Twitter goes full Fox Mulder after wild New York Times report on Pentagon UFO program

A woman holds a banner with an UFO painted on it and reading "I believe" as another protester dressed up as alien walks by at a demonstration against conspiracy theorists at Mauerpark, amidst
(Image credit: ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images)

What better way to end the week than by firing up the X-Files theme and reading through a wild report on UFOs in the paper of record?

The New York Times published a new report on the Pentagon's Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force, a program "to investigate unidentified flying objects," which is primarily focused on whether other countries are using aviation technology that could pose a threat to the U.S. but that retired officials also hope "will seek evidence of vehicles from other worlds." Some of its findings are reportedly to be publicly disclosed, per a Senate committee report.

The Times describes how some former officials, including the previous director of the program, are "convinced that objects of undetermined origin have crashed on earth with materials retrieved for study," and former Senator Harry Reid told the paper, "after looking into this, I came to the conclusion that there were reports — some were substantive, some not so substantive — that there were actual materials that the government and the private sector had in their possession."

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It gets even weirder, as the Times also quotes astrophysicist Eric Davis, who worked as a consultant for the program, saying that when it comes to some of the materials, "we couldn't make it ourselves." Davis even said that he briefed the Defense Department in March regarding retrievals from "off-world vehicles not made on this earth," one of those phrases that sure makes you do a double take.

Needless to say, Twitter was quick to have a mild freak-out over the article while simultaneously welcoming our new alien overlords.

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For those who thought 2020 was done completely melting our brains, well, have a look at the full report at The New York Times.

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Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.