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The U.S. military has claimed an increase in what it calls “unexplained aerial phenomena,” or more colloquially known as unidentified flying objects, in recent years.
According to The Washington Post, recently observed UFOs have entered military-designated airspace as many as several times each month.
Joseph Gradisher, spokesman for office of the deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare, told The Washington Post that he fully intends to “investigate each and every report,” citing various safety concerns.
“We want to get to the bottom of this,” he told the Post. “We need to determine who’s doing it, where it’s coming from and what their intent is. We need to try to find ways to prevent it from happening again.”
An opinion piece published on Bloomberg raises some fascinating questions and possibilities as well:
“Wouldn’t it be interesting, for instance, if a foreign power were tracking our military missions with a new secret weapon? Or if the eyewitness reports of our service members were so unreliable and in such systematic ways?” writes Tyler Cowen.
And while these possibilities do raise infinite further questions, Chris Mellon, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence and staffer on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told the Washington Post that many of these sightings go unreported by pilots and military personnel due to the fear that it would have a negative impact on the reporter’s military career.
When pilots did speak up about UFO sightings, Mellon noted, there seemed to be “little interest” in investigating claims.
“Imagine you see highly advanced vehicles, they appear on radar systems, they look bizarre, no one knows where they’re from. This happens on a recurring basis, and no one does anything,” Mellon, who now works for To the Stars Academy of Arts and Sciences, told the Post.
Since agencies don’t typically share this type of classified information, it can be difficult to ascertain the full extent of UFO activity. However, Mellon estimated that there had been dozens of incidents witnessed by naval officers in just a year, which essentially forced the service to address the issue in some way.
“Pilots are upset, and they’re trying to help wake up a slumbering system,” Mellon told The Post.
Others say that the issue is more centralized on matters of national security.
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