Presidents and UFOs: A history of secrecy and speculation

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Following President Obama’s comments on his belief in aliens and President Trump’s subsequent call to release government files on UFOs, it may seem like disclosure of potential extra-terrestrial life is a modern question for politicians.

However, since at least World War 2, certain American presidents have dealt with questions surrounding the declassification of such information in different ways.

President Harry Truman is accused of covering up the infamous 1947 Roswell incident, but also credited with creating the Majestic 12 committee to study the phenomenon.

Some UFO people point to the John F. Kennedy assassination as an example of government agents attempting to prevent a president from releasing information on aliens (though many more popular theories exist). Kennedy certainly pushed for some of the most advanced space technology that would eventually help humans land on the moon.

President Reagan created a big stir in 1987 when he alluded to alien forces five different times in a speech to the United Nations, part of which is quoted below:

“I’ve often wondered, what if all of us in the world discovered that we were threatened by an outer … a power from outer space, from another planet? Wouldn’t we all of a sudden find that we didn’t have any differences between us at all?”

The presidencies of the Bush family were also illuminating. As former head of the CIA, George H.W. Bush would know more about any secretive UFO programs than presidents before or after him. The dissolution of the Soviet Union also occurred during his presidency and brought with it information previously unable to cross Cold War borders.

Dr. Eric Davis claims President George W. Bush not only oversaw secretive programs but even had a meeting with Davis where they discussed disclosing aliens to the general public.

The answer may be as simple as presidents not knowing as much as we think they do about the subject. The recent statements from President Obama and President Trump, however, suggest modern presidents are much more aware of the issue and the ramifications of disclosure.

{ https://www.8newsnow.com/mystery-wire/ }

27-02-2026 om 22:22 geschreven door peter  

Trump Promises Declassification of Long-Hidden UFO Files After Blasting Obama Over Alien Comments

A late-night social media post just set Washington on fire. President Trump says he’s moving to release classified UFO and extraterrestrial files, hours after blasting Obama over alien remarks.

Written by Arezki Amiri

© Trump Vows To Open Classified Ufo Records

The president of the United States used his social media account on Thursday evening to announce he would direct the Department of Defense to begin releasing classified records on unidentified flying objects. The post promised government files on “alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena, and unidentified flying objects.”

Hours earlier, the same president had accused his predecessor of committing a security violation by discussing the existence of extraterrestrial life during a podcast interview. The convergence of these two events has placed the Pentagon‘s long-running investigations into unexplained aerial encounters at the intersection of presidential politics and classification policy.

No administration in American history has formally committed to a systematic release of government records pertaining to potential non-human intelligence. The White House has not specified which documents might be made public, when any release might occur, or whether the review will encompass material from previous administrations dating back decades.

A Social Media Post, a Podcast, and a Political Crossfire

President Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on February 19 that he would be “directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters.”

The full text of the directive on Truth Social remains accessible on the president’s account. The post cited “the tremendous interest shown” as the basis for the directive. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt amplified the message on X, calling the announcement “OUT OF THIS WORLD NEWS.” Officials confirmed no timeline has been established for when any documents might be reviewed or made available to the public.

The president’s announcement followed his criticism of former President Barack Obama over comments Obama made during an appearance on Brian Tyler Cohen’s podcast, released February 15. On the program, Obama said: “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them, and they’re not being kept in Area 51. There’s no underground facility unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States.”

Obama subsequently clarified his remarks in an Instagram post, explaining that he meant “the odds are good there’s life out there” and stated he had seen “no evidence” of alien existence during his term in office. The exchange between the two presidents was covered by Sky News, which detailed Trump’s accusation that Obama had leaked classified information.

When Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asked President Trump about Obama’s comments on February 19, Trump responded: “He’s not supposed to be doing that. He made a big mistake.” Asked whether he personally believes aliens are real, Trump said: “I don’t know if they’re real or not. I don’t have an opinion on it. I never talk about it. A lot of people do. A lot of people believe it.” Trump later told Doocy: “I may get him out of trouble by declassifying.”

The discussion surrounding potential disclosure took an additional turn when Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, suggested on the Pod Force One podcast that Trump has prepared remarks on extraterrestrial life. “I’ve heard kind of around, I think my father-in-law has actually said it, that there is some speech that he has, that I guess at the right time, I don’t know when the right time is, he’s going to break out and talk about and it has to do with maybe some sort of extraterrestrial life,” she said. Leavitt responded to the claim on February 19, telling reporters: “A speech on aliens would be news to me.”

What the Government Already Said, What It Keeps Quiet, and What Happens Next

The House Oversight Committee held a hearing in July 2023 featuring David Grusch, a former military intelligence officer and whistleblower. Grusch alleged that the Pentagon and other agencies operated a “multi-decade” effort to reverse engineer nonhuman technology recovered from crash sites. He claimed direct involvement in retrieval programs. The Pentagon has denied these allegations. In 2022, a House Intelligence subcommittee convened the first congressional hearing on UFOs in more than 50 years. Officials overseeing a Pentagon task force investigating UAPs testified before lawmakers at that session.

The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, established in 2022, continues to investigate reported incidents. Its 2024 historical report, mandated by Congress, concluded that no investigation had confirmed the existence of extraterrestrial technology or recovered materials.

The report attributed most unresolved cases to sensor anomalies, misidentification, or insufficient data. The AARO’s most recent quarterly update, released in January 2026, indicated that 87 percent of newly reported UAP cases had been attributed to ordinary objects including drones, birds, weather balloons, and airborne debris. The remaining cases remain under active investigation due to insufficient data.

Federal declassification requires originating agencies to review documents for information protected under national security exemptions, including intelligence sources and methods, nuclear weapons data, or information that could compromise ongoing operations. The Presidential Records Act governs the release of documents from previous administrations, though former presidents retain certain privileges over their records.

Pentagon records on UAP date back to the U.S. Air Force’s Project Blue Book, which investigated 12,618 reported sightings between 1947 and 1969. Of those, 701 cases remained officially classified as “unidentified” when the project closed. More recent records include observations documented by Navy and Air Force pilots between 2014 and the present, some of which have been confirmed in declassified videos released by the Pentagon between 2017 and 2020.

{ https://dailygalaxy.com/category/news/ }

27-02-2026 om 22:00 geschreven door peter  

© US Air Force Drone Captured Three 'Orb' UFOs Over the Persian Gulf. The Pentagon Hid the Footage in a 'Non-Human' Archive 

© United States Air Force

The footage was captured on August 23, 2012, by an MQ-9 Reaper drone operated by the United States Air Force. The infrared sensors on the military aircraft recorded the objects just after 6pm local time as they moved through airspace between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The region has since become recognized as a significant hotspot for unexplained aerial phenomena, with personnel on US Navy vessels reporting multiple encounters with bright objects in the sky.

What makes this particular sighting stand apart from countless other UFO videos is its origin. This is not smartphone footage shot by an excited amateur but military-grade sensor data officially designated as UAP, which stands for Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. Investigative journalist Jeremy Corbell, who obtained and released the footage along with colleague George Knapp on their WEAPONIZED podcast, noted that the Department of War, formerly the Department of Defence, reportedly placed this recording in a separate archive specifically reserved for evidence considered non-human.

Three Lights That Move Like Nothing We’ve Built

The footage shows three distinct points of light moving across the drone’s field of view in what observers immediately recognized as a coordinated triangular formation. For most of the recording, the objects maintain equal distances from one another, holding their positions with a precision that suggested either intelligent control or an unknown physical connection. The visual presentation initially created the impression of a single triangular craft with lights at each corner.

George Knapp addressed this directly during the podcast analysis, explaining that what looks like one large triangular vehicle with three dots on the ends is clearly not what the footage actually shows. Watching the full sequence makes it evident that three separate objects are moving together rather than one unified structure. The military’s own classification described them as orbs flying in formation, according to Unilad, confirming the interpretation that multiple objects were involved.

Throughout the entire sequence, none of the objects displayed any visible wings, tails, fins, or engine exhaust. These are features that would be unavoidable on any conventional aircraft, yet the infrared sensors detected nothing of the sort. The objects simply existed as three points of light moving through the air with apparent disregard for how things normally fly.

A Playful Maneuver That Broke the Formation

The most intriguing moment arrives about halfway through the minute-long recording. One of the three lights suddenly drops back, breaking the perfect triangle it had maintained with the other two objects. It hangs behind for a brief moment before surging forward again, rejoining the formation and resuming its original position as if nothing unusual had happened.

Jeremy Corbell emphasized during the WEAPONIZED episode that this movement appeared almost playful in nature. He suggested the objects seemed aware of one another and were coordinating intelligently, maintaining equal distances throughout most of the flight. The way the orb dropped back and then came forward again seemed deliberate, almost as if demonstrating awareness and control rather than simply following a predetermined path.

The video of the orbs was taken by a US Air Force Reaper drone between Saudi Arabia and Iran 

© United States Air Force

According to the Daily Mail, Corbell pointed out that this particular behavior matches one of the five observables often associated with UFO encounters, unusual flight movements that appear to violate basic physical laws. The orb showed clear signs of instant acceleration without any visible thrust, something no known aircraft can accomplish. There were no exhaust plumes, no engine glow, no heat signatures that would typically accompany such rapid movement in the atmosphere.

Why Military Footage Carries More Weight

The credibility of this observation rests heavily on the equipment that captured it. Military sensors, particularly those mounted on Reaper drones, accumulate far more data than standard cameras or commercial recording devices. They detect heat, track movement across multiple spectral bands, and maintain precise timing information that allows analysts to calculate speed and acceleration with high accuracy.

George Knapp argued during the podcast that this technological advantage makes military recordings inherently more reliable than civilian footage when evaluating claims of extraordinary performance. A military recorded sensor-generated image carries weight that someone’s shaky phone video simply cannot match. The objects were captured by equipment designed to track and identify potential threats, not by accident or through someone hoping to see something strange.

Congressman Eric Burlison of Missouri revealed video of a US military drone striking an orb-shaped UFO with a missile, which bounced off and did not stop the craft 

© GOP Oversight / YouTube

Corbell made a point of telling listeners that their government designated this footage as depicting unidentified phenomena and that the public was never supposed to see it at all. The classification suggests ongoing official acknowledgment that some encounters remain genuinely unexplained, even if public statements continue to maintain otherwise.

Archived Separately as Potentially Non-Human

Perhaps the most significant detail to emerge involves how the military reportedly categorized the recording after its initial analysis. According to information obtained by Corbell and Knapp, this video was not filed alongside routine sightings of weather balloons, aircraft, or wildlife. Instead, it was placed in a separate archive specifically designated for evidence of non-human craft or objects.

This distinction matters because it indicates that whoever reviewed the original footage concluded that conventional explanations did not apply. The objects were not birds, not balloons, not atmospheric phenomena, and not known aircraft. They were something else entirely, something that merited special handling and restricted access. The existence of such an archive, if confirmed, would suggest the military encounters enough truly unexplained objects to require dedicated storage.

The Persian Gulf region has produced multiple such encounters over the years. One particularly dramatic incident occurred not far from where the 2012 drone footage was captured, off the coast of Yemen approximately one thousand miles away. During a congressional UAP hearing last year, Missouri Congressman Eric Burlison released never-before-seen footage from October 30, 2024, showing a military drone strike on an orb-shaped object similar to those seen in the Persian Gulf.

That black-and-white video captured a Hellfire missile, a hundred-pound class air-to-ground precision weapon, striking what appeared to be a similar object. The missile did not destroy the target. It bounced off. The orb continued traveling at extreme speed as if nothing had happened. Former Air Force military police officer Jeffrey Nuccetelli, who served for sixteen years, described that outcome as exceptional evidence supporting the reality of UFO existence.

