Many unidentified flying objects, or what the government calls “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” are balloons, satellites, birds, or things otherwise explainable. Balloons and satellites account for nearly 85% of the objects in the Pentagon’s resolved UFO investigations. Some UFOs are also undisclosed aircraft belonging to secret military or intelligence units, Russia, or China — the Washington Examiner reported in 2023 on China’s use of drones to spy on U.S. military training areas.

Nevertheless, as I’ve argued previously, a small subset of UFOs is very likely the construct of a highly advanced nonhuman intelligence.