Top UFO Stories in 2019

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Article by Chris Ciaccia, James Rogers                       December 18, 2019                           (foxnews.com)

• 2019 was a big year for UFO coverage, ranging from the U.S. Navy acknowledging for the first time that leaked videos were real to a wave of people attempting to “Storm Area 51.” Public interest in UFOs has never been higher. Here is some of what we saw.

• FIRST QUARTER – In January, declassified DIA documents of ‘38 research titles’, procured through a FOIA request, revealed that the Department of Defense’s ‘Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program’ had funded projects that investigated UFOs, wormholes, alternate dimensions and a host of other subjects. (see ExoNews article) A Pentagon spokesman said the UFO program ended in 2012, though The New York Times says that the DoD still investigates UFOs.

• SECOND QUARTER – The U.S. Navy announced it was drafting new guidelines to allow pilots and other personnel to report encounters with “unidentified aircraft.” (see ExoNews article) Said a Navy spokesperson, “[T]he Navy and the [U.S. Air Force] takes these reports very seriously and investigates each and every report.” The Navy also said it will take a more proactive approach in briefing lawmakers. And the Pentagon admitted that it was still investigating UFOs as part of the AATIP.

• Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, Christopher Mellon, told Fox & Friends in May the Navy has a right to be concerned about the unexplained sightings. “We know that UFOs exist. This is no longer an issue,” said Mellon. “The issue is why are they here? Where are they coming from and what is the technology behind these devices that we are observing?” (see ExoNews article)

• According to Mellon, the objects seen by Navy pilots were doing things that aren’t possible in this physical realm. While military aircraft are sustainable for about an hour in the air, these objects would be flying around all day long. “Pilots observing these craft are absolutely mystified…” said Mellon.

• In June, former Senator Harry Reid urged lawmakers to hold public hearings into what the military knows. “They would be surprised how the American public would accept it,” Reid said in a radio interview. “People from their individual states would accept it.” (see ExoNews article)

• THIRD QUARTER – More than 2 million people signed up on Facebook pledging to “Storm Area 51” in Nevada. But on September 20th, only about 100 “alien-chasers” converged on the back gate of the secret government site. “We figure Mars needs women, so we’re here if they want to beam us up,” one woman told Fox News.

• FOURTH QUARTER – A September Gallup poll revealed that more Americans think that the government knows more about UFOs than it is letting on. ‘To the Stars Academy of Arts & Sciences’, co-founded by former Blink-182 singer Tom DeLonge, revealed in September that it had obtained “exotic material samples from UFOs”. In October, To the Stars Academy signed a deal with the U.S. Army to study these exotic materials. (see ExoNews articles here and here)

• In September, the U.S. Navy acknowledged that the three UFO videos taken by Navy jets, obtained by ‘To the Stars Academy’, and published by The New York Times, known as “FLIR1” (taken on Nov. 14, 2004); “Gimbal” (taken on Jan. 21, 2015); and “GoFast” (also taken on Jan. 21, 2015) are of authentic “unidentified” objects. It was reported in November that two “unknown individuals” told several Naval officers who witnessed the 2004 Nimitz UFO incident, to delete the evidence. (see ExoArticles here and here)

2019 was a big year for UFO coverage, ranging from the U.S. Navy acknowledging for the first time that leaked videos were real to former and current politicians weighing in on what the military knows, and a wave of people attempting to “storm Area 51.”

No one can say for certain whether life exists outside of this planet, but the public’s interest levels in the subject have likely never been higher.

FIRST QUARTER

January saw the release of newly declassified documents from the Pentagon that revealed the Department of Defense funded projects that investigated UFOs, wormholes, alternate dimensions and a host of other subjects that are often the topics of conspiracy theorists.

The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) released 38 research titles on Jan. 18, following a Freedom of Information Act request from Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy. The research was funded by the Department of Defense under its Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP).

The existence of AATIP was initially described by The New York Times and Politico in 2017. It was subsequently reported by Fox News and a number of other news outlets that the Pentagon had secretly set up a program to investigate UFOs at the request of former Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

A Pentagon spokesman said the UFO program ended in 2012, though The New York Times said the Defense Department still investigates potential episodes of unidentified flying objects.

SECOND QUARTER

Several months later, the U.S. Navy announced it was drafting new guidelines for pilots and other employees to report encounters with “unidentified aircraft.”

“There have been a number of reports of unauthorized and/or unidentified aircraft entering various military-controlled ranges and designated air space in recent years,” the Navy said in an April statement to Politico, which first reported the move.

“For safety and security concerns, the Navy and the [U.S. Air Force] takes these reports very seriously and investigates each and every report.”
“As part of this effort,” it told Politico, “the Navy is updating and formalizing the process by which reports of any such suspected incursions can be made to the cognizant authorities. A new message to the fleet that will detail the steps for reporting is in draft.”

The Navy also said it’s taking a more proactive approach in briefing lawmakers, including several senators who were briefed in June.
One month later, the Pentagon admitted that it was still investigating UFOs as part of the AATIP.

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