The Pentagon is set to begin the most expansive look yet at the military’s response to “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” in an inspector general investigation announced this week.
The effort will build on a provision couched in the 2021 Intelligence Authorization Act that ordered spy agencies and the Defense Department to report to lawmakers what they know about the phenomena within six months. Last year, the Pentagon released videos of incidents from November 2004 and two from January 2015. In the Navy footage from more than a decade ago, two F/A-18 Hornet pilots chase a cylindrical object that moves at high speed with ease. Pilots continued chasing the object across the horizon and remarked that several more are visible.
PENTAGON CONFIRMS ‘PYRAMID’ UFO VIDEO AND OTHER PHOTOS WERE TAKEN BY NAVY
Additional details of the incident, which took place off the coast of San Diego, have not been released. One study indicates some flying objects could be adversaries spying on the United States.
“The objective of this evaluation is to determine the extent to which the DOD has taken actions regarding Unidentified Aerial Phenomena,” the announcement said.
A letter requesting a point of contact was sent to 18 services, combatant commands, and DOD departments by Assistant Inspector General Randolph Stone.
The investigation is set to begin this month. While past investigations have taken six months or longer, the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed the office’s work.
In March, Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said he expected the Biden administration to miss the June reporting deadline but remained confident a report would be disclosed. Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe told Fox News the same month that DOD is in possession of many more videos than those that were leaked and then released to the public.
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“When we talk about sightings, the other thing I will tell you is, it’s not just a pilot or just a satellite, or some intelligence collection,” he said. “Usually, we have multiple sensors that are picking up these things, and … some of these are unexplained phenomenon, and there is actually quite a few more than have been made public.”
The office of the DOD Inspector General declined to respond to questions from the Washington Examiner for this story.
