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The Pentagon is "uncoordinated" and lacks a strategy to identify UFOs, according to its internal watchdog.
The U.S. Defense Department Inspector General released an unclassified report this week that summarized its evaluation of the department’s policies regarding UFOs — officially referred to as unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs.
"Over the past decades, the DoD has initiated infrequent and inconclusive efforts to identify and understand the origin, capabilities, and intent of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP)," the inspector general report said. "We determined that the DoD has no overarching UAP policy and, as a result, it lacks assurance that national security and flight safety threats to the United States from UAP have been identified and mitigated."
It found that the Defense Department has no "coordinated approach" and mostly relies on the various unique military commands to investigate, understand and identify vessels.
A new office dedicated to studying UAP (UFO) sightings has finally secured full funding in the upcoming 2024 defense budget. (Department of Defense)
The watchdog found that the Pentagon "has not used a coordinated approach to detect, report, collect, analyze, and identify UAP" and largely excludes "the role of the geographic combatant commands."
"The DoD has not issued a comprehensive UAP response plan that identifies roles, responsibilities, requirements, and coordination procedures for detecting, reporting, collecting, analyzing, and identifying UAP incidents. As a result, the DoD response to UAP incidents is uncoordinated and concentrated within each Military Department," the report found.
The watchdog found that the Defense Department’s efforts to identify and understand UAP have "been irregular because of competing priorities." (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
"Military pilots have historically reported many of the reported UAP sightings. Also, the Air Force and Navy have been at the forefront of developing policies, procedures, and mechanisms for reporting UAP. In fact, the DoD has relied heavily on the Services and Components to detect, report, collect, analyze, and identify UAP since the 1940s."
It also found that the department’s efforts to identify and understand UAP have "been irregular because of competing priorities, lack of substantive progress, and inconclusive findings," the report said.
A UFO variety was photographed when it hovered for fifteen minutes near Holloman Air Development Center in New Mexico. The object was photographed by a government employee and was released by the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization after careful study. There is no conventional explanation for the object. (Bettmann/Aerial Phenomena Research Organization/Getty Images)
The inspector general recommended a course of action the Defense Department could take to set up coordination among its branches. (P. Wallick/Classicstock/Getty Images)
The inspector general recommended a course of action the Defense Department could take to unify the efforts of its various branches, which includes having senior department officials issue a policy "to integrate unidentified anomalous phenomena roles, responsibilities, requirements, and coordination procedures into existing intelligence, counterintelligence, and force protection policies and procedures."
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"The policy should include methods to address unidentified anomalous phenomena incidents and should align with policies and procedures for the protection of United States persons’ civil liberties," it added.
The review was conducted from May 2021 through June 2023.
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