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Wall Street Journal
a day ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Was It Scrap Metal or an Alien Spacecraft? The Army Asked an Elite Defense Lab to Investigate
The Pentagon man gathered top technology executives from the six largest defense contractors in 2022 to ask an unusual question: Have any of your companies ever gained access to alien technology? 'It would just make my job easier if one of you would 'fess up, give me the UFO, or help me find them,' said Sean Kirkpatrick, who had been tapped by the Defense Department to investigate whether Washington had ever had a secret alien program.
Time of India
7 days ago
- Science
- Time of India
Why the US leads in UFO sightings; here's the surprising truth behind the numbers revealed
For decades, the United States has been the epicenter of global UFO discussions, recording more sightings than any other country. Since 1947, over 100,000 incidents have been logged, according to the National UFO Reporting Center . Although the UK briefly surpassed the US in annual reports in 2025, America still holds the highest cumulative count. This persistent trend has puzzled both skeptics and enthusiasts. However, a recent government report now offers a surprising explanation which suggests that many of these sightings may be linked to misinformation campaigns and military operations rather than genuine extraterrestrial encounters. UFO sightings in the US linked to the decades of military disinformation: Report A new report from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) which is a Pentagon-backed investigative unit launched in 2022. This has revealed many of the so-called UFO sightings may stem not from extraterrestrial activity but from deliberate human-made disinformation. According to the ET reports, AARO, led by physicist Sean Kirkpatrick, has been tasked with examining Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs) across air, sea, space, and land. Stretching back to the 1940s, the team reviewed military archives and conducted interviews with former and active personnel uncovering the surprising strategies which shaped the modern UFO narrative. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like local network access control Esseps Learn More Undo Secret military strategies behind UFO reports One of the most revealing insights was that several UFO conspiracy theories were purposefully created and circulated by the US military during the Cold War. These fabrications served as cover stories for secret weapons development and testing. According to the Wall Street Journal, these disinformation campaigns were decentralized, making it nearly impossible to assess their full extent. Among the most infamous myths examined was that of Area 51, which, according to the report, became a focal point of UFO lore largely due to intentional leaks and staged evidence designed to obscure classified aircraft programs. When military briefings turned into elaborate UFO pranks The report highlights a little-known but fascinating aspect of military culture: classified induction prank aimed at new Air Force commanders. In this hoax, officers were presented with forged documents and doctored images about a fictional secret program called 'Yankee Blue', which supposedly involved the reverse engineering of alien spacecraft. New recruits were sternly warned never to speak of the program, reinforcing its illusion. Some officers remained unaware for years that the entire briefing was a fabrication. In one notable case, a retired colonel, following orders, handed fake UFO photos to a bar owner near Area 51, igniting public speculation and helping mask the development of the F-117 Nighthawk stealth jet. Misidentified objects and secret tests behind UFO sightings Some sightings were part of deliberate misinformation but others resulted from the misinterpretations of ordinary objects or covert operations. The AARO's findings indicate that many UFOs were: High-altitude balloons Birds and drones Light reflections Starlink satellites One widely cited incident involved a former Air Force captain who claimed a UFO interfered with a nuclear missile launch. However, AARO concluded that the event was a classified electromagnetic pulse (EMP) test, and the officer was intentionally kept uninformed to maintain operational secrecy. Why some people still believe in UFOs AARO report points to pop culture as a key driver of UFO sightings in addition to covert military operations. Significantly how people interpret the unexplained visuals in the sky such as the explosion of alien-themed movies, TV Shows, and online content. AARO publicly confirmed that no verified evidence of alien materials has been found in March 2024. The rise in public reports is largely attributed to cultural influence and misidentified military activities. Although the reports regarding the existence of the alien materials were verified, the fascination with UFOs persists. The former Navy Navy pilot Ryan Graves described a mysterious object that appeared to be a 'dark gray or black cube inside a clear sphere,' flying dangerously close between two military jets and an account still under review. As per current reports, AARO receives 50 to 100 reports each month where the majority of which are resolved very quickly. However, still some remain unexplained keeping the debates still alive, The Department of Defense has committed to publishing a second volume of its historical UFO analysis. This upcoming report is expected to dive deeper into the use of falsified evidence, misleading briefings, and military pranks, further demystifying decades of UFO lore. Also Read | Meet the Indian designer embedding 'India's fingerprint in space' with Axiom-4 mission badge for Shubhanshu Shukla
Time of India
15-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Why are alien visits and UFO sightings highest in America? Explosive truth revealed in new report
