The truth may be out there, and one DoD office is out there looking for unidentified flying objects. The DoD may not have a UFO office, but last November, the Pentagon in close collaboration with the Director of National Intelligence, directed the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security, established the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG) as the successor to the U.S. Navy’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force.
The AOIMSG is within the Office of the USD(I&S) and synchronizes efforts across the DoD and the broader U.S. government to detect, identify, and attribute objects of interest in Special Use Airspace (SUA), and to assess and mitigate any associated threats to the safety of flight and national security.
This will include monitoring for the presence of so-called unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and positions have already been posted (and filled) for this new office.
“The choice to even label these UAPs has been notable, as the term ‘UFO’ often gets laughs,” explained Ken Gray, a senior lecturer at the University of New Haven.
Serious Concerns about UFOS by Lawmakers
Rather than ridicule, lawmakers are now taking the issue of UAPs quite seriously, and what exactly are those unidentified objects was the question of the day for the House Intelligence Committee members earlier this month. The military has been direct that it believes the UAPs aren’t likely extraterrestrial in nature.
“We have detected no emanations with the UAP Task Force that would suggest it’s anything non-terrestrial,” Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray told lawmakers when pressed on the issue.
Officials have also said that “to date there have been no collisions between U.S. military aircraft and the UAPs, yet there have been nearly a dozen near collisions,” which raised concerns with some on the committee.
“Have we attempted to communicate with those objects,” pressed Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.).
Bray replied, “No.”
An increasing number of objects have been identified as drones, but DoD officials admit there are still plenty of sightings that simply can’t be explained. This is why the matter is getting the increased attention.
Foreign Tech a concern for DoD Officials
One concern for the DoD is that the objects are proof not of alien life, but rather of advanced weapons systems developed by a potential Earthly adversary.
“It could be advanced technology from another power, and that is certainly a concern for the DoD, which will seek to mitigate that type of threat,” Gray told ClearanceJobs.
One question to ask is why the lawmakers are suddenly expressing so much interest in UAPs?
“One guess would be a form of ‘bread and circuses’ – something to divert from all the bad things that are happening around the world right now,” Gray continued. “Another possibility is that the Director of National Intelligence has sought to find the truth on what these objects may be. They searched throughout all the files about UAPs and produced a report last year, which came to the conclusion that they didn’t have enough information.”
In the recent hearings, including those behind closed doors, Undersecretary for Intelligence Ronald Moultrie, and Deputy Director of Navy Intelligence Mark Gray offered insight in what is known about the UAPs and how future findings will be addressed.
“They laid out how to use the intelligence cycle to collect information on what UAPs are,” said Gray. “The intelligence cycle includes the planning, collecting, processing, analysis and dissemination of the data; and this will better help us determine what these objects may be.”
The Role of Intelligence when tracking UFOs
While movies and TV shows may suggest that UAP sightings are common, this is far from the truth, said Gray.
“These sightings are actually quite rare, but you can’t go out and look for a UAP,” he continued. “You just happen to encounter them. It is Navy and Air Force pilots that have had these encounters, and the Navy is taking the lead simply because its pilots have seen the UAPs the most.”
The intelligence cycle will allow the data to be collected and examined as it occurs, and now it will be someone’s job to shift through all of the data to draw some conclusions on what the objects may or may not actually be. And as interest in the subject heats up, clearance holders should keep their eyes open for contracts and jobs supporting this office.
“This is where AOIMSG will fill a role,” Gray told ClearanceJobs. “The Navy already has their department, but now ODNI will be as invested in helping determine what the objects are.”
Whether they are sensor anomalies, meteorological phenomena, Chinese or Russian high-tech weapons, or actually alien technology, the reality is that it’s a question that needs to be answered for national security.