{ https://indiandefencereview.com/category/trends/ }

27-02-2026 om 18:41 geschreven door peter  

The Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) has outlined plans to standardize the collection and analysis of reports on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), marking a shift toward greater collaboration with civilian researchers and more structured public data sharing.

The plans were conveyed in a new report that appeared on AARO’s website earlier this month, detailing an August 2025 private meeting with experts from government, academia, and civilian research organizations convened in the Washington, D.C., area.

Coordinated by AARO and hosted by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), the workshop marked a significant step in AARO’s engagement with civilian and independent research groups. The meeting sought to establish a more collaborative and professional process for standardizing the study of UAP within the Department of War (DoW), while potentially increasing transparency compared with previous years.

Topics discussed at the 2025 Workshop

Traditionally, many UAP gatherings involving academics or government officials have focused on presenting findings, historical analysis, or scientific data. The AARO workshop took a different approach, forming breakout groups to address a foundational challenge: how to collect, manage, integrate, and analyze UAP data using rigorous scientific methods—both internally at AARO and in collaboration with civilian datasets.

Areas that the August 2025 workshop focused on included:

• Assessing the current landscape of UAP reporting systems and data repositories;
• Identifying key challenges and gaps in UAP data collection, standardization, and accessibility;
• Exploring methodologies for data analysis and pattern recognition in UAP reports.
• Nurturing trust and collaboration among researchers, government agencies, and civilian organizations; and
• Proposing recommendations for developing a robust UAP data infrastructure.

UAP Report Collection

UAP reports originate from a wide array of sources, including military logs, pilot reports, civilian testimony, archival records, social media posts, and sensor-based systems such as radar and imagery platforms.

In the past, challenges with UAP data collection have ranged from fragmentation and inconsistent formatting to the lack of standardized metadata and limited cross-correlation between datasets. Classification restrictions, language differences, social stigma, and inconsistent retention policies have further complicated access for both government and civilian researchers.

According to the report, participants in the 2025 workshop emphasized that progress in UAP research depends on building a shared data infrastructure between government and civilian researchers. One major recommendation was the development of standardized metadata templates that combine human expertise with AI tools, leverage existing infrastructure, support case triage, and integrate interviews and historical reports, while prioritizing new high-quality data.

These templates would record contextual information such as time, location, morphology, provenance, and environmental conditions.

Clear metadata standards would also make it easier for agencies and independent researchers to share datasets while protecting sensitive information and privacy. The white paper notes AARO seeks a “multi-disciplinary and community-engaged approach to UAP narrative data,” which may influence future sensor deployment strategies.

The white paper identifies artificial intelligence as both a potential solution and a potential hazard. AI could assist with transcription, clustering, and large-scale pattern detection, but also risks introducing bias, amplifying hoaxes, or producing inaccurate results—the classic “garbage in, garbage out” problem. The workshop strongly endorsed a hybrid human-AI model with human oversight.

Privacy First

The AARO whitepaper emphasizes that privacy was a central priority for the workshop. “Participant privacy was an important consideration throughout workshop planning, and Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval governed data collection and security for the workshop,” the report states.

Workshop participants were asked to adhere to the “Chatham House Rules,” and not to take photos or attribute statements to individuals without permission. Given these circumstances, civilian participants who attended the workshop and later spoke with The Debrief did so on background.

“Civilian participants were given genuine opportunities to contribute perspectives and technical insights, and there appeared to be a shared commitment—on the part of both AARO personnel and external researchers—to improving the quality and rigor of UAP data collection,” one participant told The Debrief. “The discussions and presentations were conducted in a constructive, solutions-oriented atmosphere that encouraged collaboration on best practices for future observational and analytical efforts.”

The breakout sessions also emphasized balancing quantitative data with qualitative witness narratives and incorporating cultural and experiential perspectives while allowing multiple analytical approaches to coexist.

“I was pleasantly surprised that AARO did a good job of getting a cross-section, not only of the UAP community, right, but also of people from other federal groups or agencies that attended. None of the three-letter agencies, at least none that I knew of, were represented,” said one participant who spoke with The Debrief.

“There was definitely more transparency compared to their public statements and postings,” another participant said. “I think that was attributed to the level of trust they had with their select invitees in a private session. ”

The Importance of Public Reporting 

Improving reporting systems was another major priority discussed at the workshop. Recommendations included open-ended narrative submissions followed by AI-assisted structuring that witnesses could review; improved geolocation tools; standardized time inputs; flexible units; and optional metadata fields. Participants also encouraged the release of de-identified public data to build public trust and reduce stigma.

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/science/ }

27-02-2026 om 16:22 geschreven door peter  

We didn't find answers in 2025, but UFO researchers say the search continues

A photo taken at the recent US Congressional UAP hearing on September 9. 

(Image credit: Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images staff)

After years of making headlines, air vehicles of nameless origin, unknown intent, and seemingly odd capabilities are still being reported within America's national airspace, allegedly flying over sensitive facilities and interfering with commercial air traffic.

All of this aerial weirdness involves unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP for short. Whatever they are, UAP continue to be seen, reported and even documented through various sensor technologies. However, despite years of whistleblowers testifying before Congress, there seems to have been a bottleneck in getting to the bottom of the UAP issue in 2025. Why so?

Key specialists appraising the issue UAP have yet to untangle the mystery, but do appear to agree on what needs to be done now to further resolve what UAP are and from where they might originate.

{ https://www.space.com/space-exploration }

27-02-2026 om 15:29 geschreven door peter  

The Pentagon's UFO office former chief has revealed unexplained objects were detected in space – and that some performed maneuvers defying anything in America's known aerospace arsenal.

Lieutenant Colonel Tim Phillips, who was acting director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) until last April, told the Daily Mail that while most cases involved objects in the air, some detections extended beyond the atmosphere.

A still from a video reportedly showing a "transmedium" UAP that appears to travel between air and water and split in half. During testimony on Nov. 19, the head of the Pentagon's UFO office says it actually shows an infrared camera's inability to tell two objects' temperature apart from the ocean behind them. 

(Image credit: AARO/DOD)

'I would say probably 90 percent of our cases, if not higher, were always in the air domain,' Phillips said.

'Most of these were in the atmosphere, but there were things in space.'

AARO, a team within the Department of War, is tasked with collecting and investigating UFO cases, with a focus on data-backed reports from skilled military members like fighter pilots or radar operators.

Phillips described reports from 'highly qualified observers' who witnessed these objects displaying capabilities beyond anything the US government is known to have.

He said the object had the 'ability to stop very, very quickly, accelerate quickly, right angle turns – the things that aircraft and spacecraft we know don't behave that way.'

Out of thousands of reports reviewed by AARO, fewer than 50 remained completely unresolved, even after examination by some of the world's leading experts, he said.

Lieutenant Colonel Tim Phillips, former acting director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) until last April, said that 'highly qualified observers' reported unexplained objects in space performing maneuvers beyond the capabilities of known US aircraft or spacecraft 

Of thousands of reports reviewed by AARO, fewer than 50 remain completely unresolved, even after scrutiny by some of the world’s leading experts

The lieutenant colonel also told the Daily Mail that while most cases involved objects in the air, some sightings extended beyond the atmosphere 

But those few dozen reports kept the experts scratching their heads.

'We're talking some of the best and brightest in the world couldn't explain what it is,' Phillips said.

His office was also able to rule out the possibility that the objects belonged to any known US or foreign program.

'We were able to conclusively prove it wasn't a known system, either adversary or friendly,' he said.

Despite the extraordinary nature of some sightings, Phillips told the Daily Mail that the objects never appeared to pose a direct threat.

'We never saw any hostile behavior,' he said. 'I couldn't speak to the intent, but we saw them in sensitive locations sometimes.'

He also noted that some objects appeared to actively avoid detection.

'We saw their attempt not to be surveyed, and in other cases they didn't seem to care,' Phillips said.

The drone managed to record the moment when the object suddenly disappears, appearing as a faint white streak as it moved to the right

Between May 1, 2023, and June 1, 2024, UAPs where reported frequently in US airspace

 

Phillips was quick to stress that many dramatic sightings turn out to be misidentified classified US programs or objects mistaken for balloons, satellites, aircraft and birds

Read More

• Leaked Pentagon footage shows UFO making 'impossible' moves before going supersonic speeds 

That language echoes the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's landmark 2021 UFO assessment, which noted data appearing to show objects demonstrating 'acceleration or a degree of signature management', a term used to describe active attempts to avoid detection.

Phillips was also quick to stress that many dramatic sightings turn out to be misidentified classified US programs.

In one striking case, he described a witness who accurately reported what they saw – but drew the wrong conclusion entirely.

'We looked into it and there was a spaceship being tested, but it wasn't an alien spaceship. It's one of ours,' he said.

A still from a video captured by a U.S.-operated drone in 2018 while flying above Mt. Etna appears to show an anomalous object, but the Pentagon's UFO chief says his office was able to solve the case. 

(Image credit: AARO/DOD)

Phillips has publicly thrown cold water on expectations of any dramatic revelations.

In a LinkedIn post, he wrote: 'UFO believers will be disappointed by what is disclosed; there is no US Government evidence for beings or their craft visiting earth.'

But his statements on space detections, extraordinary flight performance, and dozens of unexplained cases despite analysis by top experts, are sure to stoke the debate.

He spoke to the Daily Mail in the wake of a shock announcement by President Donald Trump that he had directed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to release any government UFO files still kept secret.

President Donald Trump shockingly announced on Truth Social that he had directed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to release any remaining government UFO files 

'I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant departments and agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters,' Trump posted on Truth Social on February 19.

'We've got our people working on it right now,' Hegseth told reporters Monday. 'I don't want to oversell how much time it will take, but we're digging in.'

Former President Barack Obama also weighed in on the topic this month, telling podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen that he believes aliens are real.

'They're real, but I haven't seen them, and they're not being kept in Area 51,' Obama said.

President Trump, asked about Obama's remarks aboard Air Force One on February 19, said his predecessor had made 'a big mistake'.

'He took it out of classified information... He's not supposed to be doing that,' Trump said.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/index.html }

27-02-2026 om 14:34 geschreven door peter  

Did people report seeing UFOs before the 20th century?

Did earlier civilizations report seeing UFOs? 

(Image credit: Aaron Foster via Getty Images)

The phenomenon of unidentified flying objects, or UFOs, has long fascinated humanity. From ancient times to the modern era, countless individuals across different cultures and eras have reported strange sightings in the sky. While the term "UFO" and the contemporary scientific approach to these phenomena are relatively modern inventions, accounts of mysterious aerial objects and unexplained lights have existed for centuries. This article explores whether people before the 20th century reported seeing UFOs, examining historical records, cultural interpretations, and the evolution of the phenomenon over time.

Ancient and Medieval Accounts of Unexplained Aerial Phenomena

Long before the advent of modern aviation, humans looked up at the sky and interpreted unusual sights through the lens of their cultural, religious, and mythological frameworks. Many ancient texts and artworks contain references that can be interpreted as descriptions of strange aerial phenomena.

Ancient Civilizations and Sky Phenomena

• Mesopotamia:
  The cradle of civilization, Mesopotamian cultures such as the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians, left behind a rich tapestry of mythological texts and cuneiform inscriptions. Some of these writings mention celestial objects and phenomena that appear to be beyond natural explanation. For example, the "Epic of Gilgamesh" references celestial lights and unusual skies, though these are often interpreted symbolically or mythologically rather than as sightings of physical objects.
• Ancient Egypt:
  Egyptian hieroglyphs and texts frequently depict the sky as populated with gods, stars, and otherworldly entities. Some scholars have suggested that certain images of flying chariots or celestial ships could be interpreted as early UFO sightings. For example, depictions of solar barques and celestial boats in tombs and temples may symbolize divine journeys, but some interpret them as possible representations of aerial phenomena.
• Ancient China:
  Chinese historical texts from thousands of years ago record numerous accounts of unusual sky phenomena, such as "guest stars" (novae and supernovae), comets, and mysterious lights. The "Book of Han" (2nd century CE) describes strange objects in the sky, which to ancient observers might have appeared as flying crafts or celestial visitors.
• Ancient Greece and Rome:
  Classical writers such as Pliny the Elder, Cicero, and Lucian of Samosata mention strange lights and flying objects. For example, Pliny’s "Natural History" describes fiery chariots and luminous bodies in the sky. Lucian’s satirical texts mention "chariots of the gods" and "flying shields," which may reflect observations of atmospheric phenomena or mythological allegories.

