Former Defence insider says UFOs ‘may be threat to national security’

A former Defence insider has spoken out after the Pentagon released three photos showing mid-air encounters with what look to be UFOs.

UFOs may be a threat to national security and the US made a "grave" mistake when "overt hostility" was ruled out in 1969 as part of Project Blue Book, an expert has warned.

The Pentagon‘s report into unidentified aerial phenomena has been published today and reveals what the US government knows about decades of sightings.

The US Air Force’s investigation, Project Blue Book, revealed that no UFO was a threat to national security, but the debate has reopened after the Pentagon last year released a series of videos showing alleged US Navy encounters with unidentified objects.

Skeptics within the UFO community think Russian or Chinese agents may be flying drones or hypersonic missiles close to navy jets while “believers” think extraterrestrial activity exists further afield.

Nick Pope, a former Ministry of Defence official who investigated UFOs for the British Government, said unidentified aerial phenomena is both a national security and defence issue.

He told The Sun: “Whether it‘s Russia sending drones dangerously close to aircraft carriers or whether it really is something from further away, it is a defence and national security issue and you can’t just dismiss it.“

In a warning to officials producing the report, he added: “You can’t say it’s unidentified. You have to do better than that. We’ve had those decades of denial and debunking.”

The Pentagon released three photos showing mid-air encounters with what look to be UFOs. The issue has risen up the political agenda – decades after it appeared to be debunked.

He warned that president Biden will have to address the public on the issue as he has the “final responsibility” to safeguard the country.

Pope criticised US officials after they appeared to conclude UFOs were not a threat to national security in 1969 as part of Project Blue Book.

The investigation also revealed that there was no evidence suggesting “uncategorised” sightings were extraterrestrial vehicles.

He said: “I think it was a huge mistake. I think they fell into a trap of saying because there has been no overt hostility we can extract ourselves from this issue.“

Pope said US officials should have concluded that there had been a number of unexplained sightings, including ones from their own military pilots, and they will continue investigating.

Pentagon officials last year took the unprecedented step to release a trio of remarkable videos which showed “encounters” with UFOs.

Lt. Commander Alex Dietrich was training with a strike group approximately 100 miles southwest of San Diego when she and another pilot spotted the mysterious object.

Unusual footage appears to show an object targeting the Navy ship USS Omaha off the coast of San Diego in July 2019.

And, Navy Lieutenant Ryan Graves said that he recalled seeing unexplained flying objects flying in restricted airspace daily.

The former MOD official said anecdotes reveal the “impressive” capability of UAPs but said there is a complete unknown regarding their intent.

He said: “We don’t even know what these things are. Let alone what they’re doing.”

Pope said making an assessment about UAP is much more “difficult” and “nebulous” as there are many unknowns.

The former MOD official hopes Washington would try to take time to investigate comprehensively rather than rush and meet an “artificial” deadline.

The US intelligence community is expected to report back to Senators by June 25 after they were mandated to research into unidentified aerial phenomena.

Skeptics within the UFO community think that foreign powers are sending drones or hypersonic missiles close to Navy jets.

But, it’s feared that the report could be underwhelming despite its global interest.

The former civil servant thinks the public will be “disappointed” as they will not get to see ”much of anything”.

The report will be unclassified but will contain a classified annex that the public will not be able to view.

Pope said: “I think it’s going to be the classified annex where the interesting material is going to be put.”

He joked that Americans‘ only hope is for an “indiscreet” Senator to potentially leak its conclusions.

The ex-civil servant said the conclusions could be “history-making” particularly if intelligence agencies do not rule out the extraterrestrial hypothesis.

He said: “I think it would change everything. Who we are? What our place is in the cosmos, where do we come from, what’s our meaning of life?

“We’d have to rethink an awful lot of things and realise that there might be more there than we had thought.”

Pope said he hopes there was life out there in the universe and he‘d like to think that humans are being visited as the idea of aliens is “more interesting and fun”.

He said: “Martians would be more interesting than Russians.”

This article originally appeared in The Sun and was republished with permission