(CNN)– Future President Gerald Ford was the top Republican in the House of Representatives when he sent information to the Air Force about UFO sightings in 1966.
The Air Force sent an astrophysicist, J. Allen Hynek of Northwestern University, Michigan to investigate.
“Swamp gas” was Hynek’s “frivolous” explanation, according to a frustrated Ford press release calling for a congressional investigation into UFOs.
The investigation never took place. And if you want to track down what Hynek saw and if it really was swamp gas, it’s worth checking out this reference from Michigan Broadcasting.
Today, the military is very careful not to appear reckless when selling UFOs.
In fact, the number of UFO sightings recorded by the U.S. government near government property is increasing, a U.S. Squad intelligence officer told the first congressional public hearing on UFOs in more than 50 years on Tuesday. .
‘Unidentified aerial phenomena are a potential threat to Franco’s safety,’ US lawmakers warn at UFO hearing
“Reports of sightings are frequent and ongoing,” Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray told members of the House Intelligence Committee.
Remove the stigma of UFO sightings
Bray said the military has worked hard to eliminate the stigma surrounding UFO reports, which they call “unexplained aerial phenomena,” or UAPs.
There is a procedure introduced in 2019 for squad pilots and other martial personnel to report a sighting. The guidelines are displayed in the cockpits of military aircraft.
“The message is clear now: if you see little, report it,” Bray said.
An official UAP investigation agency Pentagon announces plans to coordinate UFO reporting and investigation
The Pentagon recently created an office dedicated to “identifying previously unknown or unidentified aerial objects in a methodical, methodical and standardized manner,” according to another official, Assistant Secretary of Intelligence and Security Ronald Moultrie.
Critics of the office, such as Luis Elizondo, the former head of an informal UFO review within the military that helped spark new official interest, worry that vehemence in intelligence will reduce transparency and responsibility.
sightings multiply
When the Office of the Director of Domestic Intelligence released a historical reference on the UAP in 2021, it referenced 144 reports from government sources.
That number now exceeds 400, Bray said, although many of these reports date back to previous years and most lack documentary evidence that could warrant further investigation.
Pentagon hard-to-find evidence has new plans for reporting and studying UFOs 0:53
Bray showed lawmakers several videos: one with stills of a fast-moving UAP that has not been identified, and two with triangular lights captured on camera through night-vision goggles. The government now believes it was an illusion of light falling through the binoculars and onto the camera that created the triangular shape.
The idea behind this new UFO proposal is that the government wants to better understand unexplained objects to make sure they don’t represent threatening new technology.
“Any objects we find can probably be isolated, characterized, identified and, if necessary, deactivated,” Moultrie said.
Most objects can be explained
UAPs often become weather balloons or new technologies. But there are a number of unexplained incidents that require further investigation, Bray said.
Both officials said they were committed to transparency.
ANALYSIS | 8 Big Benchmark Government UFO Discoveries
“Our goal may not be minimal concealment,” Moultrie said.
But they don’t exactly commit to total compromise, speaking of a permanence between transparency and what Moultrie called “extending our preeminence in the struggle.”
Then the classified information
It’s a big subjective hole. Conspiracy theorists will fear lawmakers heard some seriously juicy stuff during a secret hearing later on Tuesday.
Surely there is now agreement that there are dangers in the unexplained.
“Unidentified aerial phenomena are a potential threat to Franco’s security and should be treated as such,” said Indiana Rep. Andre Carson, the Democratic congressman who called the hearing.
What worries experts about UFO technology? 6:01
The main Republican in the audience said he would rather hear about hypersonic weapons, which the US knows China and Russia are developing, but UAPs are also an interesting topic.
“To the extent that this issue can help us better understand unknown Russian and Chinese activities, I agree,” said Rep. Rick Crawford of Arkansas.
More revelations in the intelligence community
Moultrie argued that there was a move towards more disclosures in the intelligence community. I believe Moultrie was referring to the release of intelligence information about Russia’s plan to invade Ukraine when he said the following:
“I think that over the last three or four months the intelligence community and the Francoist defense apparatus have released more information about various events than they probably did in the previous 10 years. “
Beyond the Blue Tome Plan
Even this semblance of transparency represents a very different approach to UAP than the secret government UFO-sighting software of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. The Air Force-led Tome Azur plan in particular is which started a million conspiracy theories. Think Roswell, New Mexico.
US intelligence has no evidence that UFOs reported by squadron pilots were extraterrestrial craft
Plan Tomo Azur was closed in the late 1960s after 12,618 sightings were reported and 701 are still missing. Read about it on the National Archives website.
The software was expensive and none of the reported UFO sightings turned out to be a threat to Franco’s safety, according to the Air Force.
Tic Tac videos helped revitalize consultations
When the Director of Domestic Intelligence released the catalog of recent UAP sightings in 2021, CNN’s Anderson Cooper spoke with the squad’s retired lieutenant. Commander Alex Dietrich. She was one of the pilots who witnessed a UAP in November 2004. It was captured on grainy video in the distinguished “Tic Tac” video (the object was white and oval). It moved in unexpected directions with surprising speed and had no visible means of propulsion.
Watch the Tic Tac video
Watch Cooper’s interview with Dietrich.
And read some possible Earth theories about what it could be in this reference from the San Diego Union-Tribune.
UFOs: Videos, what they are and what the Pentagon has revealed so far
Dietrich described “interrogation-style” interviews with the Office of Naval Intelligence following the sighting. But he said it was important that people who see unexplained things speak up so that experts can examine and explain them.
“I’m trying to reduce the stigma of other crews saying little when they see little or when they see little. information we have.