For decades, the United States has been at the center of the global UFO debate, with more sightings reported within its borders than anywhere else in the world. According to the National UFO Reporting Center, the country has recorded over 105,000 UFO encounters since 1947. While the recent data from 2025 shows the U.K. slightly ahead in annual sightings, the U.S. continues to dominate in long-term numbers. This overwhelming volume has puzzled both skeptics and believers — until now. A recently released report by the Pentagon-backed All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) has shed light on why so many of these incidents are reported in America. The findings suggest the phenomena may have less to do with extraterrestrial activity and more with human-made disinformation. Role of the Pentagon AARO, which was set up in 2022, has been investigating Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs) across various domains. The team, led by Sean Kirkpatrick, reviewed military records dating back to the 1940s and interviewed numerous current and former military officials. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Top 32 Most Beautiful Women In The World One of the key revelations was that several UFO conspiracy theories — including those related to the infamous Area 51 — were deliberately planted by the U.S. military. These deceptions, often involving altered images and false briefings, were used as a cover for secret weapons testing during the Cold War. The Wall Street Journal reported that this strategy was not centralized, making it difficult to track how widespread the disinformation actually was. Hazing and Hoaxes: The Secret of 'Yankee Blue' Part of the conspiracy involved a classified military induction prank. Newly appointed Air Force commanders were reportedly shown fake documents and images claiming the existence of a program called 'Yankee Blue,' which allegedly reverse-engineered alien spacecraft. Officers were instructed to never discuss the program again. Many believed in it for years — some never learning that it was all fabricated. The report detailed that one retired colonel, acting under official orders, gave forged UFO photos to a Nevada bar owner near Area 51 to stir public speculation. The ploy worked, creating a smokescreen that helped protect the secrecy of the F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter jet and other advanced technologies being tested at the time. UFO Sightings: Misidentifications and Media Influence The AARO report also addressed numerous recent and historical sightings. Many of the so-called UFOs were found to be balloons, birds, drones, or reflections from Starlink satellites. In one significant case, a former Air Force captain claimed he witnessed a UFO interfering with nuclear missiles. Investigators later concluded that the event was actually part of a secret electromagnetic pulse test — a detail kept from him to preserve operational secrecy. In March 2024, AARO publicly confirmed there was no verified evidence of alien life or recovered extraterrestrial materials. The report attributed the rise in sightings to misidentified military operations and a surge in pop culture portrayals of aliens, which have influenced public perception. Despite the official stance, many within the military still claim to have witnessed unexplained aerial phenomena. Former Navy pilot Ryan Graves described an object flying between two jets, appearing as a 'dark gray or black cube inside of a clear sphere.' AARO continues to receive between 50 and 100 new sighting reports each month, and while most are now swiftly explained, a few remain unresolved. The Department of Defense has committed to releasing a second volume of its historical findings, which is expected to further address misleading briefings, inauthentic materials, and reports of deliberate pranks.
Gizmodo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Gizmodo
Pentagon Has Been Pushing Americans to Believe in UFOs for Decades, New Report Finds
UFOs have been back in the news a lot lately, and it may be the case that the government wants it that way. Last week, the Wall Street Journal published the first of a two-part series that probes the ways in which the Defense Department has been responsible for creating and fostering the UFO mythology in America. 'The article shows that the government has, at various points over the years, purposefully sown disinformation about UFOs, in an effort to make Americans believe in little green men. This news comes as the result of an internal investigation by Sean Kirkpatrick, the head of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), which was specifically set up within the Pentagon to investigate UFO sightings. Kirkpatrick, who spoke with the Journal, says he's found evidence that the government 'fabricated evidence of alien technology' in an effort to distract from real weapons programs being carried out by the government in secret. The Journal frames its findings as a 'stunning new twist in the story of America's cultural obsession with UFOs' but, while the story's specific anecdotes are certainly new and quite interesting, its broader findings are not, nor are they particularly stunning. Instead, they parrot what many critics of the UFO narrative have long said: that the UFO mythos grew out of a disinformation campaign created by shadowy defense officials to obscure more terrestrial secrets about America's national security community. Last year, we wrote a story with very much the same takeaway, having interviewed one prominent UFO critic, Mark Pilkington, who released a documentary in 2014 arguing that the government used disinformation specialists to lie to Americans and thus hide its covert activities. Still, the Journal's investigation offers fresh details about a number of bizarre incidents that will surely tantalize the most avid UFO researchers. In particular, one episode revealed by Kirkpatrick's investigation involves a UFO sighting at a nuclear bunker that took place in 1967, and seems to show that the government's disinformation efforts were not merely aimed at members of the public but also its own staff. Robert Salas, a now 84-year-old former Air Force captain, says that his former job was to man the bunker, which would have launched a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union