Medieval and Renaissance Reports

During the Middle Ages, reports of unusual aerial phenomena persisted, often intertwined with religious and superstitious interpretations.

Medieval Europe

• Fireballs and mysterious lights:
  Medieval chronicles often mention "fiery disks" or "balls of fire" seen in the sky, sometimes associated with omens or divine signs. For example, the "Annales of Saint-Bertin" (9th century) record sightings of strange lights during battles or significant events.
• The "Mysterious Flying Shields":
  In 14th-century Europe, some accounts describe "flying shields" or "phantoms" seen in the sky, which contemporary scholars sometimes interpret as atmospheric reflections or natural phenomena, but which could also have been early reports of unidentified aerial objects.

Renaissance and Early Modern Period

The Renaissance brought a renewed interest in astronomy and natural phenomena. However, the period also saw reports of strange lights and craft.

• The Nuremberg Celestial Phenomenon (1561):
  One of the most famous pre-20th-century UFO reports is the "Nuremberg Celestial Phenomenon," documented in a broadsheet newspaper published in 1561. It describes a sky filled with numerous orbs, crosses, and other shapes engaging in a celestial battle. Witnesses reported seeing "many globes" moving across the sky, changing colors, and interacting in strange ways. While some interpret this as a natural atmospheric event or a religious allegory, others see it as an early sighting of unidentified flying objects.
• The Kepler Incident (1594):
  The astronomer Johannes Kepler recorded an unusual sighting involving a "small, bright, and moving star" that appeared in the sky and then disappeared. While likely a meteor or atmospheric phenomenon, such accounts contribute to the long history of strange sky sightings.

The 17th and 18th Centuries

As scientific understanding of the cosmos expanded, so did the recording of unusual sightings, often with more detailed descriptions.

• The Aurora Borealis:
  Northern lights have been observed for centuries and often mistaken for mysterious aerial displays. In many historical accounts, the aurora was seen as a divine or supernatural sign, but to modern observers, it is understood as a natural atmospheric phenomenon.
• Unidentified Lights and Apparitions:
  Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, reports of strange lights persisted. For instance, in 1719, a report from the English coast described "bright, moving lights" in the sky, which could have been early observations of meteors, atmospheric reflections, or unexplained craft.
• Ball Lightning and Other Natural Phenomena:
  Many reports of strange aerial phenomena during this period have been attributed to natural causes like ball lightning, meteors, or atmospheric reflections. However, some reports remained unexplained and could be considered early UFO sightings.

19th Century: The Precursors to Modern UFO Sightings

The 19th century saw a surge in reports of strange aerial phenomena, coinciding with advances in scientific instrumentation, increased observations, and a growing public interest in science and exploration.

Early Ballooning and Aerial Experiments

• Hot Air Balloons:
  The advent of balloon flight in the late 18th and early 19th centuries introduced new aerial phenomena that observers sometimes misinterpreted. Balloons drifting across the sky appeared strange to those unfamiliar with the technology, leading to reports of mysterious "flying ships" or "aircraft."
• Aerial Spectacles and Phenomena:
  In 1804, the "Great Moon Hoax" in New York newspapers captivated the public with stories of life on the moon, but also reflected the fascination with celestial and aerial phenomena. Similarly, the rise of aviation experiments, including early gliders and aircraft, led to more reports of unidentified flying objects.

Notable 19th Century Sightings

• The Vevay, Indiana, Sightings (1800s):
  Multiple reports from the early 1800s describe strange lights and disks seen over Indiana. Such sightings were often dismissed at the time as natural or atmospheric phenomena.
• The Aurora and Unexplained Lights:
  Throughout the 19th century, reports of luminous objects in the sky, including the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis, were common. While natural, some reports involved shapes and movements that puzzled observers.
• The Mount Washington UFO (1800s):
  In the late 19th century, there are reports of strange lights and disks over Mount Washington in New Hampshire, which some interpret as early UFOs.

The 20th Century and the Birth of Modern UFO Phenomenon

While the question focuses on whether people reported seeing UFOs before the 20th century, it is impossible to ignore the pivotal role that early 20th-century sightings played in shaping modern perceptions of UFOs. The famous 1947 Kenneth Arnold sighting, which gave rise to the term "flying saucers," was preceded by a long history of similar reports.

• Cultural and Interpretative Variations

Throughout history, interpretations of strange sky phenomena have varied widely depending on cultural context.

• Religious Interpretations:
  Many ancient and medieval reports framed mysterious aerial phenomena as divine signs, celestial battles, or messages from gods. These interpretations reflect the worldview of the time, often seeing such phenomena as supernatural or divine rather than unexplained natural or technological events.
• Mythological and Allegorical Accounts:
  Stories of flying chariots, celestial ships, and divine messengers often served as allegories for spiritual or moral lessons, but they also may encode observations of natural phenomena.

Natural Explanations vs. Unexplained Sightings:
Many historical accounts are now understood as natural phenomena—meteors, atmospheric reflections, planets, or atmospheric optical effects. However, some reports remain unexplained, especially when descriptions are vague or sensational.

Limitations and Challenges in Interpreting Historical Accounts

Interpreting pre-20th-century sky sightings as UFO reports is complicated by several factors:

• Lack of Verification: Many accounts are anecdotal, lacking corroboration or detailed descriptions.
• Cultural Filters: Interpretations are heavily influenced by contemporary beliefs, religious views, and scientific understanding.
• Terminology: The language used in historical texts often differs from modern descriptions, making it challenging to classify sightings accurately.
• Natural Phenomena: Many sightings are likely natural atmospheric or celestial phenomena misinterpreted due to limited scientific knowledge.

Conclusion: Were There Reports of UFOs Before the 20th Century?

Based on historical records, cultural narratives, and scientific analysis, it is clear that humans have reported strange aerial phenomena for millennia. These accounts, spanning from ancient civilizations to the Renaissance, often described lights, craft-like objects, or strange shapes in the sky, which today could be considered early UFO sightings.

While many of these reports can be explained by natural phenomena or mythological symbolism, some remain unexplained or ambiguous, suggesting that the phenomenon of unidentified aerial observations is as old as human civilization itself. The interpretations of these sightings have evolved over time—from divine signs and mythic symbols to potential evidence of extraterrestrial visitation.

In essence, yes, people before the 20th century did report seeing objects or phenomena in the sky that they could not readily explain. Whether these were actual physical objects, atmospheric effects, or cultural expressions, they contribute to the long and complex history of humanity’s fascination with the skies and the mysterious entities that inhabit them.

References & Further Reading:

• Clodd, Edward. The Story of the Heavens. (1913)
• Keel, John. The Mysterious Universe. (1977)
• Ruppelt, Edward. The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects. (1956)
• Hynek, J. Allen. The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry. (1972)
• McNeill, William H. The Shape of the Sky: An Introduction to the History of Astronomy. (1984)
• Historical newspapers and chronicles, including the Nuremberg Celestial Phenomenon (1561)

Final thoughts:
The phenomenon of UFO sightings is deeply rooted in human history. While the context and interpretations have shifted over centuries, the fundamental human curiosity about the unknown in the skies remains unchanged. Recognizing these ancient accounts enriches our understanding of the longstanding human engagement with unexplained aerial phenomena.

{PETER2011 }

26-02-2026 om 21:46 geschreven door peter  

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has finally addressed the president's announcement to release all government files related to UFOs and aliens.

Speaking at an event for the Department of War’s 'Arsenal of Freedom' tour on Monday, Hegseth, 45, said he intends to find out if aliens really exist, and the American people will learn the truth at the same time.

Although he admitted he never envisioned being the person put in charge of potentially revealing alien life to the world, Hegseth declared that the Department of War would fully comply with the president's orders.

'I did not have that on my bingo card at all,' Hegseth said.

'We've got our people working on it right now. I don't want to oversell how much time it will take, right? We're digging in. We're going to be in full compliance with that executive order, eager to provide that for the president.'

Hegseth didn't have an estimate of how long it would take for the Pentagon and US intelligence agencies to release every piece of information on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), which have been widely reported throughout the US since the 1940s.

Asked if he believes aliens exist, Hegseth replied: 'We'll see. I get to do the review and find out along with all of you.'

Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, who was put in charge of the House Oversight Committee's task force on declassifying secret records on UAPs, revealed that all of the incoming documents will be housed on the US National Archives' website.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (Pictured) said the Pentagon plans to be in 'full compliance' with President Trump's order to release all UFO-related files

Trump's February 19 order to disclose any and all information on alien life came hours after he scolded former President Obama for saying in an interview that aliens were real

Until now, the Pentagon has maintained for decades that no physical evidence of extraterrestrial life has ever been found by the US, and videos capturing suspected UFOs have never been confirmed to be of a non-human origin. 

Hegseth's comments came after a whirlwind week of stunning UFO-related claims made by Trump and former President Barack Obama.

On February 14, a podcast interview between Obama and Brian Tyler Cohen sent shockwaves through the US after the 44th president declared aliens were real, but they weren't being kept at Area 51.

Obama tried to walk back the comments a day later, posting on social media that he gave a short and direct answer to Cohen's rapid-fire questions 'to stick with the spirit of the speed round.'

'Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there,' he wrote on February 15.

However, President Trump seized on the comments, declaring that Obama had actually committed a serious violation by speaking on the matter, calling the topic 'classified information.' 

'I don't know if they're real or not,' Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on February 19 when asked about alien life and his predecessor's comments.

'I can tell you he gave classified information. He made a big mistake,' the president added.

President Trump (Pictured) allegedly has a speech written which discusses the existence of UFOs and extraterrestrial life, a claim later confirmed by his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump

The US government has claimed there is no physical proof extraterrestrial spacecraft or alien life exist and have visited Earth, despite countless videos capturing UFOs

Read More

• Top UFO experts reveal 'whistleblower activity' will finally bring disclosure in 2026 

Just hours later, Trump became the first president in history to issue a broad executive directive ordering government agencies to make any information on unidentified spacecraft and non-human life public information.

The president has also reportedly granted a key US congressman access to the most famous military base - Area 51.

In a recent interview, Representative Eric Burlison of Missouri claimed his request to visit the top-secret Nevada facility and other locations allegedly connected to UFOs was approved by the White House.

Burlison is a member of the congressional oversight committee involved in the ongoing investigation into UAPs, more commonly known as UFOs.

Although the US government has continued to deny that crashed UFOs and alien bodies have been recovered, Congress has heard from multiple whistleblowers claiming secret programs have covered up the truth for 80 years.

Seeking physical evidence of these encounters, Burlison told the ALN Podcast that the Trump Administration has ordered Hegseth and the Department of War (formerly the Department of Defense) to 'make it happen.'

'The extent to which they've been involved is literally just saying to the Department of Defense that "we're backing his request. Do what you can to make it happen,"' Burlison explained during the January 30 interview.

Trump has previously said he didn't believe UFOs or aliens exist, but revealed that military pilots have personally told him about their mid-air encounters with unexplainable craft which defied the laws of gravity.

When asked if he would declassify the files about aliens on the Lex Fridman Podcast in September 2024, then-candidate Trump said: 'Sure, I’ll do that. I would do that. I’d love to do that. I have to do that.'

The president's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, has claimed he already has a written speech prepared, which discusses the topic of UFOs and alien life visiting Earth.

