The US intelligence community on Friday released its long-awaited report on what it knows about a series of mysterious flying objects that have been seen moving through restricted military airspace over the last several decades. In short, the answer according to Friday's report is very little, but the fact that the intelligence community released the unclassified document marks one of the first times the US government has publicly acknowledged that these strange aerial sightings by Navy pilots and others are worthy of legitimate scrutiny. The report examined 144 reports of what the government terms "unidentified aerial phenomenon" — only one of which investigators were able to explain by the end of the study. Investigators found no evidence that the sightings represented either extraterrestrial life or a major technological advancement by a foreign adversary like Russia or China. "Of the 144 reports we are dealing with here, we have no clear indications that there is any non-terrestrial explanation for them — but we will go wherever the data takes us," a senior US official said. But investigators were also convinced that the majority of the sightings were "physical objects," the official told reporters on Friday. "We absolutely do believe what we're seeing are not simply sensor artifacts. These are things that physically exist," the official said, noting that 80 of the reported incidents included data from multiple sensors. In 11 cases, investigators believed that there was a "near-miss" collision with US personnel. Report follows years of infighting After years of Washington infighting, including bureaucratic battles within the Pentagon and pressure from certain members of Congress, the US government finally appears to be taking seriously what has for so long been considered a fringe issue. "For years, the men and women we trust to defend our country reported encounters with unidentified aircraft that had superior capabilities, and for years their concerns were often ignored and ridiculed," Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, the vice-chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement on Friday. "This report is an important first step in cataloging these incidents, but it is just a first step. The Defense Department and Intelligence Community have a lot of work to do before we can actually understand whether these aerial threats present a serious national security concern." If the sightings were the result of Chinese or Russian technology — either some kind of unknown aircraft or a technology system that can spoof US radar and other surveillance and reconnaissance systems — the intelligence community would not want to reveal what it does and doesn't know. "They're very sensitive to, if this is an adversary, you want to be really careful about saying, 'we know this and we don't know that,'" said Rep. Jim Himes, a Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee who received a briefing on the matter from Navy and FBI officials last week. "The report is going to be a little unsatisfying for that reason and that reason alone," he said. Still, the fact that the intelligence community is producing reports on what the Pentagon has labeled UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon) is itself extraordinary. — CNN
