Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey, brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here there's a reason why you may be hearing a lot about UFOs lately. Sometime in June, the Pentagon and the Director of National Intelligence will present to Congress an unclassified report about unusual sightings by U S service members of UFOs, that is, unidentified flying objects.
National security folks, however, referred to them as unidentified aerial phenomena or u a p s. Apparently there have been a lot of reports of u a p s in recent years. We the general public just haven't heard much about them. Any. Rumblings of flying saucers buzzing in our atmosphere have been vehemently denied by the government for decades,
that is, until recently. So what changed. In two thousand seven, the US government created the Aerospace Threat Identification Program or a t i P, a hush hush organization hidden away in the Pentagon. The program was charged with collecting and analyzing information regarding strange aerial objects that had been reported to the Department of Defense by service members through the years.
In two thousand eight, lou Alesando joined the effort with twenty years experience running military operations under his belt, he was tapped to lead the program and sharpened its focus on national security. He fielded reports of u AP sightings, doing due diligence to vet them. One tucked away report that caught his eye was that of a strange tic tac shaped object over the Pacific Ocean, reported in November of two thousand four by two former U. S. Navy pilots.
A radar from a ship that was part of their training group had detected quote multiple anomalous aerial vehicles in the horizon, descending eighty thousand feet that's twenty four thousand meters in less than a second. That's according to a sixty minutes report earlier dismay. The two pilots were sent out in separate aircraft to investigate, each with a weapons system officer in their back seat. As they approached, they saw an area of roiling water about the size of
a seven thirty seven airplane. Hovering above it was this tic tac shaped object, making no predictable movements. The object had no markings, no wings, and no exhaust plumes. When one pilot flew in for a closer look, the object flew off, so fast it seemed to disappear. It was spotted seconds later on radar approximately sixty miles or a hundred kilometers away, And that report was just the tip
of the iceberg. There were many more reports by naval aviators who witnessed strange cubes or triangles doing things that no known aircraft were capable of doing, stopping rapidly, turning instantly, and accelerating immediately to speeds of eleven thousand miles per
hour that's eighteen thousand kilometers per hour or more. And they were doing these things in restricted air space, often an airspace designated for fighter jet training, such as off the coasts of San Diego, California, Virginia and Jacksonville, Florida. For the article this episode is based on how Stuff Works. Spoke with Alizondo in an email interview, and according to him, the UAP that have been tracked and monitored for decades exhibit what have become referred to as the five observables.
These are anti gravity lift, sudden and instantaneous acceleration, hypersonic velocities without any visible signatures, sonic booms, or observable means of propulsion, low observe ability or cloaking and trans medium travel, meaning the ability to operate in extraordinary ways from the vacuum of space to the depths of the ocean without impedance or aerodynamic limitations. It's these characteristics that baffle national
security experts the most. Alizondo said, we do not have anything in our arsenal that can perform in these ways, and we have a high degree of confidence that no known terrestrial ally or adversary possesses this technology. Either. Pilots have speculated that the objects were either secret US technology or adversary spy crafts. He said, Remember, we've been observing
these performance characteristics for many decades. If a foreign adversary had developed these technologies seventy five years ago and we were still unaware they possessed it, it would be the most extraordinary intelligence failure in the United States history. So does that mean they're from outer space? Rather than jumping to conclusions, Alazando suggests that we open our minds to the possibilities. He said, these vehicles may originate from outer space,
inner space, or even the space in between. We could be dealing with an advanced self replicating AI which communicates with itself instantaneously. Across fast distances using a quantum Internet. Perhaps an advanced underwater civilization is native to our planet, and we're now advanced enough to be observing them moving
to our oceans, airspace, and upper atmosphere. Year there has been no act of hostility or aggressive action taken by these objects, though Alzando pointed out that any time an advanced vehicle is operating in restricted airspace with impunity, you have to consider the possibility that they could be a threat if they wanted to be. He said, If we want to fully understand what we're observing and to communicate those findings to the public, we need a whole of
government approach that is collaborative and transparent. Funding for a a t i P ran out in twelve, but Alzando continued to investigate U a p S sightings until seventeen, when he got fed up with the Pentagon skepticism and quent. Before he left, however, he deep classified three Navy videos of U a p S and then he started to
spread the word. Meanwhile, one Christopher Mellen, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence for Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, but acting as a civilian shared those declassified videos with The New York Times. He had to do it, he told sixty minutes to get the Department
of Defense to take this national security issue seriously. Raising public awareness prompted Congress to take notice and the Pentagon to admit the existence of a a T I P. Last August, the Pentagon re enacted the program, changing the name to the u AP Task Force. Service members were finally given the green light to share reports of u
AP sightings. When the then Intelligence Commitee Chairman, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, was briefed on u AP s, he called on the Pentagon and the Director of National Intelligence to present Congress with an unclassified report of the sightings by June, which brings us to today. Alazonda said, Fortunately, both Congress and the d o D are prepared to take the subject seriously, and the remaining pushback against transparency is confined to a very small caudra of individuals whose
grasp over the secrecy is quickly weakening. We're hearing enough of an outcry from our men and women in uniform and from the American people, and we have to take that seriously. It's become a liability for the Pentagon to exacerbate a cover up of these facts. So what will the report say? There's tons of data, videos, photos, telemetry signatures collected, and full electromagnetic spectrum analysis that will need to be sifted through in order to provide a complete report.
Alsando said, it's quote far too much to be properly coalated within the eight day congressional mandate. I expect that this initial report will draw attention to the reality of UAP, the potential scientific and technological value that exists in better understanding how they operate, and the need for a permanent office in the US government to examine the data we collect in order to present to Congress and the American people.
In other words, it may be more of a teaser, with more details to come in the following months and years. Today's episode is based on the article our Pentagon confirmed UFOs a national security threat on how stuff Works dot com,
written by Jennifer Walker. Journey brain Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Playing four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,