White House insiders and UFO researchers have claimed this speech is scheduled to be given this year, possibly coinciding with the Roswell UFO incident's 79th anniversary on July 8 or at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/index.html }

26-02-2026 om 20:50 geschreven door peter  

Coordinated by AARO and hosted by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), the workshop marked a significant step in AARO’s engagement with civilian and independent research groups. The meeting sought to establish a more collaborative and professional process for standardizing the study of UAP within the Department of War (DoW), while potentially increasing transparency compared with previous years.

Topics discussed at the 2025 Workshop

Traditionally, many UAP gatherings involving academics or government officials have focused on presenting findings, historical analysis, or scientific data. The AARO workshop took a different approach, forming breakout groups to address a foundational challenge: how to collect, manage, integrate, and analyze UAP data using rigorous scientific methods—both internally at AARO and in collaboration with civilian datasets.

Areas that the August 2025 workshop focused on included:

• Assessing the current landscape of UAP reporting systems and data repositories;
• Identifying key challenges and gaps in UAP data collection, standardization, and accessibility;
• Exploring methodologies for data analysis and pattern recognition in UAP reports.
• Nurturing trust and collaboration among researchers, government agencies, and civilian organizations; and
• Proposing recommendations for developing a robust UAP data infrastructure.

UAP Report Collection

UAP reports originate from a wide array of sources, including military logs, pilot reports, civilian testimony, archival records, social media posts, and sensor-based systems such as radar and imagery platforms.

In the past, challenges with UAP data collection have ranged from fragmentation and inconsistent formatting to the lack of standardized metadata and limited cross-correlation between datasets. Classification restrictions, language differences, social stigma, and inconsistent retention policies have further complicated access for both government and civilian researchers.

According to the report, participants in the 2025 workshop emphasized that progress in UAP research depends on building a shared data infrastructure between government and civilian researchers. One major recommendation was the development of standardized metadata templates that combine human expertise with AI tools, leverage existing infrastructure, support case triage, and integrate interviews and historical reports, while prioritizing new high-quality data.

These templates would record contextual information such as time, location, morphology, provenance, and environmental conditions.

Clear metadata standards would also make it easier for agencies and independent researchers to share datasets while protecting sensitive information and privacy. The white paper notes AARO seeks a “multi-disciplinary and community-engaged approach to UAP narrative data,” which may influence future sensor deployment strategies.

The white paper identifies artificial intelligence as both a potential solution and a potential hazard. AI could assist with transcription, clustering, and large-scale pattern detection, but also risks introducing bias, amplifying hoaxes, or producing inaccurate results—the classic “garbage in, garbage out” problem. The workshop strongly endorsed a hybrid human-AI model with human oversight.

Privacy First

The AARO whitepaper emphasizes that privacy was a central priority for the workshop. “Participant privacy was an important consideration throughout workshop planning, and Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval governed data collection and security for the workshop,” the report states.

Workshop participants were asked to adhere to the “Chatham House Rules,” and not to take photos or attribute statements to individuals without permission. Given these circumstances, civilian participants who attended the workshop and later spoke with The Debrief did so on background.

“Civilian participants were given genuine opportunities to contribute perspectives and technical insights, and there appeared to be a shared commitment—on the part of both AARO personnel and external researchers—to improving the quality and rigor of UAP data collection,” one participant told The Debrief. “The discussions and presentations were conducted in a constructive, solutions-oriented atmosphere that encouraged collaboration on best practices for future observational and analytical efforts.”

The breakout sessions also emphasized balancing quantitative data with qualitative witness narratives and incorporating cultural and experiential perspectives while allowing multiple analytical approaches to coexist.

“I was pleasantly surprised that AARO did a good job of getting a cross-section, not only of the UAP community, right, but also of people from other federal groups or agencies that attended. None of the three-letter agencies, at least none that I knew of, were represented,” said one participant who spoke with The Debrief.

“There was definitely more transparency compared to their public statements and postings,” another participant said. “I think that was attributed to the level of trust they had with their select invitees in a private session. ”

The Importance of Public Reporting 

Improving reporting systems was another major priority discussed at the workshop. Recommendations included open-ended narrative submissions followed by AI-assisted structuring that witnesses could review; improved geolocation tools; standardized time inputs; flexible units; and optional metadata fields. Participants also encouraged the release of de-identified public data to build public trust and reduce stigma.

Following the report’s publication, The Debrief reached out to the Pentagon for comment on how AARO’s mission may incorporate public reports going forward.

“AARO anticipates using public reports to enhance overall UAP trend analysis and, when possible, to enrich open UAP cases from government and law enforcement sources,” said Sue Gough, a Department of War spokesperson, in an email to The Debrief.

According to AARO’s official website, it currently accepts UAP-related information from military and Department of War civilian personnel, although it adds that “AARO will announce when a reporting mechanism is available to the public.”

Asked about the potential timeline for completing this civilian-accessible UAP reporting mechanism, Gough told The Debrief that “We have nothing to announce at this time.”

A Change in Direction

Sean M. Kirkpatrick, a laser and materials physicist and inaugural director of AARO, presided over the office during the initial phase of its development. At that time, engagement with civilian UAP researchers had been limited and often viewed through a more cautious, security-focused lens. That approach appeared to reflect broader government concerns about data reliability, classification, and the challenges of integrating independent research into official investigative frameworks; however, it also left some outside researchers feeling excluded from the process, and at times drew criticism from some in the broader UAP research community.

Under its current director, Dr. Jon T. Kosloski, AARO appears to be moving toward a more collaborative model. The recent workshop brought together representatives from academia, government, and civilian research communities, offering participants an opportunity to contribute perspectives on data collection practices, reporting standards, and analytical methods. For many independent researchers, the possibility of participating in discussions about government UAP data infrastructure and national security implications marks a notable shift from previous engagement.

Overall, the workshop concluded that continuous collaboration and community-building are needed to establish a sustainable “community of practice” across disciplines. 

“AARO recognizes that input from the scientific and academic community is critical to its work and hopes to convene future workshops and collaborative opportunities, as needed, to foster an interdisciplinary community for UAP analysis,” Gough told The Debrief.

“The long-term success of these efforts will be measured by higher-quality UAP reporting, the use of new analytical tools, and improved understanding of UAP sightings, drawing on the expertise of a wide range of stakeholders,” Gough added.

• Chrissy Newton is a PR professional and the founder of VOCAB Communications. She currently appears on The Discovery Channel and Max and hosts the Rebelliously Curious podcast, which can be found on YouTube and on all audio podcast streaming platforms. Follow her on X: @ChrissyNewton, Instagram: @BeingChrissyNewton, and chrissynewton.com. To contact Chrissy with a story, please email chrissy @ thedebrief.org.

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/science/ }

26-02-2026 om 20:30 geschreven door peter  

“What I Saw Was Not Our Technology”: A Navy Officer Breaks the Silence on Mysterious Underwater UFOs

From the depths of the ocean, UFOs surface as a Navy officer warns of a threat too real to be ignored.

Written by Ashley Morgan

© Credit: Shutterstock

An extraordinary new investigation, originally published by Popular Mechanics is drawing fresh attention to a string of unexplained encounters between U.S. Navy personnel and unidentified submerged objects (USOs). These sightings—recorded over decades and across multiple oceans—are now being described by former officers as a legitimate threat and part of a global pattern that defies conventional physics.

Unexplained Encounters During Training Missions

In 2014, Lieutenant Ryan Graves, a U.S. Navy F/A-18 pilot stationed off the coast of Virginia Beach, began to detect anomalies during flight training missions. Initially dismissed as radar glitches, the signals reappeared repeatedly—only this time, they were backed by infrared and optical confirmation.

According to Graves, these unidentified objects could hover completely still or accelerate to supersonic speeds. They were seen across all altitudes, always above or near the ocean. Graves reported seeing a particularly strange object: a black or dark gray cube enclosed in a clear sphere, estimated to be 5 to 15 feet in diameter. It passed within 50 feet of one of the jets. That incident, he later explained, “was the turning point.”

When Graves later spoke with pilots stationed on the USS Nimitz and USS Princeton off the West Coast, he discovered that similar sightings had occurred for years.

Craft That Travel Between Air And Sea

The military has since adopted the term unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) to describe objects like those witnessed by Graves. A growing number of them appear to be transmedium—able to travel from air to sea without slowing down, splashing, or generating turbulence. These transitions contradict what we know about aerodynamics and hydrodynamics.

Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet, a retired oceanographer and Navy commander, was among the first to review footage of these transmedium encounters, captured in 2015 by jets from the USS Theodore Roosevelt. The craft shown in those videos moved at extraordinary speeds, rotated midair, and left no propulsion trail.

“What I saw was not our technology,” Gallaudet said. “No nation has craft that can move like that.” For him, these phenomena represent a national research priority. He now collaborates with Graves and former Pentagon officials to push for transparency and investigation.

Four Major Incidents Still Unexplained

Several high-profile military encounters continue to raise questions about unidentified submerged objects. In 2004, Navy pilots aboard the USS Nimitz witnessed a Tic Tac–shaped craft that dropped from 80,000 feet to sea level in under one second, with no wings or engines.

In 2013, infrared footage from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico captured a spherical object entering the ocean without a splash, resurfacing, then splitting into two before submerging—defying known flight and fluid dynamics.

A 1990s incident involved a CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter crew near Puerto Rico. As they retrieved a drone, a massive dark object rose from below and pulled it back underwater, leaving the pilot stunned.

In 2019, the USS Omaha recorded a spherical object hovering over the Pacific before it dropped into the water without any visible splash. A sailor later confirmed similar sightings aboard the USS Jackson in 2023.

{ https://dailygalaxy.com/category/news/ }

24-02-2026 om 21:22 geschreven door peter  

What do Obama and Trump’s alien comments actually reveal?

During an interview with podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen released last Saturday (February 14), former president Barack Obama didn’t shy away from the question, when asked whether extraterrestrials exist, he replied simply, “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them.” 

Donald Trump responded to Obama’s comments by suggesting the former president may have revealed classified information, saying Obama “gave classified information — he’s not supposed to be doing that. He made a big mistake.” 

Trump later wrote on his social media platform Truth Social that, due to the tremendous public interest, he would direct the Secretary of War and other relevant departments and agencies to begin identifying and releasing government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and UFOs. 

Concerns about secrecy intensified when a massive public archive from The Black Vault, run by researcher and ufologist John Greenewald Jr., reportedly containing 3.8 million declassified U.S. government files, vanished just one day after Trump ordered the release of all UFO-related documents. 

Critics, however, claim the move to release all files tied to UFOs and extraterrestrial contact is merely a distraction from other political controversies. 

In the video below, Richard Dolan assesses what Obama actually said, why the reaction was wildly overblown, and why Trump’s instinctive response made the issue more interesting. More importantly, Richard examines the deeper structural problem behind UFO disclosure: a labyrinth of federal agencies, special access programs, and private defense contractors that may sit largely beyond presidential reach. This story is really power, secrecy, and what history tells us about how difficult it really is to break through the system. 

In the end, many believe it may be the same old story, with little, if anything, about aliens truly being revealed… but who knows?

  

{ https://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/ }

24-02-2026 om 16:31 geschreven door peter  

Are aliens real? The question has animated conspiracy theorists for decades and enthralled at least one former president of the United States. In a recent interview, Barack Obama became the first American president to affirm a belief in the existence of extraterrestrial life, but insisted that it was not being stored inside the top-secret Area 51 military base in Nevada.

For Bill Diamond, the president and chief executive of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute (Seti) in California, Obama’s beliefs are hardly radical. Seti is the world’s leading research organisation dedicated to the scientific search for life beyond our planet – and Diamond insists that aliens are out there.

