Former Head of Pentagon's Secret UFO Program Has Some (Strange) Stories to Tell

[left-of-center2012]

Intelligence officer Luis Elizondo served as the former director of the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), an initiative launched in 2007 to study reports of UFO encounters. Elizondo departed the agency in 2011; in 2017, he spoke with reporters at The New York Times, confirming the existence of the shadowy agency and describing its mission.

During Elizondo's tenure at AATIP, observers reported UFOs flying at hypersonic speeds — more than five times the speed of sound. Yet there were none of the signatures that usually accompany aircraft flying at such fantastic speeds, such as sonic booms, he said. The UFOs were also unexpectedly mobile, traveling so fast that they would have experienced gravitational forces, or G-forces, that far exceed the limits of endurance for both humans and aircraft.

The human body can withstand about 9 G's "for a very short time" before a person would start to black out, Elizondo said. "These things that we were observing were pulling 400 to 500 G's," he said. "They don't have engines or even wings, and they are able to seemingly defy the natural effects of Earth's gravitational pull."

"We trust the American people to know that North Korea has nuclear warheads pointed at Los Angeles, yet we don't trust them with the knowledge that there's something in our skies and we don't know what it is? That seems counterproductive to me," Elizondo said.

https://www.livescience.com/65596-ufo-pentagon-history-channel.html

[trev]

1. Something is happening.

It may be a matter of national security. I for one am happy to see the Pentagon taking this stuff seriously.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Yeah...but

Problem with attributing them to a secret craft of Russia or China is we see them as a "threat", and going down that rabbit hole leaves no room for any other possibilities.

[trev]

3. I haven't decided that's what they are, actually.

But I like to consider all possibilities. I'm thinking of how, with the exception of landing a man on the moon, the Russians beat us to pretty much every space landmark: first satellite, first man in orbit, first spacewalk, first woman in space, first space station.... Their technology is not to be belittled.

As for China, I don't think they're capable of building things like this. (I'm actually beginning to wonder if we are.... It's my opinion that the Space Shuttle program was a devastating sidetrack from space exploration. I think it was an outgrowth of Reagan's Star Wars fantasy, carrying more military payloads than scientific ones.)

But who knows? At this point, all we can do is try to learn as much about these objects as we can. And it appears that the Pentagon is on track with this.

[happyaccident]

4. These sightings date at least from WW2

I don't think they're humans. Maybe drones from an long extinct alien species?

[trev]

5. Yes, in the modern era.

Sightings are recorded throughout history, starting from 5000 years ago.

I think Earth was colonized in prehistory. I also think that modern UFOs are human creations based on alien technology. I'm not totally convinced that there are no ETs on the planet today; I've had some odd encounters....

[MicaelS]

6. Somethings are surely there. The question is what.

When the US Navy admits they are encountering UFOs, or UAPs, whatever term you want to use, then something is there.

Not saying they are aliens, but someone, or something, is flying these things. They could be very advanced drones, or autonomous vehicles being flow by our own government or foreign governments.

When trained observers, aka airline and military pilots, keep seeing UAPs, then THAT tells me something is there. No matter how skeptics try to explain it away.