By Tim Binnall
The Department of Defense has confirmed what many in the world of UFO research have long suspected: that the government investigates UFOs. The remarkable revelation came by way of a statement provided to the New York Post by DoD spokesperson Christopher Sherwood in response to an inquiry about the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) which came to light back in December of 2017. Concerning the work that had been done by the program, he conceded that AATIP "did pursue research and investigation into unidentified aerial phenomena," meaning, in a traditional sense, UFOs.
While, on the face of it, this may sound like common sense to UFO enthusiasts who have argued for decades that the government was interested in the phenomenon and simply did not want the public to know, the very fact that a Pentagon official admitted as much is being seen as quite significant to those who study the mystery. Former UFO investigator of the UK's Ministry of Defense, Nick Pope, called the DoD statement a "bombshell" because, until now, the Pentagon had largely "left the door open to the possibility that AATIP was simply concerned with next-generation aviation threats." However, he mused, "this new admission makes it clear that they really did study what the public would call 'UFOs.'"
Pope's opinion on the surprising nature of the statement was echoed by indefatigable archivist of strange and unusual government documents, John Greenewald, who told the Post that he was "shocked they said it that way, and the reason is, is they’ve seemingly worked very hard not to say that." He went on to note that the revelation from the DoD constitutes "actual evidence" that AATIP did, indeed, investigate UFOs. Observing that "we're one step closer to the truth," Greenwald expressed hope that the Pentagon will reveal more details about AATIP at some point in the not too distant future.
Beyond the insight concerning AATIP, one particularly compelling aspect of the Pentagon statement is that the DoD said that they "will continue to investigate, through normal procedures, reports of unidentified aircraft encountered by US military aviators." This would appear to indicate that investigation of UFOs is an ongoing concern and not something that ended when AATIP was said to have been shuttered in 2012. It is also in keeping with a statement made last month by the U.S. Navy concerning a change to UFO reporting guidelines in which the service revealed that they have investigated unidentified aircraft sightings "in recent years."
Taken together, the two statements would certainly seem to suggest that the government is not only keenly aware of the UFO phenomenon, but is, in some instances, actively trying to investigate the mystery. It remains to be seen whether or not we'll ever find out what, if anything, they've determined about the enigmatic anomalies so often seen in our skies. That said, UFO enthusiasts should be optimistic in the sense that at least the government is finally willing to acknowledge the phenomenon which has, for the most part, been verboten until recently.