“Oh yes,” says the 69-year-old scientist. “I do believe aliens are real. Definitely… It is one of the questions we ask if you want to get a job at Seti. If you don’t believe in aliens, there’s probably no point having a job with us.” Diamond’s job involves overseeing teams of scientists working on various projects and sifting through torrents of data from radio telescopes, searching for patterns that nature alone cannot explain.

Diamond is careful, though, to draw distinctions in what he means by aliens. He is not talking about flying saucers and abductions. “Life is probably very common in the universe,” he says. “It’s when you start talking about complex organisms, intelligence and then, ultimately, technology that it becomes a different matter.

{ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/ }

24-02-2026 om 15:15 geschreven door peter  

Mystery as UFO vault with 3.8 million files is wiped clean hours after Trump demands alien docs released

• MORE:  Mysterious 'vehicle of unknown origin' hidden at US Navy Base raises questions about secret UFO program

By CHRIS MELORE, US ASSISTANT SCIENCE EDITOR

Greenewald shared the news online, explaining that some server directories had their permissions, the safeguards on who can access or edit them, and the file ownership logs changed without explanation.

Black Vault has become a go-to resource for anyone wanting to see exactly what the government has quietly made public over the last 80 years.

Greenewald has spent three decades organizing information on hidden programs and little-known incidents that suggest the US has been involved in top secret efforts to recover and take advantage of alien technology.

Troves of declassified files the public can freely search through on the Black Vault detail military base reports, witness testimonies, and even CIA directives since the 1940s and 50s which have been unsealed without widespread public knowledge.

The researcher has also publicly revealed every time a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was returned by the CIA, FBI, and other government organizations with little or no response.

The timing of the potential sabotage came just hours after the president's history-making declaration, ordering the Pentagon to disclose anything 'related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs).'

Hours after saying Barack Obama acted improperly by allegedly sharing classified information when he said that aliens exist, President Trump ordered the Pentagon to declassify all UFO files

Creator of The Black Vault, John Greenewald Jr, wrote on social media that the website containing 3.8 million declassified files was wiped hours after Trump's UFO order

In a statement released on X, Greenewald said he did not 'fully suspect foul play' but noted that he couldn't rule out the possibility because of the suspicious information he had received from the website hosting provider.

'[They] had no idea what happened, and on their side, they said it was a deletion, not corruption,' the researcher posted on Saturday.

In simpler terms, someone or something intentionally removed every single file from the Black Vault's server, deleting all the records released by the CIA and other groups, without fully shutting down the site so alarms wouldn't go off right away.

Until recently, the US government has flat-out denied that UFOs or extraterrestrial beings existed, maintaining for decades that there has never been any physical evidence recovered that proves something non-human has ever landed on Earth.

However, Trump's February 19 order came after he publicly criticized former President Barack Obama for saying in an interview that aliens were real. Trump claimed the 44th president had revealed 'classified information.'

Greenewald has previously filed over 11,000 FOIA requests with the US government to obtain these documents, including some declassified reports that date back to the alleged UFO crash landing at Roswell in 1947.

His investigations have also provided legitimate paper trails, detailing how former administrations and the intelligence community created secret task forces of high-ranking military and scientific officials to research UFO incidents.

These groups include the Majestic 12 (MJ-12), which was allegedly formed after the Roswell crash and worked for over two decades investigating sightings of alien spacecraft, working with non-human technology, and contacting extraterrestrials.

The Black Vault contains millions of pages of declassified information from the CIA and other sources on UFOs, secret government projects, and investigations into high-profile assassinations

The Black Vault's records stretch back to early files detailing the US government's actions following the alleged crash of a UFO in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947

Luckily for The Black Vault, Greenewald revealed that all of the more than 3.8 million files were backed up in secure locations and the site was restored soon after the mysterious wiping took place.

'It is a stark reminder to us all, me included. Keep backups. Keep them in multiple places. And never be intimidated by anything that comes our way, no matter what we expect may have happened,' the researcher wrote on X. 

The Daily Mail has reached out to Greenewald for comment on the incident, which the researcher called a 'very oddly timed server maintenance.'

'In my honest opinion, I feel it was a very odd-timed server maintenance done by the hosting provider, that went awry,' Greenewald posted Saturday.

'They didn't catch it, and when I did, they didn't take blame, and there was no way to fully prove what happened, and by whom. Could I be wrong? Yes. Could it have been foul play? I can't rule it out.'

Data wipes like this can occur in a few ways, often without it being a malicious attack. However, these file wipes can be done intentionally by bad actors.

The most common problem happens when hosting companies perform routine updates or data cleanups.

If a software glitch, human error, or incompatible changes take place, it could accidentally delete files or alter permissions.

Hardware issues, such as failing hard drives, software bugs, or even power outages, could also corrupt or erase data. However, The Black Vault's host allegedly ruled out corruption, pointing to a deliberate erasing of the declassified files.

That leaves the possibility of hackers breaching the server through vulnerabilities, including weak passwords, outdated software, or phishing attacks.

Once in the system, the attackers might delete files to cause chaos, especially if the site deals with sensitive data that some groups might want suppressed. 

Critics of the Trump Administration's promise to release all files tied to UFOs and extraterrestrial contact have claimed the move is merely a stunt to distract the public from other political controversies and nothing about aliens will actually be learned.

Many on social media have pointed to the previous releases of the documents detailing President Kennedy's assassination and the Jeffrey Epstein files both containing heavily redacted information that provided no definitive 'smoking gun.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

23-02-2026 om 23:08 geschreven door peter  

Background: What You Know About The Foo Fighters May Well Be Wrong

Ask most UFO enthusiasts about the Foo Fighters and you will probably hear vague stories about US Army Air Force night-fighter crews who saw balls of light following their aircraft over Germany during the last months of World War Two. They may cite the Smokey Stover cartoon, popular among aircrew at the time, as the origin of the name “Foo Fighter”. Some may even throw in cases from the Pacific Theatre of Operations, again dating from the final year of the war, when crews watched “balls of fire” pacing their B-29 Superfortresses on missions over Japan.

What is less well known is that Royal Air Force bomber crews had been reporting strange lights, luminous objects, and large “aeroforms” in the skies over Germany since March 1942. The small number of UFO researchers who have looked at the subject in depth have discovered a huge number of sightings spanning the globe from 1942 onwards, although if you look hard enough, there are also reports of strange lights dating back to the time of the German invasion of Belgium in May 1940. Although the American night-fighter crews used the term Foo Fighters, the phenomenon had been known by many other names prior to that phrase being coined. Terms such as “meteors” and “rockets” were often used in official reports, but many RAF pilots simply referred to the phenomenon as “The Light” or “The Thing”. What is also not widely known is that lights were not the only items aircrews reported seeing. Huge cylindrical objects with portholes, inverted “bathtubs” and huge “blankets” were also sighted.

“You guys must be nuts! Nobody up there but your own plane. Aint seeing things, are you?” – Ground radar station reply to American night-fighter pilot after report of strange lights, November 1944

Over the last twelve months, I have been revisiting and re-evaluating the known Foo Fighter cases, and in the course of my research, have also found some new encounters in preparation for a book I am writing on the subject. Much of the information is buried in Air Intelligence files and squadron war diaries, most of which is barely legible due to the ravages of time on the flimsy wartime grade of paper used. However, many cases never saw official recognition, and researchers have to rely upon aircrew logbooks and personal interviews, in many cases conducted decades after the events being recalled. The vast majority of wartime witnesses are now deceased, and a large proportion took the details of their sightings to their graves, electing to keep quiet about their encounters.

There are well over one hundred known Foo Fighter sightings from the three main battlefronts during World War Two (Western Europe, Mediterranean, and Pacific), but strange lights and unidentifiable craft were also witnessed over both North Africa and the Eastern Front. To give an idea of the encounters that transpired during the war, here are three of those cases, all of which occurred long before the traditionally accepted start of the Foo Fighter phenomenon in November 1944.

“Several projectiles seemed to enter the luminous disc, but without result, although the object was well within range, approximately 150 metres.” – March 1942 encounter over the Ruhr Valley, Germany

A Polish-crewed Vickers Wellington bomber was returning from a raid on Essen just before midnight on 25th March 1942 when the aircraft’s rear gunner spotted a bright light approaching their aircraft. However, instead of a Luftwaffe night-fighter, it resembled a large fuzzy copper-colored ball, about the size of the Moon. Approaching within 200 yards of the bomber, the gunner opened fire, watching helplessly as his tracer rounds entered the ball of light to no visible effect. They did not come out the other side, nor did they inflict any appreciable damage. The strange light then shot forward and took up position off the Wellington’s port wingtip.

Now the aircraft’s nose turret guns could be brought to bear on the strange light, and both gunners blazed away at what was still thought to be a Luftwaffe night-fighter. The pilot executed a series of evasive maneuvers but could not shake the ball of light. It remained at the same fixed distance, seemingly undamaged, for several minutes until it finally flew around to a point ahead of the Wellington, remaining in place for a few seconds before shooting off into the distance and disappearing. Another crew flying behind the bomber also had their own encounter with the object but refused to report the incident for fear of ridicule.

“By turning suddenly and steeply, I was able to chase the light around in a circle until I could aim my four 20mm cannons at it. This I did several times until my ammunition was exhausted, but each time I observed, no apparent change in the behaviour of the light.” – RAF fighter pilot’s 1943 sighting

In the spring of 1943 over North Africa, a New Zealand fighter pilot was followed by an orange-red glow, a light that then moved to sit off his wingtip, matching his every turn, including a series of violent evasive maneuvers designed to throw off potential attackers. Taking advantage of an apparent time lag before the object matched his actions, he managed to fire his Hawker Hurricane’s guns at the light on a few occasions, but to no effect. The pilot could not distinguish what kind of aircraft or object was generating the light, as it was so bright. It grew dimmer as they crossed the front line but once beyond the firing it glowed with its original intensity. The RAF pilot’s mysterious companion vanished as he returned to base. He knew of numerous colleagues who also had run-ins with “The Light”. This encounter, similar in many respects to Commander David Fravor’s now-infamous dogfight with the “Tic Tac”, predated that event by more than sixty years.

“He was terrified, as white as a ghost. Something up there sure scared the hell of out him, he was nearly frantic when he got out of his aircraft.” – The effect on an American night-fighter crewman, October 1944

The US Army Air Force’s 422nd Night-Fighter Squadron had its fair share of sightings in late 1944 and early 1945, including a notable event over western Germany during the first week of October 1944 when an extremely rapid object latched onto the tail of one of the unit’s Northrop P-61 Black Widows. The mysterious ball of light followed the crew’s machine as the pilot threw it into a violent set of evasive maneuvers. Despite his best efforts, he could not shake off his pursuer, and in desperation finally dove into a bank of cloud. The ball of light did not follow. Colleagues in the squadron stated that the pilot’s radar observer was badly shaken by the experience and was “still sucking wind 24 hours later”. The mysterious ball of light was officially logged as a Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet rocket-propelled interceptor. There would be many more bizarre encounters with strange lights before the year was out.

Analysis: Were the Foo Fighters Enemy Secret Weapons?

The night skies over the industrial cities of Germany were filled with lights when a raid was in progress. Multi-colored flares were dropped to mark targets and were replaced during attacks as they burned out. The Germans employed decoy flares to distract RAF bomber crews, and Luftwaffe night-fighter crews used “fighter flares” to silhouette enemy aircraft against the clouds, rendering them more visible to their colleagues. Sudden explosive balls of light, accompanied by sparkling lights, were often seen falling slowly towards the ground. RAF crews believed they were German attempts to simulate bombers being shot down in an attempt to lower morale. Nicknamed “Scarecrows”, they featured prominently in intelligence bulletins, and crews were encouraged to believe they were indeed German scare tactics. In reality, they were aircraft being blown out of the sky by flak and night-fighters. However, Allied aircrew had been very familiar with all of these flares and lights. They did not resemble the Foo Fighters in any way, shape, or form.

