an end to the UFO problem, but not in the way that the more hardline alien believers would like.
The new office has been busy. I heard the allegations This new book is packed with recovered alien technology and claims that the ET presence on Earth has been covered up for decades. Coming soon: Inside the Pentagon’s UFO huntNew attention from former military intelligence officer Luis Elizondo Among podcasters and Serious news organization Similar.
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Investigating unverifiable myths about aliens should be discontinued as a pointless task for AARO. Earlier this year, AARO released a landmark review that dismantles this long-standing conspiracy theory. Genuine The value from a technology perspective lies in the fact that it brings the latest technology and tools to resolve UFO sighting reports, complementing traditional fact-checking and investigation, and showing that UFOs can be tracked and resolved in real time using high-tech sensors rather than relying on legacy technology. Insufficient witness testimony Books filling the shelves and cable TV news specials.
Government-themed conspiracy theories have been a part of UFO circles for decades, but the recentWhistleblowerThe presentation of the “UFO Report” to a congressional committee has given the reports a credibility never before seen. But far from being a scientific sea change, longtime students of the UFO report believe there is an almost religious element to the reports. The same group of Chukakuha supporters (including former AAWSAP insiders) have “Non-human intelligence” Stories about hidden aliens and other-dimensional beings.
AAWSAP was officially intended to study future aerospace threats, but Actual UFO/paranormal investigation activitiesthe fact is AARO History ReportSince the publication of the credible document, controversy has swirled around the office. 2017 The New York Times article It was identified by the name “Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program” (AATIP). The acronym confusion surrounding this name was further exacerbated by Elizondo. Adopted AATIP label After AAWSAP ended in 2012, the effort continued informally at the Department of Defense.
AAWSAP’s achievements include 38Defense Intelligence Reference Document” was prepared by scientists contracted with UFO enthusiast Robert Bigelow and, along with other reports, Explained in 2 booksThe latter report references a yet to be made public international database of UFO incidents, investigations and discoveries. ‘Creepy’ Skinwalker Ranch Monthly reports were allegedly submitted to the DIA from Utah, a state that was once owned by Bigelow. “10-Month Report” on page 494 Packed with charts, graphs and findings, there are good reasons to question the quality and objectivity of these reports.
Despite multiple appearances in the media and on podcasts, Elizondo’s efforts have not produced any publicly accessible research or deliverables that would substantiate his claims regarding a UFO cover-up. These may come to light, but “AARO has not confirmed that the USG [U.S. government] “The allegation that they are reverse engineering extraterrestrial technology and hiding it from Congress is the result of circulating reports from a group of individuals who believe this to be the case, despite the lack of evidence,” the office concluded. Recent Reports.
this The whole story Pseudoscientific thinking transfers in a positive feedback loop, and it is not just scientists who are inclined towards the paranormal. Government OfficialsFormer AARO president Sean Kirkpatrick lamented this, saying these officials were responsible for matters of national urgency and needed to be prepared to focus on objective investigation and analysis. Some of these officials are on the record. They consider AARO to be part of a “cover-up.” In fact, the UFO belief system long ago morphed into a kind of faith that doesn’t require evidence.
Government officials and others who hold unsubstantiated beliefs about extraterrestrial life “High degree of strangeness” The fact that ideological smearing (a term popularized by ufologists in the early 1970s to describe the strange and seemingly absurd elements of UFO and “alien” encounters) has been entrusted with a national security issue is cause for rethink: To the extent that America’s adversaries pay attention to the UFO frenzy, they may see it as another way to undermine American institutions. The CIA’s 1953 Warning About the Soviet Union’s potential use of the genre.
On a more positive note, UFO studies are now fashionable among historians keen to unravel the mysteries. Mythical The nature of the problem and how it relates to historical trends Aviation phenomena According to the report, because of the modern media, especially the digital media, which exaggerates the voices of breathless apologists, various con artists, and paranormal-inclined scientists, the UFO phenomenon since 1947 has gained far more clout than the fears and uproar that preceded it, some of which took place centuries before that.
Many serious people dismiss UFOs as a minor interest or pop culture distraction. That is true. But we, along with a growing number of scholars, maintain that there is much to be learned from studying UFO sightings, flutters, and vibrations. Although in our view we are adamant that UFOs or UAPs do not in any way represent truly anomalous physical phenomena such as the presence of extraterrestrial life, this does not make UFO research meaningless. We should explore its meaning rather than cede to sensationalists who employ shoddy methodology and impose pseudo-religious otherworldly narratives. AARO and the academic community thus bear an important responsibility for potentially original and fascinating developments in how and why people interpret and react to what they see in the sky.
This is an opinion and analysis article and the views of the author are not necessarily those of Scientific American.
