Disclosure: the Pentagon and UAP

For AARO, no official investigation since 1945 has confirmed extraterrestrial technology, and every case the office is able to resolve turns out to be an ordinary object, such as balloons, birds, drones and satellites. The office says a lack of sensor data is the biggest obstacle to resolving more cases. NASA treats the extraterrestrial hypothesis as a “last resort” and calls for more data and less stigma.

For lawmakers such as Anna Paulina Luna, Tim Burchett and Eric Burlison, this is a matter of transparency and national security: in their view, reports get ignored or delayed, and AARO gives Congress inadequate answers. Since 2023, senators and representatives have been trying to pass an independent board to review and release documents. Christopher Mellon, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, said AARO’s historical report is the most error-filled and unsatisfactory government report he can remember.

Whistleblowers and journalists who cover the subject maintain that the government hides more than it reveals. David Grusch said under oath that he had been told of a program to recover and reverse-engineer UAP. Luis Elizondo told Congress that secrecy serves to “hide the fact that we are not alone in the cosmos,” and George Knapp says documents obtained through Freedom of Information requests contradict the official line.

Skeptics point out that sensor videos can be misleading: NASA calculated that the GoFast object was moving at about 40 mph (64 km/h), a typical wind speed at around 13,000 feet (4,000 meters), and not skimming the sea at high speed. AARO attributes the belief in secret programs to “circular reporting” by a small group, amplified by social media. And the Wall Street Journal showed that the Pentagon itself planted flying saucer stories to protect secret projects.