NYT: In new report, intelligence officials can't explain most UFO sightings
The truth is still out there.
U.S. intelligence officials have investigated more than 120 incidents involving flying objects of unknown origin, and they write in a new classified government report that while they didn't find any evidence these are alien spacecraft, they also cannot explain how they are able to accelerate so quickly, change direction in a split second, and submerge, senior administration officials briefed on the matter told The New York Times.
The unidentified aerial phenomena were witnessed mostly by Navy pilots, and the report says most of the events did not involve objects that were made by the U.S. military or used advanced government technology, the officials said. Intelligence officials tested different explanations, and found that most didn't fit when looking at every incident. The objects couldn't be weather balloons, for instance, because of changes in wind speed during the interactions.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It is possible that these objects have been developed by a foreign country. One senior U.S. official told the Times that intelligence and military officials are concerned about Russia's and China's experiments with hypersonic technology, and if that's what the Navy pilots are witnessing, it suggests the Russians and Chinese are far ahead of the American military's research.
The sightings mentioned in the report include one-off events and recurring interactions. From the summer of 2014 to March 2015, Navy pilots over the East Coast reported seeing odd objects nearly every single day, including one that looked like a spinning top going against the wind. The objects were able to move at hypersonic speeds, fly up to 30,000 feet, and stay in the air for 12 hours.
Congress is expected to release an unclassified version of the report by June 25.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
How climate change is affecting ChristmasThe Explainer There may be a slim chance of future white Christmases
-
The MAGA civil war takes center stage at the Turning Point USA conferenceIN THE SPOTLIGHT ‘Americafest 2025’ was a who’s who of right-wing heavyweights eager to settle scores and lay claim to the future of MAGA
-
The 8 best drama movies of 2025the week recommends Nuclear war, dictatorship and the summer of 2020 highlight the most important and memorable films of 2025
-
Son arrested over killing of Rob and Michele ReinerSpeed Read Nick, the 32-year-old son of Hollywood director Rob Reiner, has been booked for the murder of his parents
-
Rob Reiner, wife dead in ‘apparent homicide’speed read The Reiners, found in their Los Angeles home, ‘had injuries consistent with being stabbed’
-
Hungary’s Krasznahorkai wins Nobel for literatureSpeed Read László Krasznahorkai is the author of acclaimed novels like ‘The Melancholy of Resistance’ and ‘Satantango’
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
