"The search for UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) has been going on for generations, but the truth has always been confusing.
▲ A variety of strange UFOs.
On May 17, the House Intelligence Committee of the United States Congress held a hearing on UFOs.
This is the first time in more than 50 years that the U.S. Congress has held public hearings on UFOs, the last being the U.S. Air Force's Project Blue Book, which ended in early 1970.
The U.S. Air Force concluded in 1969 that no UFOs had ever threatened national security and that no further investigation was necessary.
And this public hearing ended with 'almost no answers'.
▲ Photo from: NPR
The two protagonists who spoke at the hearing were Scott Bray (left), Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence, and Ronald Moultrie (right), Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security.
The conclusion is no conclusion
The number of reports of UFOs, known as unexplained aerial phenomena (UAP), has been increasing.
The hearing revealed the current UAP database, which includes about 400 incidents.
Scott Bray, Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence, says they still haven't found anything of 'non-Earth origin'.
▲ Image from: Quartz
On the one hand, they never found any organic, inorganic, or unexplained debris streams; on the other hand, none of the unidentified objects documented attempted to communicate with the U.S. pilots, as they "all appear to be unmanned.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Ronald Moultrie added that most UAPs can be identified through 'rigorous' analysis, and that 'any object we encounter may be characterized, identified, and, if necessary, mitigated'.
▲ Image from: BBC
At the hearing, a video of glowing triangles in the air was attributed to artifacts created when a digital camera was used to photograph the sky through a pair of night vision goggles.
But most, meaning not all.
Some UAPs remain foggy, with flight characteristics that cannot be explained by available data.
In 2004, fighter pilots from an aircraft carrier in the Pacific encountered an object that appeared to descend tens of thousands of feet before hovering; a 2015 video provided by the Department of Defense also shows an unidentified object flying upwind along the clouds.
▲ Image from: AP
In addition to this public hearing, there is another report issued by the NIE in June 2021.
The report says that dozens of UFOs associated with 144 UFO incidents since 2004 are unexplained, only one can be easily explained as a 'deflating balloon', while the others are 'largely inconclusive'.
Boldly report the UFO incident
The survey was inconclusive and the main problem is still the data.
Even UAPs seen by multiple witnesses, or detected by advanced military sensors and radar systems, provide only brief observations at long distances and high speeds.
It is worth noting that many of the latest additions to the database, UAPs, do not involve sensor data because they come from old news and witnesses kept quiet at the time because of various concerns.
Scott Bray sees this as proof that the military's efforts to de-stigmatize UAP are working.
"The message is clear: if you see something, you need to report it," Scott Bray said.
Navy and Air Force crews can now report UAPs through a step-by-step process.Rep. Andre Carson sees this as an important effort, "Suspicion of UFOs, or fear of ridicule, may lead pilots to avoid producing reports."
At the same time, Scott Bray found it useful to standardize the civilian reporting process, and while the vast majority of the military's database comes from within the military, it does include some civilian reports.
The US military's new 'Airborne Target Identification and Management Synchronization Team' is dedicated to UAP research.
It's not just about "aliens"
Lawmakers at the hearing were concerned that any UAPs could pose a threat to national security if they weren't sensor errors, weather phenomena or just airborne clutter.
Clearly, this concern is not simply directed at alien spacecraft.
And Scott Bray said that for "objects with unexplained propulsion," the U.S. is unaware of any potential adversaries with such technology.
Ronald Moultrie, undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security, for his part, claims to be a science fiction fan who understands that human curiosity means "we want to know what's out there.
But his primary goal is to ensure the safety of U.S. military personnel and bases, and "we don't want potential adversaries to know exactly what we see or understand."
In a report issued by the US National Intelligence Agency in June 2021, it was also mentioned that UAP 'may lack a single explanation', possibly the technology of other countries, possibly natural atmospheric phenomena.
Senior Pentagon staffer Lue Elizondo has told Fox News that the current UAP is just the tip of the iceberg and that it is important to consider all possibilities, including extraterrestrial or interdimensional origins, "which could involve outer space, interstellar space, or space in between, which is why we always say to put all options on the table."
Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, noted that the purpose of the public hearing was to shed light on "one of the great mysteries of our time and to break the cycle of excessive secrecy and speculation with truth and transparency.
And after the public hearings, the U.S. Congress held a classified session, shutting the door to the outside world.