Because of wartime secrecy and censorship, most reports of strange lights and unconventional flying craft were never publicized due to the possibility that they may have been German secret weapons. Also, individual unit intelligence officers decided whether such reports were officially recorded and then sent up the chain of command for analysis. They frequently dismissed crew testimony and instead asked them whether they had been drinking. If official reports were filed, ribald comments and ribbing from colleagues followed, at least until they too saw something weird and unsettling. The Foo Fighter reports that do exist are a fraction of a much larger number of sightings.

 “[The enemy] have several land service rocket weapons, and the introduction of anti-aircraft rockets seems a likely and logical development.” – 1943 Air Intelligence briefing

Both the British and American Air Intelligence staff were completely flummoxed by the reports of strange flying objects and the balls of fire that followed aircraft without committing hostile acts. The early reports of 1942 and 1943, including “rockets” that altered course when pursuing RAF bombers, plus a 200-foot long object with red lights spaced at regular intervals along its length, were thought to be examples of new German secret weapons. Extra-terrestrials and so-called “flying saucers” were still several years off into the future, and they were never considered as a possible explanation. Most reports of mysterious lights were believed to be sightings of decoy flares, airborne searchlights, or rudimentary surface-to-air missiles, items which the enemy were believed to be developing at that time. With the available information to hand, these were rational and sensible suggestions, but with the benefit of hindsight, and a working knowledge of German wartime weapons research and deployment, these suggestions were actually way off the mark. 

The RAF had experimented with fitting searchlights into night-fighters but found that they blinded their pilots, rendering the scheme useless, and the Germans refused to devote resources to the subject, instead relying on ground-based installations. Several surface-to-air missile projects were being developed in late 1943 and throughout 1944, however frequent engine and guidance problems, together with political interference, prevented any achieving operational status. Most test launches were failures. Air-to-air rocket mortars were fired at B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators on daylight raids over Germany by defending fighters by mid-1943 onwards, although again these weapons were never used at night. The Luftwaffe almost deployed a wire-guided air-to-air missile in early 1945 but the factory producing the rocket motors was destroyed in a bombing raid. 

Once the Luftwaffe started to fly their early jet and rocket-powered interceptors in the autumn of 1944, the strange nocturnal lights were frequently referred to as “jets” in both American and British official records. This, despite the fact that the crews were actually witnessing balls of light, not aircraft, and in any case, the Germans did not operate their jet or rocket types at night at that time. A small number of Messerschmitt Me 262s jet fighters, converted to the night-fighter role, operated in the defense of Berlin from mid-December 1944 but they never flew in areas where Foo Fighters were encountered. The rocket-propelled Me 163 Komet appears in numerous combat reports by RAF night bomber crews, but it was never flown in the dark, as it was almost too dangerous to fly even by day. However, none of these German secret weapons matched the witness reports describing the Foo Fighters’ maneuvers and capabilities.

“Intelligence reports seem to indicate it is radio-controlled from the ground and can keep pace with planes flying 300 miles per hour.” – US newspaper report, 1945

Labeled as new Nazi secret weapons, reports of Foo Fighters started appearing in American newspapers during December 1944, but the armchair experts called upon by editors to comment on the stories were just as clueless as the Air Intelligence staff. As Allied ground forces pushed into Germany during the spring of 1945, the number of sightings dropped almost to zero. When the war finally ended in May 1945, the Foo Fighters seemed to disappear from Western Europe, suggesting that they were indeed German secret weapons. However, scrutiny of captured aircraft factories and testing facilities found nothing that resembled the Foo Fighters. None of the aircraft or missile designs that were discovered, or design plans that were found, matched the tremendous capabilities displayed by the balls of light. Captured scientists and technicians were interviewed but could not shed any light on the matter either. It turned out that the Germans were as much in the dark about the phenomenon as the Allies were.

The focus of the war changed to the Pacific, where similar sightings of strange balls of light, impervious to machine-gun fire, had been witnessed since August 1944, although sporadic reports of odd-looking objects had been filed since the end of 1942. Crews from Major William (“Butch”) Blanchard’s 40th Bomb Group saw mysterious “balloons” over Japan in October 1944, and Blanchard himself would be at the center of the Roswell UFO crash controversy almost three years later. Air Intelligence believed that some sightings in the Pacific were of German technology supplied to the Japanese. Plans for various weapons were indeed donated by Germany towards the end of the war, however, it was too late to put them into production. Once hostilities in the Pacific ended with the dropping of the two atomic bombs, the number of reports dwindled too. Interest in the Foo Fighters waned, and the wartime reports were filed away and forgotten. No one ever managed to put forward an explanation that stood the test of time. The Foo Fighters are as much a mystery to today’s researchers as they were to the intelligence officials of 1944.

Outlook: The More UFOs Change, The More They Stay The Same

Looking back to incidents that occurred nearly eighty years ago may seem like a waste of time to people caught up in the current heady rush of US Navy encounters, UAP photos, and future government briefings. What appears to be forgotten is that the accounts of November 1944 and November 2004 are not too dissimilar when you boil them down to their basics. Drop a P-61 Black Widow pilot into the front seat of a F/A-18F Super Hornet and he might gaze in awe at the new technology on display in front of him. Put him in David Fravor’s position and the P-61 pilot would realize that the “Tic Tac” demonstrates a much higher level of sophistication than the machine he was now flying. Military aircraft may have vastly improved over the intervening sixty years, but whatever our pilots are continuing to come up against during training flights, the mysterious lights and objects are still running rings around them. To this observer at least, it also appears as if those who are supposed to be “in the know” still don’t have a clue what is going on, something else which hasn’t changed since 1944.

“We have encountered a phenomenon which we cannot explain.” – Secret 1945 memo sent from XII Tactical Air Command intelligence staff to the First Tactical Air Force

Trying to ascertain the origin and motives of the Foo Fighters is akin to figuring out what is going on with the current UAP phenomenon. Stories suggest that German pilots also encountered the Foo Fighters during World War Two, but I have not been able to find any reports that stand up to even the briefest scrutiny. Without trying to sound like a debunker, the photographic “evidence” that exists is probably faked, is a film defect, or another mundane occurrence. Pictures that pass these tests subsequently fail in terms of a lack of supporting information. None of the photos I have found in the course of my research have accompanying notes about locations, dates, or names of the aircrew involved, and are therefore treated with a healthy dose of skepticism. Without context, they are practically meaningless. I like to think that if annotated photos exist in a military archive somewhere, they presumably sit on a shelf next to pictures of the crashed Roswell craft and the Kecksburg “Acorn”. 

Despite a lack of photographic evidence, the Foo Fighter phenomenon is redeemed in terms of the sheer number of witness statements, logbooks, and intelligence reports that confirm the existence of strange lights and other odd flying objects during World War Two, if not their nature. Reports of Foo Fighter encounters are compelling but leave plenty of scope for argument and debate over their veracity, origin, and purpose. Fast forward to April 2021 and a quick read through postings on UFO Twitter tells me that nothing has changed in this respect. UAPs remain unidentified, and people continue to argue over what they represent.

If and when the current spate of UAP sightings is explained to the satisfaction of most commentators and onlookers, perhaps the information we receive will help us understand historical encounters such as the Foo Fighters, Roswell, and Socorro. One could argue that the Foo Fighters are still with us. They might have changed their shape and name, but they are still the same elusive phenomenon that has baffled military personnel who have confronted them in the skies for almost eighty years.

• Follow and connect with author Graeme Rendall on Twitter: @Borders750
• Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, to weigh in and share your thoughts. You can also get all the latest  news and exciting feature content from The Debrief on Flipboard, and Pinterest. And subscribe to The Debrief YouTube Channel to check out all of The Debrief’s exciting original shows: The Official Debrief Podcast with Michael Mataluni– DEBRIEFED: Digging Deeper with Cristina Gomez –Rebelliously Curious with Chrissy Newton

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23-02-2026 om 17:49 geschreven door peter  

Orbs Over Stojeszyn, Lublin Voivodeship, Poland – January 19, 2026 (approx. 5:00 PM) UFO UAP Sighting News.

Date of sighting: Jan 19, 2026

Location of sighting: Stojeszyn, Poland

 

UFOs are constantly being seen around the world, often being mistaken for something else when in reality...it's an alien craft. Here we have several orbs moving about knowing full well that there are people down below watching and recording them. Aliens know the time for full disclosure is very near, and they no longer want to wait. These are alien entities ai technology recording and sometimes controlled by biological entities at an alien base somewhere underground or under the ocean floor. 

Scott C. Waring - Taiwan 

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23-02-2026 om 17:23 geschreven door peter  

UFO caught in NASA images over moons surface, Apollo 10. UAP Sighting News.

 

Strange UFO Sighting of cone caught in NASA image over moons surface, Apollo 10 Mission.

Location: Moons Surface
Date: May 18 until 26, 1969

While looking over some NASA images in their archives of Apollo 10 moon mission I found these Five interesting photos. Remember the purpose of this mission was to be a "dry run" for the Apollo 11 mission, testing all of the procedures and components of a Moon landing without actually landing on the Moon itself. See the UFO orb on far right? The first and second photos show the module floating near two UFO orbs that apparently came to investigate them. These photos are labeled "flyby sequence" because they are flying over the moon to investigate future landing spots. Now two orbs on right.The third through fifth images shows a UFO that is shaped like an upside-down cone. This giant UFO also seems to have the two orbs flying around it. Notice the orbs position changes in each photo. 

Scott C. Waring - UFO Sightings Daily

 

 

Source:

• http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS10-27-3864
• http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS10-27-3865
• http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS10-28-3988
• http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS10-28-3989
• http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS10-28-3990
  
  

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23-02-2026 om 17:06 geschreven door peter  

Ufology: From Fringe to Mainstream to Fringe?

Alittle over eight years ago The New York Times published a story that had profound implications for the way in which the UFO topic was perceived.¹ It also began, at least in the U.S., a process by which the subject became increasingly more mainstream. In this article I want to address three questions:

(1) How did ufology get here?

(2) Where does ufology stand now?

(3) What does the future hold for ufology?

1. How did ufology get here? 

On December 16, 2017, The New York Times broke two related stories. The first was the existence of forward-looking infrared videos of UAP (the U.S. government uses the term UAP—Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon—as opposed to UFO) taken from U.S. Navy jets and confirmed by the Department of Defense as being authentic footage.²

The second part of the story was the existence of a shadowy intelligence program known as the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), that supposedly researched and investigated UAP. This was newsworthy in and of itself, because for years the official position of the U.S. government was that there was no longer any interest in UAP, and that no programs had existed to study the phenomenon since the end of the 1960s, when a long running U.S. Air Force program known as Project Blue Book was terminated. Many people in the UFO community believed this was a lie and that covert programs existed, so it seemed like a clear-cut example of a conspiracy theory that turned out to be true. 

The truth was rather more complex, and there’s still no universally accepted narrative here. Some skeptics say AATIP was more of an unofficial effort undertaken by a group of believers in the Intelligence Community. Whatever its true nature, AATIP was clearly a spin-off of an earlier Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) program called the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP). AAWSAP was demonstrably a genuine program, and some official documents use the terms AAWSAP and AATIP interchangeably.³ In January 2020, Pentagon public affairs spokesperson Susan Gough issued a statement attempting to clear up the confusion. It stated: 

The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) was the name of the overall program. The Advanced Aerospace Weapons Systems Application Program (AAWSAP) was the name of the contract that DIA awarded for the production of all technical reports under AATIP. 

I sought further clarification, and on January 13, 2020, Susan Gough followed this up with a statement that: 

DIA managed the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program. All of the work performed under AATIP was done via a single contract vehicle called AAWSAP. The total work effort for AATIP consisted of the 38 technical reports produced under the contract vehicle. DIA was the sole lead for management of AATIP via AAWSAP. Congress was briefed on the total work conducted for AATIP—the aforementioned 38 technical reports. 

