Tag: ufo

Out of the Blue: UFOs and the Freedom of Information Act

The existence of UFOs may seem like the exclusive domain of science fiction, but as Representative John Moss of California laid the groundwork for legislation that eventually became the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in 1966, he didn’t discriminate in his pursuit to open as much government information as possible to the public.

During the 1950s and 1960s, as the House held hearings and debated the scope of Moss’s legislation, the Special Government Information Subcommittee and the Foreign Operations and Government Subcommittee (FOGI) of the Committee on Government Operations, both of which were chaired by Moss, addressed a deceptively simple problem. Every year the federal government produced vast amounts of information. But of that mountain of data, the subcommittee needed to know what the government could (or should) release, as well as what federal officials should (or had) to restrict.

A sample page from Project Blue Book depicting an alleged UFO sighting.The subcommittees fielded thousands of requests from the public, newspapers, and other Members of Congress on every imaginable topic, from Amelia Earhart to ballistic missiles to frozen foods. Of the organizations that contacted the FOGI Subcommittee, two stand out: Flying Saucers International and the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena. Surprising? Yes, but consider this: In the decade before FOIA became law, the United States and the Soviet Union spent an immense amount of money developing programs to send defense technology and eventually people into outer space. By mid-century, whatever existed beyond Earth’s atmosphere actually seemed within reach, and the idea—the very possibility—that “unidentified flying objects” were zooming around the galaxy captured the public imagination. Many people who believed in UFOs were also convinced the Air Force knew about them too, and that the military had kept their existence secret. Anxious Americans considered this a major problem: What if the Russians somehow got access to extraterrestrial technology and used it against the United States? And didn’t defense personnel need confirmation that UFOs existed and the training to distinguish them from planes and missiles so that accidental war with the Soviet Union might be prevented?

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Japanese Defense Ministry unveils protocol for encountering UFOs

Protocol for UFOs? That’s exactly what Defense Minister Taro Kono ordered the Self-Defense Forces to follow Monday as he issued standing orders for dealing with unidentified aerial objects that could pose a threat to Japan’s security.

In a statement, Kono asked SDF members to record and photograph any such objects that they encounter or that enter Japanese airspace and to take steps for the “necessary analysis” of the sightings, including information provided separately by the public.

While the Defense Ministry says there have been no known cases of the SDF encountering UFOs, the latest move comes after the U.S. Defense Department established a special Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force last month in order “to improve its understanding of, and gain insight into, the nature and origins” of the objects and other phenomena.

The Pentagon also released videos in April that were taken in 2004 and 2015, including one that showed an elliptical flying object that demonstrated unseen levels of speed and maneuverability.

Kono said after the videos’ release that he does not believe in UFOs.

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Infamous 2004 UFO committed ‘act of war’, says pilot who saw it

One of the pilots whose encounter with a mysterious – and still unexplained – object off the coast of the US in 2004 says whatever it was, it committed an “act of war”.

In November 2004, anomalies had been detected on radar off the coast of California. Commander David Fravor, then a US Navy pilot, was dispatched to investigate – later describing what he saw as “like nothing I’ve ever seen” – a 14m-long Tic Tac-shaped object able to turn on a dime and make itself invisible to radar.

He was followed by other pilots who managed to catch it on video. Clips were leaked in 2017 by a UFO research group founded by punk singer Tom DeLonge of Blink 182, and formally declassified in 2020 by the Pentagon. 

Fravor recently appeared on a podcast hosted by MIT research scientist Lex Fridman, who called him “one of the most credible witnesses” in the history of UFO research. 

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Wright-Patterson AFB and Alien Technology

Since 1947, the year of the famous Roswell crash, there have been rumors that the US government has stored debris and artifacts from crashed flying saucers, and even bodies of the small, alien crew members of the downed spaceships. Much of the evidence of these crash retrievals leads to Dayton, Ohio, and Wright-Patterson’s Hangar-18. How much of the legend surrounding the famous Wright-Patterson facility is true? Are there still alien beings… even possibly live beings, from other worlds at the infamous base in Dayton, Ohio?

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SCARIER 51: Incredible aerial timelapse reveals how the mysterious Area 51 has expanded over the last 30 years

EVER since the 1950s, the US government’s Area 51 – located deep within the remote Nevada desert – has been the subject of intense conspiracy theories.

But now Google Maps has offered a rare glimpse of the mysterious government site – revealing a massive build up of infrastructure at the base over the past 30 years.

Satellite imagery recorded annually since 1984 shows a rapid expansion of buildings and runways at the base.

This includes the construction of a second runway and what appears to be an extension of the first.

Buildings are also being constructed into the side of a nearby mountain – though what they contain remains a mystery.

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