UFO reports surpass 500, US government says in declassified report
The U.S. government has now received more than 500 reports of UFOs, according to a declassified version of an annual report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released on Thursday.
Hundreds of UFOs, referred to as “unidentified aerial phenomena” (UAP) in the government report, have been reported since 2021 alone.
According to the ODNI’s preliminary assessment, there were 144 reports between November 2004 and March 2021. Since then, Thursday’s report said, 366 additional reports have been received through August 2022 – including 247 new encounters and another 119 from before the original 2021 cutoff.
That brings the total to 510 between late 2004 and mid-2022.
“We take reports of incursions into our designated space, land, sea, or airspaces seriously and examine each one,” Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a Thursday statement.
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Why have UFO reports increased?
Last July, the Defense Department established the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, which is focused on receiving and analyzing unidentified phenomena reports, many of which have come from military pilots. To further access such encounters, AARO works with intelligence agencies.
The Pentagon’s office doesn’t only track unidentified objects in the sky – but those moving underwater, in space or something that moves between domains as well.
The ODNI and AARO attribute the recent increase in reporting to several factors.
Thursday’s report said it’s “partially due to a concentrated effort to destigmatize” UFO reporting and keep the focus on potential risks the objects pose as a safety hazard.
Most of the new reporting comes from aviators and operators in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force, “who witnessed UAP during the course of their operational duties,” Thursday’s report said.
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171 unexplained UFOs
Of the 366 new incidents, Thursday’s report said, 26 were characterized as unmanned aircraft systems, 163 were balloons or balloon-like objects and six were attributed to airborne “clutter.”
That leaves the remaining 171 unexplained. The ODNI said in Thursday’s report that some “appear to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities, and require further analysis.”
Has alien life been found?
Thursday’s report did not mention potential extraterrestrial life. But in the past, officials have said that there hasn’t been that sort of evidence yet.
“We have not seen anything, and we’re still very early on, that would lead us to believe that any of the objects that we have seen are of alien origin,” Ronald Moultrie, under secretary of defense for intelligence and security, said in December, when officials had confirmed that they had received “several hundreds” of new UFO reports.
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In Thursday’s report, the ODNI said UFO incidents “continue to occur in restricted or sensitive airspace, highlighting possible concerns for safety of flight or adversary collection activity.”
The ODNI added that the AARO and intelligence agencies will continue to assess these reports – including investigating “any evidence of possible foreign government
involvement in UAP events.”
The unclassified version of the 2022 ODNI report was made public Thursday. The classified report was delivered to Congress on Wednesday. According to The New York Times, the classified report was originally due to Congress in late October, so it arrived several months late.
Contributing: The Associated Press.
