DOD Promises Rigor in Analyzing ‘Unidentified Aerial Phenomena’
A still from a DOD video of an unidentified aerial object that appeared to be a flashing triangle. DOD states that an independent repeat observation of the phenomenon has provided high confidence it is actually an uncrewed aerial system that appears triangular when viewed through night-vision goggles and recorded by an SLR camera.
(DOD)
At a House Intelligence Committee hearing last week on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), senior Defense Department officials outlined their efforts to systematize the reporting and analysis of encounters with objects exhibiting inexplicable aeronautical behaviors.
“It is the department’s contention that by combining appropriately structured collected data with rigorous scientific analysis, any object that we encounter can likely be isolated, characterized, identified, and, if necessary, mitigated,” said Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security Ronald Moultrie.
He also noted that DOD is coordinating with a variety of agencies on the matter, including NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Department of Energy’s national labs. Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray added that the military is consulting experts, including from outside the government, in fields such as physics, optics, metallurgy, and meteorology.
Reiterating the findings of an intelligence community report on UAPs released last year, he reported, “If and when individual UAP incidents are resolved, they likely fall into one of five potential explanatory categories: airborne clutter, natural atmospheric phenomena, U.S. government or U.S. industry developmental programs, foreign adversary systems, or a ‘other’ bin that allows for a holding bin of difficult cases and for the possibility of surprise and potential scientific discovery.”