The authors of these 38 reports include Hal Puthoff, Eric Davis, and Kit Green—names well-known to those who follow government dabbling in fringe science and the paranormal. 

My personal assessment is that all the euphemistic “advanced aerospace” references were a way of disguising a UFO or paranormal research program as being a program looking at next-generation foreign aerospace weapon threats, to try to protect it from skeptical Pentagon financiers and Congressional oversight folks who would have been horrified to learn that taxpayers’ money was being spent on such matters. This attempt was ultimately unsuccessful, because while $10M was appropriated in FY2008 and a further $12M in FY2010, funding ended in FY2012, after an earlier official review concluded that “the reports were of limited value to DIA.” 

The roots of AAWSAP trace back to Intelligence Community personnel Jay Stratton and James Lacatski, as well as to Skinwalker Ranch in Utah, often portrayed as a hotbed of UFO sightings and paranormal phenomena. Following the DIA’s 2008 issue of a contractual solicitation (carefully worded to focus on breakthrough technologies that might underpin future aerospace weapon systems, while avoiding mention of UFOs or the paranormal), the contract was awarded to Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS).⁴ Billionaire space entrepreneur Robert Bigelow was, at the time, the owner of Skinwalker Ranch. 

Robert Bigelow had a longstanding interest in UFOs and the paranormal, and had previously funded the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS).⁵ The Chairman of the Board was the aforementioned Hal Puthoff, a parapsychologist who’d previously managed (with Russell Targ) a program at the Stanford Research Institute (not affiliated with Stanford University) to investigate paranormal phenomena. This work likely led to the U.S. government’s dabbling in such areas as remote viewing through Project Stargate, run by the DIA and CIA during the Cold War. 

NIDS looked at a range of fringe science topics, and some have argued that AAWSAP was essentially a way to secure government funding for a continuation of the sort of work that had been done by NIDS. Senator Harry Reid (who knew Robert Bigelow) was instrumental in securing official status and funding for AAWSAP. 

The New York Times story was quickly picked up by other mainstream media outlets around the world, and this caught the attention of numerous Congressional representatives and staffers. A key reason for this interest was the fact that aside from Harry Reid and two Senatorial colleagues, there seemed to have been no Congressional knowledge of AAWSAP or AATIP, and certainly no oversight. 

In terms of UFOs, folks in Congress likely aren’t that different from society as a whole, in that there’s a wide range of opinions across the spectrum from skeptic to believer. Furthermore, irrespective of beliefs, it’s hardly surprising that an unknown but clearly significant number of people in Congress saw The New York Times article and thought to themselves something like, “Wait, the government has a UFO program, but didn’t tell us? It was run by Intelligence Community personnel and there’s no Congressional oversight? What are they doing and what have they found out?” 

What followed was multifaceted Congressional interest in and engagement on the topic of UAP, to the extent that a critical mass built up. I believe a key factor here was that this engagement was bipartisan, covered both the Senate and the House, and involved several committees, mainly the Armed Services committees, the Intelligence committees, and the Oversight committees. This Congressional engagement led to classified briefings and public hearings. Witnesses at the public hearings included whistleblowers like Luis Elizondo (a retired counter-intelligence operative prominently featured in The New York Times article and described therein as being the individual who had run AATIP) and David Grusch, a former Intelligence Community member who had been attached to the UAP Task Force under the directorship of Jay Stratton. 

Perhaps the most important part of Congressional UAP engagement was the insertion of multiple UAP-related provisions into several of the recent, annual National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAA). In part to meet these legislative remits, the DOD set up an office (the aforementioned UAP Task Force) to handle the response and to lead on the topic across government. This task force published a number of official reports and was eventually replaced by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). AARO’s website hosts a wealth of reports, briefings, and other UAP-related materials, sourced both from the DOD and Congress, that perfectly illustrate both the breadth and depth of Congressional engagement and the government response to this Congressional interest.⁶

As an interesting side note, one of the directors of the UAP Task Force was the aforementioned Jay Stratton, who had previously been involved in AAWSAP and who had an anomalous experience at Skinwalker Ranch. Stratton’s upcoming memoir, apparently to be published in 2026 by HarperCollins, may shed some light on unresolved questions concerning the evolutionary process from NIDS to BAASS to AAWSAP to AATIP, as well as other not-yet-resolved questions. 

Every intelligence analyst on the face of the planet knows the importance of differentiating between what they know and what they think, yet these very people often seem to be blurring the line.

It’s certainly interesting to note the connections between the various individuals involved and to see how the same names pop up repeatedly. This gives some potential insights into who the key players are and what the overall agenda is. The New York Times story, for example, had a long gestation period. The story was shopped around for some months prior to publication, not only to The New York Times, but also to The Washington Times and Politico, both of which were thus able to run fairly detailed stories very shortly after The New York Times got the scoop.

 

Further insights can be gained by looking at the three names that appeared on the byline for The New York Times story: Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal, and Leslie Kean. 

Helene Cooper was a Pentagon correspondent with The New York Times, with no previous UAP interest; The New York Times veteran reporter Ralph Blumenthal’s interest predated the December 2017 article and began with his research into Harvard Professor of Psychiatry John Mack, who had conducted research into the alien abduction mystery. This led to the 2021 publication of Blumenthal’s book on Mack, The Believer. Leslie Kean comes from a wealthy political family and had a prior interest in UAP and alien abductions, illustrated by her previous writings and by the fact that she lived for some years with abduction researcher Budd Hopkins, who first introduced John Mack to the topic. 

It was Leslie Kean who was instrumental in bringing the story to The New York Times. Luis Elizondo had resigned from government service in the fall of 2017, but very shortly before leaving had passed the three best-known U.S. Navy UAP videos to Christopher Mellon, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. Elizondo believed he had obtained official security clearance for their release, though it seems there was a misunderstanding and that the clearance was not intended to authorize public release. To illustrate this, an April 27, 2020, statement from the DOD referred to “unauthorized releases” of the videos in 2007 and 2017.⁷ In 2007, one of the videos leaked online on the Above Top Secret discussion forum, while 2017 referred to the process that led to The New York Times running the story. 

Mellon and Elizondo then joined an organization called the To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science (TTSA), ostensibly headed by Blink-182 musician Tom DeLonge. TTSA was a sort of collaborative hub for a number of individuals, many with backgrounds in government UAP and fringe science research, including Hal Puthoff and retired CIA officer Jim Semivan. 

It was Christopher Mellon who facilitated a meeting between Kean, Elizondo, and others, which then gave Kean enough to take the story to The New York Times, via Ralph Blumenthal, setting in motion a series of events that was to forever change the field of ufology.⁸

2. Where does ufology stand now? 

This is how ufology in the U.S. went from fringe to mainstream, though it’s a simplified version, and not all the twists and turns of the story are universally agreed upon. If I had to summarize what I think happened and why, my best assessment would be as follows: A loose coalition of believers in UAP and the paranormal, often with backgrounds in government, military, and the Intelligence Community, sought and obtained official funding for their work. When that funding was terminated, they continued the work in a quasi-official capacity. Finally, when they felt they’d taken matters as far as they could without official funding, they decided to go public, successfully gambling that the resultant firestorm would generate other ways to take things forward. The goals may have included funding (TTSA certainly raised some money through a share issue) and Congressional engagement. The latter has clearly been a big success. 

However, eight years into this process, there’s still no smoking gun and we appear to have hit some speed bumps, with several new and parallel events putting things in a rather different light. 

Further ex-government whistleblowers have come forward. This sounds like a good thing, and in one sense, it is, but the unintended consequence has been that this has added to the information overload and created a landscape so complicated that even veteran commentators like myself, who follow the situation very closely, find it difficult to keep up. Furthermore, not all whistleblowers are equal. While one can be reasonably confident that those who have testified to Congress are who they say they are (staffers vet such people fairly thoroughly, not least by quizzing their former employers), others haven’t had their backgrounds investigated in such depth. 

It should also be remembered that even when someone’s government background checks out, their specific role is often harder to pin down and their information can be all but impossible to verify. That’s partly because many of these folks have a background in the military and the Intelligence Community, where issues of classification often arise and where deception was literally in some of these people’s job descriptions. It’s also because much of the information is second hand, but where those concerned don’t make it clear that this is something that somebody else told them. Every intelligence analyst on the face of the planet knows the importance of differentiating between what they know and what they think, yet these very people often seem to be blurring the line. No wonder one occasionally hears some civilian UFO researchers complain that the whole thing is a PSYOP. 

This already murky situation has been further complicated by factional infighting. There’s clearly a struggle for narrative control within the field. Even among the various whistleblowers and other key players, who are ostensibly polite with each other, there are clearly some tensions. By way of a personal anecdote, I’ve had more than one TV producer tell me how Individual A told them he’d appear on a show, provided Individual B wasn’t featured (the requests backfired because producers don’t usually play that game). I’m similarly aware that some of the key players who are ostensibly being polite to me are briefing against me, perhaps seeing my mainstream media platform as a potential threat, especially given that I’m independent in all this and don’t take anybody’s side. Because it so perfectly describes the situation, I can’t resist quoting a lyric from the O’Jays song Back Stabbers: “They smile in your face. All the time they want to take your place.” 

There’s nothing new about infighting in the UFO community. What is new, however, is that folks with a background in military intelligence know a few dirty tricks that their civilian counterparts don’t. Plus, social media has acted as a force multiplier, with 𝕏 in particular having turned into a veritable battlefield between some of the key players, often using proxies and sock puppet accounts. Cliques, harassment, and doxxing seem to be the order of the day. Neither should we sweep under the carpet the uncomfortable truth that some of the people who’ve recently jumped aboard the ufology train clearly have psychological issues, while others sense a money-making opportunity. 

To pick one example of all this infighting, the December 2025 appearance of Jay Anderson on Joe Rogan’s podcast seems to have set off a particularly nasty squabble.⁹ Jay criticized Luis Elizondo (among others), accusing him of orchestrating an aggressive campaign to control the narrative, as well as making reference to what he’s sometimes called a “UFO Hate Group.”¹⁰ In response, a group of Elizondo supporters, sometimes dubbed “the Lue Crew,” hit back against Jay Anderson.¹¹

A related development is that a new generation of influential podcast hosts and YouTube channel owners saw the topic become increasingly mainstream and entered the fray. While many are honest brokers, their podcasts and channels are often the arena in which the struggle for narrative control plays out. Again, despite being a veteran commentator who follows all this closely, I struggle to work out who’s supporting which faction, how many factions there are, and the true nature of their respective agendas. 

What is the result of all this information overload, confusion, and infighting? Speaking personally, I’m fatigued. Moreover, I see from social media that other people are fatigued too. I’m a free speech absolutist, so I’m certainly not advocating any controls on this. I completely reject the idea (which has been floated several times over the years) that ufology should set up some sort of governing body, or somehow police itself. After all, who gets to decide who’s on the governing body, and quis custodiet ipsos custodes? 

There are other developments that give me cause for concern. One of them relates to a couple of narrative shifts that I’ve noticed creeping into the topic. 

Ufology has always been a big tent. In whistleblower David Grusch’s testimony to Congress, and in some of his media interviews, he used the terms “nonhuman” and “non-human intelligence.”¹² In the Schumer-Rounds Amendment (a legislative proposal intended for insertion into FY2024 NDAA, but which did not find its way into the final bill), the term “non-human intelligence” was used multiple times.¹³ Grusch has said that this leaves the door open for other possibilities aside from the extraterrestrial hypothesis. And this has opened the door to some highly speculative discussions about cryptoterrestrials, ultraterrestrials, extratempestrials, and interdimensionals. It’s also led to something a little more on the dark side, with a theological bent. 

