By Tim Binnall
In a follow-up to their headline-making assessment of unidentified aerial phenomenon that was issued this past summer, the Pentagon has formed a new group that will continue their investigation of UFOs appearing in restricted American airspace. The intriguing development came to light last week by way of a Department of Defense press release wherein they announced the creation of the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG) which will "synchronize efforts across the Department and the broader U.S. government to detect, identify and attribute objects of interests in Special Use Airspace (SUA), and to assess and mitigate any associated threats to safety of flight and national security."
The fairly taciturn announcement indicated that the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security will lead an 'executive council' consisting of unnamed members of the DoD and intelligence community to oversee the newly created study group. Explaining the need for such a research body, the Pentagon stressed that "incursions by any airborne object into our SUA pose safety of flight and operations security concerns, and may pose national security challenges." Lacking much insight beyond that, the press release stated that additional details regarding the AOIMSG will be revealed "in coming weeks."
Word of the new UAP group within the DoD understandably caused something of a stir within the UFO research world, though not in the way some might expect. The announcement raised concerns among many that the AOIMSG might wind up conflicting with the proposed "Anomaly Surveillance and Resolution Office" which has been put forward by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act currently being debated in Congress. That hypothetical and highly ambitious group, the precise details of which can be read here, would also be studying the UFO phenomenon from within the DoD and would be afforded access to "any resource, capability, asset, or process of the Department and the intelligence community."
The NDAA amendment has received bipartisan support and is seen by many as the more promising avenue for getting answers to the longstanding mystery as, among other things, it would require the office to issue an annual report on the UAP phenomenon through the year 2026. Additionally, it would establish an Aerial and Transmedium Phenomena Advisory Committee consisting of 20 members including appointees from what might best be called 'UFO friendly' groups like the Galileo Project as well as Scientific Coalition for Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena Studies. As one might imagine, the DoD's new AOIMSG led to speculation in some circles that there could be a proverbial turf war erupting behind the scenes within the government when it comes to studying UFOs.
That said, it bears noting that the creation of the DoD office was a natural next step following last summer's UAP assessment and precisely what that report suggested. Beyond that, the NDAA amendment has yet to pass Congress and, as such, remains merely a proposal and not an official office just yet. Be that as it may and regardless of how exactly these two groups co-exist, if they can, UFO enthusiasts should at least be bolstered by the government's continued interest in investigating the phenomenon. Time will tell if the AOIMSG or the ASRO will yield any answers to the mystery of unidentified flying objects or if the promising projects ultimately wind up being simply more confusing acronyms for the UFO history books with nothing to truly show for them.