The Pentagon's secret UFO programme

The Pentagon has admitted running a secret multi-million dollar programme to investigate reported sightings of UFOs.

Why was it set up?

Running from 2007 to 2012, the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Programme received $22m (£15m) a year in funding from the Pentagon, according to The New York Times, which broke the story.

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The brainchild of former Senate majority leader Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat long known for his enthusiasm for space phenomena, the programme documented unidentified flying objects reported by US servicemen and was tasked with investigating suspicious incidents.

Most of the money went to an aerospace research company run by a billionaire entrepreneur, alien believer and longtime friend of Reid, Robert Bigelow, who is currently working with Nasa to produce expandable craft for humans in space.

According to the newspaper, the programme documented sightings of aircraft that seemed to move at very high velocities with no visible sign of propulsion, or that hovered with no apparent means of lift.

While not classified, the BBC says “only a small number of officials were aware of the programme”, with funding secretly tucked away in the US Defense Department’s annual $600bn budget.

Politico suggests there may have been a more earthly motive for the programme, with one congressional staffer telling the news site that is may have been set up to monitor the technological progress of rival foreign powers, namely Russia and China.

Why was it shut down?

Funding for the programme was terminated in 2012. Pentagon spokeswoman Laura Ochoa said: “It was determined that there were other, higher-priority issues that merited funding and it was in the best interest of the DoD to make a change.”

However, while it confirmed the existence of the programme, the Pentagon “was less clear about whether the UFO program continues to hover somewhere in the vast universe of the US defence establishment”, says The Guardian.

According to its backers, “the programme remains in existence and officials continue to investigate UFO episodes brought to their attention by service members”, says The Independent.