Are we alone? It’s something to think about as you gaze up to the heavens searching for the Star of Bethlehem this Christmas.
Apparently, we may be a whole lot closer to getting some answers to this question. On December 16, 2017, The New York Times ran a detailed story about a secret Department of Defense program called the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program, which investigates unidentified flying objects. (Politico also ran the story on the same day.) The program was launched in 2007 by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) with the assistance of an aerospace billionaire named Robert Bigelow, a fellow believer in UFOs and alien life. Bigelow is not alone in that belief; according to a recent HuffPo poll, nearly half Americans believe in the existence of alien life. This program stands out because it investigates encounters with unexplained craft (and possibly beings) that happened right here at home. Many of those encounters involved experienced military personnel flying military aircraft, who witnessed other aircraft acting in ways that known American or foreign technology cannot explain (including declassified U.S. military video showing an unidentified craft on radar). Funding to AATIP was cut off in 2012, but according to the NYT article, the program remains in play.
This story is huge for multiple reasons, not the least of which is the fact that for years and years, the U.S. government’s official line was that it had no interest in studying UFOs or possible alien life. Now the U.S. government has admitted that in fact, the opposite is true.
This whole story feels like a game-changing revelation being rolled out low-key. Luis Elizondo, the man who ran AATIP, resigned from the DoD in October because of “excessive secrecy” around the program and internal resistance after funding ended. Elizondo is now is with To the Stars Academy of Arts and Sciences, a privately held company founded by one of the members of the band Blink-182 to explore “unexplained aerial phenomena” and other elements on the “outer edges of science.” Elizondo, a career intelligence officer, told CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront”: “My personal belief is that there is very compelling evidence that we may not be alone.”
Skeptical? You’re not alone. And while healthy skepticism is intelligent, so is common sense. It’s highly unlikely that the New York Times (or Politico, or WaPo or Time, for that matter) would run a feature story based on half-baked ideas or kooky speculation — and it’s also verrrry unlikely that a string of military personnel are all seeing things or wrong. We suggest you stay tuned . . . . we’re pretty sure we haven’t heard the last of this.
The “unidentified aerial phenomena” claimed to have been seen by pilots and other military personnel appeared vastly more advanced than those in American or foreign arsenals. In some cases they maneuvered so unusually and so fast that they seemed to defy the laws of physics, according to multiple sources directly involved in or briefed on the effort and a review of unclassified Defense Department and congressional documents. — “The Pentagon’s Secret Search for UFOs,” Politico.com, December 16, 2017
The FutureSexy 