According to two former Department of Defense officials, the Pentagon office recently tasked with assessing U.S. military encounters with unidentified flying objects (UFOs) is woefully ill-equipped and improperly staffed to tackle its new mission. Moreover, the initiative threatens to derail a congressional proposal that would mandate unprecedented government transparency on UFOs.
In an interview, Luis Elizondo, the former head of an informal Defense Department unit that assessed military UFO reports, told me he had deep reservations about the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security (OUSD(I&S)) leading a government effort to investigate the UFO phenomenon.
According to Elizondo, UFOs are “not solely an intelligence issue. If we want 70 more years of secrecy on this topic, then OUSD(I&S) is the perfect place to put it. They’ve had four years so far, and we have little in the way of efforts serving the public interest.”
Referring to pending legislation drafted by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) that would mandate unclassified reporting on UFOs and revolutionize the government's study of the phenomena, Elizondo believes that “if we want meaningful change and transparency, then we should keep the spirit of the Gillibrand amendment.”
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