The idea that aliens are fallen angels, or demons, isn’t new. But this once-niche theory has gotten a little more traction lately. Luis Elizondo has previously told the story of how, when he lobbied a senior Pentagon official to take more action over UAP, the official told him he should read his Bible. This appeared to reflect a belief that some aspects of UAP are demonic and that to study it would be to give it energy and feed it. 

Such opinions have gained more mainstream traction with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene expressing the views that aliens could be fallen angels,¹⁴ while high-profile broadcaster Tucker Carlson has also talked about UAP in terms of spiritual forces and entities like angels and demons.¹⁵ All of this plays into a neoreligious interpretation of ufology. Chris Bledsoe—author of UFO of God—talks about how an entity he dubs “The Lady” told him how glowing orbs would intervene to stop the missiles if Israel and Iran go to war. There’s an “end times” theme to a lot of this.¹⁶

Again, as a free speech absolutist, I wouldn’t dream of telling people what they can and can’t say about UAP, let alone what they should believe. Again, I’m merely commenting on the current state of play and expressing a personal opinion that I think some of the current narrative isn’t necessarily healthy or helpful. And I certainly doubt that it holds any validity. 

Another narrative shift is the use of the term “psionics”—the idea that one can use the power of one’s mind to summon UAP. It’s a scientific-sounding term, but is it really that different from Steven Greer’s CE5 (Close Encounter of the Fifth Kind) protocols, whereby one can supposedly use meditation and other techniques to initiate contact with extraterrestrials? The danger, of course, is that certain individuals can then insert themselves as intermediaries; you can access the phenomenon, but only through them, because of their special abilities. Again, there’s a sort of quasi-religious, cultish feel to all this, in which one can only access the divine through the intermediary of the priest. 

3. What does the future hold for ufology? 

Given my assessment that ufology has to some extent moved from fringe to mainstream, but has hit some speed bumps, where do we go from here? I don’t have a crystal ball, but based on statements from a range of people involved in the process, it seems that further Congressional hearings and more whistleblowers would be a fairly good bet. The problem, of course, is that, short of a “smoking gun” (actual evidence and not just more stories), this runs the risk of reinforcing the view that it’s all talk and no action. Where’s the beef? 

The Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets is looking at UAP. There’s considerable overlap between personnel involved with the Task Force and personnel serving on the House Oversight Committee, which has been particularly vociferous on UAP. This brings up a potential problem, because while the Task Force is bipartisan, it skews toward Republicans. Thus, it wouldn’t take much to jeopardize the bipartisan nature of Congressional engagement, which would be a setback. 

If Donald Trump’s presidency ends without disclosure, I’ll be 99.9 percent convinced that there’s nothing to disclose.

The UFO community continues to hope for Disclosure—the official acknowledgement of an extraterrestrial presence. The Age of Disclosure, a documentary produced by Dan Farah and released late in 2025 plays into this.¹⁷ So does Steven Spielberg’s upcoming film Disclosure Day.¹⁸ But it goes further than this, and 2027 is a potential date that’s been frequently mentioned. 

Disclosure in 2027 would mean that Donald Trump would be the Disclosure President. There’s a curious kind of logic in this, because if there truly is a decades-long official cover-up of an extraterrestrial presence, the secret has been scrupulously kept by successive administrations of both political parties. By inference, therefore, the reasons for secrecy must be exceptionally compelling. Perhaps only a populist, maverick, second-term President would disclose in such circumstances—more so, given that Trump will soon be in his 80s and is doubtless mindful of his legacy. I agree that if the U.S. government is aware of an extraterrestrial presence, Trump is more likely than any previous president to spill the beans. President Trump has occasionally hinted that he’s privy to some interesting information about UFOs, but has yet to elaborate on the topic.¹⁹

Some argue that the secret of an extraterrestrial presence is kept even from presidents (perhaps to maintain plausible deniability) and is in the hands of an unelected set of gatekeepers, perhaps in the government, but possibly in the private sector. I find this unconvincing. Most Western governments operate on the basis of what the UK civil service calls the culture of “no surprises,” by which political leaders need to be briefed on all big, impactful issues that might require quick decisions and action. 

If Donald Trump’s presidency ends without Disclosure, I’ll be 99.9 percent convinced that there’s nothing to disclose. I’d have to accept that if extraterrestrials are visiting Earth, nobody in the government is aware of it. The acceptance of such a state of affairs might actually be rather good for ufology. After all, while some conspiracies are real, most conspiracy theories are false, and encourage a negative, accusatory approach. Removing—or at least reducing—this mindset from ufology might lead to a healthier, less aggressive approach. It would also remove a lot of redundant effort, which could be better used elsewhere, such as in encouraging more scientists and academics to engage on the topic. 

As I see it, ufology stands at an interesting crossroads. While some of the details remain disputed, the topic has undoubtedly transitioned from fringe to mainstream in the last few years. However, a mixture of information overload, infighting, and quasi-religious narratives may conspire to undo this progress. Allied to this, mainstream media interest in most topics waxes and wanes. The UFO community can’t expect their current fascination with the subject to last indefinitely. This is particularly true if Congressional engagement falls away, as it may well do if the perception is that the subject is becoming more partisan and more fringe, with the attendant dangers of reputational damage attaching to those Representatives who continue to express an interest. 

Ufology has come out of the fringe and into the mainstream, but I believe there’s a distinct possibility that it will move out of the mainstream and back into the fringe.

22-02-2026 om 23:41 geschreven door peter   0 1 2 3 4 5 - Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen)
Categorie:LATEST ( UFO ) VIDEO NEWS ( ENG)

UFOs, aliens and ‘little green men’: A primer on everything extraterrestrial

Trump’s announcement of unsealing all files related to possible life beyond Earth has put the spotlight back on one of the most enduring mysteries that has baffled humans for a long time.

22-02-2026 om 23:10 geschreven door peter  

Overview

In a recent opinion column, The New York Times urges the White House to address four foundational questions about unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), commonly known as UFOs. The piece comes amid a surge of congressional hearings, de‑classified Pentagon reports, and mounting public curiosity about objects that appear to defy conventional explanations. By framing the issue as one of transparency, national security, scientific opportunity, and inter‑agency coordination, the column argues that a coherent federal response is now both feasible and necessary.

The Four Core Questions

1. What is the government’s current knowledge of UAPs, and why has it not been fully disclosed?
   The author notes that the Pentagon’s 2023 preliminary assessment acknowledged “a limited amount of data that remains unexplained,” yet the administration has offered only vague briefings. The column asks whether a systematic release of vetted information could restore public trust without compromising sensitive sources.

2. Do UAPs pose a credible threat to national security?
   Recent testimony before the House Intelligence Committee highlighted concerns that foreign adversaries might be using advanced drones or hypersonic platforms. The op‑ed stresses that without a clear risk assessment, policymakers cannot allocate resources or develop counter‑measures effectively.

3. What scientific value do UAP investigations hold, and how can they be integrated into existing research frameworks?
   The piece points to the National Academies’ 2023 report, which called for “rigorous, interdisciplinary study” of anomalous aerial observations. It asks the administration to consider partnerships with civilian research institutions, NASA, and the scientific community at large.

4. How will the government coordinate across agencies to study, track, and respond to UAPs?
   The author cites the establishment of the All‑Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) as a step forward but warns that “fragmented reporting lines risk duplicating effort and obscuring accountability.” A clear chain of command and reporting protocol is presented as essential for a unified response.

Policy Implications

The column underscores that answering these questions is not merely a matter of curiosity; it has tangible policy ramifications. Transparency could mitigate misinformation and reduce the political weaponization of the UFO narrative. A definitive national‑security assessment would guide defense budgeting and inform intelligence priorities. Meanwhile, embracing scientific inquiry could unlock novel data on atmospheric physics, sensor technology, and even potential extraterrestrial phenomena—areas that could yield commercial and academic breakthroughs. Finally, a robust inter‑agency framework would streamline data collection, reduce bureaucratic bottlenecks, and ensure that any credible threat is addressed swiftly.

Congressional and Public Momentum

Lawmakers from both parties have signaled a willingness to move beyond partisan posturing. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Representative Tim Burchett have both called for “full‑scale, bipartisan oversight” of UAP investigations. Public polls show that nearly 70 % of Americans favor greater disclosure, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. The op‑ed argues that the administration’s response—or lack thereof—will shape public confidence in governmental transparency for years to come.

Recommendations for the White House

The Times piece concludes with a concise set of actions:

• Issue a comprehensive, redacted briefing to the public that outlines what is known, unknown, and the rationale for any classification.
• Commission an independent scientific panel—modeled on the National Academies’ approach—to evaluate data and recommend research pathways.
• Mandate regular reporting from AARO to both the National Security Council and congressional oversight committees.
• Allocate dedicated funding for UAP research, including sensor upgrades and data‑analysis infrastructure, to avoid ad‑hoc budgeting.

By confronting these four questions head‑on, the White House could transform a topic long relegated to the fringe into a structured, accountable element of national policy—balancing security imperatives with the public’s right to know.

{  https://usubjects.com/ }

22-02-2026 om 22:41 geschreven door peter  

Government UFO files would be an avalanche of info: Elizondo

Michael Ramsey

(NewsNation) — President Trump’s promise to disclose any government-held information about UFOs and extraterrestrials will be no simple lift if it comes to fruition, says Luis Elizondo, a former Pentagon insider who has long advocated for the feds to be transparent.

He notes the government has amassed a secret trove of information for more than 80 years and suggests the potential quantity of information could dwarf the millions of documents in the Epstein files.

“Now, the real hard work begins,” Elizondo told “CUOMO” on Friday. “The government has been sitting on this information for so long. There’s so much documentation right now, within our own holdings — within the intelligence community, within the defense communities, within the Department of Energy — that this is going to be a tremendous undertaking.”

First, Elizondo said, Trump will need to sign an executive order that obligates agencies under his control to comply with his transparency directive.

On Thursday, the president said on Truth Social he would direct the Pentagon and other government agencies to release files about “alien and extraterrestrial life”; unidentified anomalous phenomena, aka UAPs; UFOs; and “any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters.”

Among skeptics who doubt Trump will ultimately make good on his promise is investigative journalist Ross Coultart of NewsNation’s “Reality Check” podcast.

“It’s very important to note Donald Trump is not saying, in what he’s announced to date, that he is going to declassify anything,” he says. “All they are talking about is reviewing records.”

The issue of UFOs — purists prefer the broader term UAP, which includes objects traveling in bodies of water — has gained traction in recent years after several whistleblowers have stepped forward to claim the government has covered up vital information. The whistleblowers include David Grusch, who told lawmakers the federal government is operating a UFO retrieval program.

A widely publicized 2025 documentary, “The Age of Disclosure,” featuring a bipartisan roster of policymakers and officials, suggested the U.S. and rival nations are in a race to reverse-engineer alien tech that has been recovered.

The UAP category can also include drones, which have become increasingly sophisticated.

Public ready for truth on UFOs, extraterrestrials: Journalist

Journalist Marik Von Rennenkampff, a former State Department analyst who writes about UAPs, says Trump’s timing is perfect given the “critical mass” the issue seems to have achieved.

“I think we’re ready for it,” Von Rennenkampff says of the public at large. “I think the big question is what happens the day after — geopolitically, economically, socially and culturally.”

Scientists could help evaluate UFO info: Avi Loeb

The Harvard astrophysicist who made a splash with his study of the comet 3I/ATLAS said the government files, if they see the light of day, could yield higher-quality images than the public is used to seeing when discussions about UFOs come up.

“In addition, there could be some materials that were retrieved and are puzzling,” Avi Loeb told “Jesse Weber Live” on Friday. “The best way to figure things out to share it, if we are sure it’s not coming from adversarial nations.”

 { https://www.newsnationnow.com/ }

22-02-2026 om 22:11 geschreven door peter