UFO reports on the rise, experts weigh in on threat to U.S.

TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) – A new report shows UFO’s may pose a security risk.

In a newly declassified report, the U.S. has received more than 500 reports of unidentified flying objects. The military said these are not flying saucers or evidence of alien life. But they could be evidence of advanced technology in the hands of a potential enemy. Many of these sightings have turned up in sensitive military airspace.

“These things {documents} are being seen by our pilots, tracked on radar, picked up on other parts of monitoring systems. And it is being looked at seriously,” said Retired U.K Ministry of Defense employee and UFO investigator Nick Pope.

“The U.S. government is now corporately saying ‘Hey look, this is real!’” said Pope. “A few years ago this subject was just ridiculed and regarded as fringe. Now, we have reports from the office of the director of national intelligence.”

Pope said he is fascinated by these declassified documents and notes these findings are just military findings, meaning there are no reports from the public.

For some of these mysterious sightings, Pope said we do have explanations and they can be as simple as drones, balloons and birds.

Chris Impey is a Distinguished Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona. He also read through the report. He said sometimes things cannot be explained and there are ways to report those sightings.

“There are 800 numbers and websites where you can report a sighting. Sometimes astronomers can explain this stuff. A lot of sightings and UFOs are actually Venus, because a lot of people aren’t familiar with the night sky.”

But still, those things that cannot be identified still pose a risk, according to Pope.

“There is not been a collision so far. But obviously that is on some people’s minds. So yes, there is an air safety issue. But generally, it is a defense and national security threat. These things are often in restricted and military air space and very close to some of our most important strategic assets.”

But Pope stressed several times during the interview there is still so much that we still don’t know, noting that the report released Thursday, was only a portion of the classified version that Congress has.

Copyright 2023 KOLD News 13. All rights reserved.