Stuck in the last $2.3 trillion pandemic relief bill passed in December last year was a little-noted rider to the intelligence authorization language. Underneath the heading “Advanced Aerial Threats,” the bill mandated that the defense secretary and the director of national intelligence work to issue a report detailing everything the government knows about unidentified flying objects. Not just what the air force or navy has on UFO’s but everything known by every agency about the phenomenon.
Former DNI John Ratcliffe told Fox News, “Frankly, there are a lot more sightings than have been made public.”
“There are instances where we don’t have good explanations for some of the things that we’ve seen,” he added. “And when that information becomes declassified, I’ll be able to talk a little bit more about that.”
That’s the sticking point right there. How much of what is classified will become unclassified and released to the public?
When Trump approved the spending package on Dec. 27, a 180-day countdown began, giving intelligence officials until June to deliver lawmakers their write-up.
However, two factors might delay the report’s release: agencies have missed similar congressional reporting deadlines in the past; and the provision is not technically binding, as the language was included in the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the bill, not the bill itself.
“In other words, it isn’t statute, but the agencies/departments generally treat report language as bill language,” said one senior Senate aide familiar with the legislation.
Besides that, there is agitation inside the government to begin releasing the information. After the Navy released 3 videos of “close encounters” with aircraft that possessed eye-popping capabilities in the air, the calls within the government have increased to declassify most information on UFOs.
But there is a national security angle that needs to be considered, according to Senator Marco Rubio.
In a July interview with Miami’s CBS4 News, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), vice chair of the Intelligence Committee, said the prospect that something otherworldly is behind the flying objects does not concern him as much as the idea that a U.S. adversary could be making secret technological advances.
“The bottom line is if there are things flying over your military bases and you don’t know what they are because they aren’t yours and they are exhibiting — potentially — technologies that you don’t have at your own disposal, that to me is a national security risk and one that we should be looking into,” Rubio said.
This much is certain; some kind of aircraft with unusual capabilities are buzzing our ships at sea, overflying our airbases, and appear to be extremely curious about our missile silos. There have also been reports of unidentified submerged vehicles stalking our nuclear submarines.
Releasing the data and sharing the research probably won’t answer any questions. But it should give us an idea of the extent of the phenomenon and the kinds of potential threats we are facing.
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