The Daily Caller reported Friday on the long-awaited Pentagon report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) — also known as UFOs — that was finally released to the American public. The report was initially commissioned by the Senate Intelligence Committee in December of 2020, giving the Pentagon a 180-day deadline for completion.
Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, called the report “an important first step.” Here are the biggest takeaways from the groundbreaking report published by the Office of the Director of Naval Intelligence (ODNI). (RELATED: High-Ranking Officials Scramble Before UFO Report Goes Public)
The Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF), Which Compiled This report, Only Looked At Incidents From 2004 To The Present
Additionally, the report says the majority of the focus was on incidents from 2019 to the present. They attribute this to the stigma surrounding the UFO topic and a breakdown in reporting mechanisms.
The Pentagon Could Only Solve One Case Out Of 144 Studied
On page 5 of the 9-page report, readers find that there was only a single instance in which the top minds in government could concretely identify the object spotted. In that case, it was a large deflating balloon. That leaves the other 143 cases this report focused on completely unsolved, not to mention the potential hundreds of others left out of this preliminary report.
Eleven Near Misses With U.S. Aircraft
Page 6 of the report details 11 incidents where physical objects of unknown origin had near-miss encounters with military aircraft. According to the FAA, a near miss is defined as “an incident associated with the operation of an aircraft in which a possibility of collision occurs as a result of proximity of less than 500 feet to another aircraft.” That kind of aggressive maneuvering is hazardous, leading the UAPTF to include these incidents under the heading “UAP THREATEN FLIGHT SAFETY AND, POSSIBLY, NATIONAL SECURITY.” (RELATED: Pentagon Confirms Video Of Spherical And Pyramid-Shaped UFOs Over US Warships)
The Catchall “Other” Category
The UAPTF identified 5 potential possibilities that could explain the phenomena. Included are the typical ones: natural occurrences, stray balloons or birds, top-secret projects, and even advanced weaponry controlled by a foreign adversary. But the last category is the vague “Other,” meaning things the government can’t explain due to lack of information, or as the report claims on page 6, a lack of “scientific knowledge.” (RELATED: Pentagon Confirms Authenticity Of UFO Footage That Shows Flying Object Defying The Laws Of Physics)
More Resources Are Needed To Continue Investigating
The UAPTF wants to continue its mission to investigate sightings and encounters with UAP, but the report makes it crystal clear that as it stands now, the task force is overwhelmed and underfunded. The report begs Congress to take action if they ever want to finally discover what these things are.
The Pentagon’s Memo
The Deputy Secretary of Defense, Kathleen Hicks, published a memorandum in response to the report. This memo was not included in the actual report released by ODNI. Hicks commands the entire military apparatus to immediately dispel the stigma surrounding UFO sightings and streamline reporting these incidents “within two weeks of an occurrence.”
This report is considered preliminary, and more should be expected to go public. A request for comment was made to the Pentagon, which did not respond in time for publishing.