in the event of a nuclear war. One night, Salas says that a 'glowing reddish-orange oval' was seen hovering over the front gate of the facility by the building's guard. Not long afterwards, Salas discovered that the missiles at the facility had mysteriously been disabled. What had happened? Had aliens managed to disable the base's nuclear capabilities? The Journal notes that a less supernatural—if still quite crazy—explanation for the episode may exist: Kirkpatrick's team dug into the story and discovered a terrestrial explanation. The barriers of concrete and steel surrounding America's nuclear missiles were thick enough to give them a chance if hit first by a Soviet strike. But scientists at the time feared the intense storm of electromagnetic waves generated by a nuclear detonation might render the hardware needed to launch a counterstrike unusable. To test this vulnerability, the Air Force developed an exotic electromagnetic generator that simulated this pulse of disruptive energy without the need to detonate a nuclear weapon. When activated, this device, placed on a portable platform 60 feet above the facility, would gather power until it glowed, sometimes with a blinding orange light. It would then fire a burst of energy that could resemble lightning. Another intriguing anecdote that is shared in the report involves a bizarre custom that was inflicted upon newly inducted members of highly secretive government programs. Those inductees would be handed a picture of a UFO, Kirkpatrick found: For decades, certain new commanders of the Air Force's most classified programs, as part of their induction briefings, would be handed a piece of paper with a photo of what looked like a flying saucer. The craft was described as an antigravity maneuvering vehicle. The officers were told that the program they were joining, dubbed Yankee Blue, was part of an effort to reverse-engineer the technology on the craft. They were told never to mention it again. Many never learned it was fake. Kirkpatrick found the practice had begun decades before, and appeared to continue still. The defense secretary's office sent a memo out across the service in the spring of 2023 ordering the practice to stop immediately, but the damage was done. Officials who spoke with the newspaper dubbed this practice a 'hazing ritual' that spun out of control, but, like most things associated with the UFO phenomenon, it's easy to find a different interpretation of events. Was this really a 'hazing ritual'? Or was it part of an internal disinformation campaign designed to sow confusion and maintain cover for those secret programs, even within the programs themselves? Frankly, there's just no way to tell. Similarly, there's no way to tell whether the Journal's story hasn't been futzed with in some similar way. The simple truth is that, when it comes to UFOs, it's impossible to trust anything that comes out of the mouth of a government or ex-government official. You're better off just giving up on trying to find the truth of the matter, which is, of course, exactly what the government wants.
Daily Mirror
10-06-2025
- Daily Mirror
'Truth' behind Area 51 UFO conspiracies unveiled in bombshell US report
Area 51 conspiracy theories and fake UFO sightings were deliberately planted to conceal Cold War-era military projects including stealth fighter jets, a bombshell report has found A bombshell US Government report has shone new light on Area 51 conspiracy theories after decades of UFO sightings. Believers have long claimed that extra-terrestrial life is being hidden at the high-security base in Nevada, with fantastical stories of alien autopsies and secret otherworldly technology fuelled by repeated sightings of unexplained flying objects. The US government has always maintained the Area 51 is merely a flight testing facility. Now, a new review from a US Department of Defense taskforce has revealed that both the Pentagon and the Justice Department deliberately fuelled UFO conspiracy theories - including those about Area 51 - to conceal Cold War -era military projects, such as stealth fighter jets. According to The Wall Street Journal, the report states that an Air Force colonel was sent on a mission to spread false information about Area 51 in the early 1980s. This included visiting a nearby bar and handing owner fake photos of flying saucers, sparking a new frenzy of rumours about the base. The since-retired colonel later told Pentagon investigators that the purpose of mission had been to distract the public from the development of the then-secret F-117 Nighthawk stealth aircraft. Officials hoped this would help shield the project from surveillance by the USSR, he said. Sean Kirkpatrick, a former head of Pentagon's UFO office who now heads the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) taskforce, trawled through decades of military reports on unidentified aerial phenomena for the new report. He found that on several occasions, alien conspiracy theories were planted by the Pentagon themselves. This included a bogus alien-hunting squad, known as 'Yankee Blue', which recruited serving members of the Air Force through a hazing ritual. Candidates for the project were shown pictures of flying saucers and told they would be helping to 'reverse-engineering alien aircraft' while being sworn to secrecy. Servicemen involved in the programme would only find out it was fake decades later when it was officially declassified in 2023. Mr Kirkpatrick's review also evaluated one famous incident from 1967 involving former US Air Force captain Robert Salas, who described seeing a 'UFO' disable ten nuclear missiles at a base in Utah. Mr Salas said he was ordered to stay silent about the incident. But the report found that the technical issues likely resulted from a secret electromagnetic pulse (EMP) test used to gauge the base's resilience to interference, which Mr Salas and his colleagues had not been told about. Some parts of the AARO's first public report were withheld last year at the request of the US Air Force, with a full follow-up containing all redacted details expected to be released later this year.
