After an extensive review of decades of U.S. investigations into unidentified flying objects (UFOs), a Pentagon report concluded that there is no evidence that any of these phenomena are linked to extraterrestrial activity, reports the ABC News channel.
The Pentagon's All-Area Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) has combed through documents dealing with all paranormal phenomena observed in the United States since 1945.
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“AARO has found no verifiable evidence that a UFO sighting represents extraterrestrial activity,” Tim Phillips, the office's acting director, told reporters Friday before the public release of the 63-page unclassified report.
No extraterrestrial technology in the Pentagon
Responding to widespread theories that the U.S. military may have developed a hidden alien-related program, the report also concludes that there is no evidence to suggest that the U.S. government or private industry has had access to extraterrestrial technology since the end of the Second World War.
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According to the AARO, those promoting these theories have simply misinterpreted "genuine national security programs unrelated to the exploitation of extraterrestrial technology."
“We believe that claims of such hidden agendas are largely the result of circular reporting in which a small group of individuals repeated inaccurate claims over a period of decades,” said Tim Phillips.
Secret army planes
The report further estimates that the majority of UFO sightings in previous decades could be attributed to "misidentification of ordinary phenomena and objects."
He cites, for example, the U-2 spy plane secretly developed by the American army in the 1950s, which flew at an unusual altitude for the time and which could have been mistaken for a flying saucer.
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Phillips recounted a personal experience he had while serving in the military, during a training exercise in Arizona.
He claimed that he and members of his unit saw a flying aircraft that did not appear on the radar of the air defense systems.
They all learned much later that what they had seen was actually a test of the F-117 Nighthawk, the first fighter jet to incorporate stealth technology.
Disinformation “more widespread than ever”
Finally, the report estimates that interest in UFOs in popular culture "is more ubiquitous than ever" and that "the omnipresence of information available on the Internet on the subject is unprecedented."
The Pentagon is concerned that disinformation is "more widespread and easier to spread than ever before, especially with today's advanced photo, video, and computer-generated imagery tools."
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The AARO says it continues to review new reports of UFO incidents written by military personnel, as well as the FAA (
Federal Aviation Administration
) and NASA.
Tim Phillips said the number of incidents that have been escalated to AARO now stands at more than 1,200, but they are able to resolve many of them quickly.
The head of the AARO also said that his team was working on the design of a UFO sensor to identify abnormal phenomena at sites where they are particularly observed.