“[T]here have been a certain percentage of this volume of reports that have been made by credible observers of relatively incredible things. It is this group of observations that we now are attempting to resolve.” That was how a US Air Force general — Major General John Samford — addressed the issue of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) following a July 1952 UFO sighting in Washington, DC.
Sixty-nine years later, America’s capital city is again abuzz with talk about UFOs, or what the US government refers to as “unidentified aerial phenomena.” No, this is not a case of collective insanity. Instead, the chatter reflects a now-established fact that some UFOs are real and true unknowns.
The US government assesses that some UFOs — those few that are not misidentified weather phenomena, aircraft, or balloons — are real. So real, in fact, that the Pentagon’s Inspector General is now investigating the ongoing Navy-led investigation into UFOs. The investigation-of-the-investigation is designed to ensure that all that can be done to gather more information is being done. And that’s not all. Responding to an explicit request from the Senate Intelligence Committee, the US intelligence community will deliver a public assessment report on UFOs this summer.
As General Samford’s statement suggests, the American government has known UFOs are a real concern since at least the Second World War. But two things have changed in the last few years.
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