WASHINGTON — President Biden revealed on Thursday that he had no idea what NORAD had spotted over the weekend in North American airspace when he ordered the firing of $1.6 million worth of Sidewinder missiles to shoot down three UFOs now considered to have been harmless.
The president continued, “We do not yet know exactly what these three objects were.” “However, nothing at this time suggests they were associated with China’s spy balloon program or were surveillance vehicles from any other nation.”
Yet, the White House had been informed two years prior by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in a study mandated by Congress that a paucity of data on UFOs made thorough identification nearly impossible.
The Pentagon’s chosen acronym for UFOs is UAP.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby stated on Friday that the White House had “no apologies” for the American taxpayers who paid more than $400,000 for the four missiles used to destroy the three harmless objects, which were likely launched by scientists and hobbyists.
Tuesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refuted that Vice President Joe Biden was “embarrassed” upon learning that the UFOs were likely benign and stated that the objects’ altitude posed a hazard to commercial air traffic. According to a follow-up report issued by the ODNI in January of this year, there has never been a collision between US aircraft and UFOs.
Identification initiatives
ODNI stated in its 2021 report that “limited data and challenges in collection processing or analysis” hindered the identification of all but one of the 144 UFO sightings recorded between 2004 and 2021.
In response, Congress directed the Pentagon to establish the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) in November 2021. This office will be dedicated to the research of unidentified flying objects. Nonetheless, the data problem persisted throughout the next year, according to a supplementary assessment published just weeks before Biden’s orders to fire down the drones.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence stated in a report dated two weeks before NORAD identified a Chinese spy balloon nearing Alaska on January 28 that “limited data on UAP remains a challenge.”
After the shootdown of the Chinese balloon and three other items earlier this month, Vice President Biden on Thursday outlined a four-step strategy to achieve “safer and more secure skies.” But, most of the blueprint he outlined had already been suggested in ODNI studies.
Biden stated, “We will establish a better inventory of unmanned airborne objects in space above U.S. airspace and ensure that it is accessible and up-to-date.” “Second, we will take additional steps to enhance our ability to detect unmanned aerial vehicles in our airspace.”
In its reports, the ODNI had previously delegated these responsibilities to the UAP office and requested the Military to “facilitate more coordinated UAP efforts, resulting in greater UAP attribution.”
The president also stated that he has instructed national security advisor Jake Sullivan to “lead a government-wide effort to ensure that we are prepared to deal safely and effectively with objects in our airspace,” which is essentially what the UAP office was established to do.
Before the congressional push to address UFOs, the military had for decades kept the majority of reports secret, and pilots who witnessed such phenomena were shamed into silence — a practice that, according to the January ODNI report, contributed to the lack of data necessary for a thorough analysis of findings.
“[The UAP office] and ODNI assess that the observed increase in the UAP reporting rate is partially attributable to a better understanding of the potential threats that UAP may represent, either as safety of flight hazards or as potential adversary collection platforms, and partially attributable to a reduction in the stigma associated with UAP reporting,” it said. This enhanced reporting provides additional possibilities to conduct thorough analysis and resolve occurrences.
According to ODNI, there were 247 sightings confirmed between June 2021 and August 2022, a 58% increase over the previous 17 years.
The January report stated, “This increase in reporting provides more opportunities to apply rigorous analysis and resolve incidents.”
The two ODNI reports did not mention the remaining steps outlined by Biden, which included updating the “rules and regulations for launching and maintaining unmanned objects in the skies” and having the State Department “lead an effort to help establish common global norms in this largely unregulated space.”
Emphasizing UFOs
The spy balloon saga may result in the collecting of new data, since the January ODNI report stated that more people would come forward if they were made aware of the situation and the threats posed by UFOs.
“The observed increase in the UAP reporting rate is partially attributable to a better understanding of the possible threats that UAP may represent, either as safety of flight hazards or as potential adversary collection platforms, and partially attributable to a reduction in the stigma associated with UAP reporting,” the report stated.
The recent focus on the sky has inspired Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) to launch a bipartisan effort to increase funding for the AARO.
16 senators have joined the initiative, sending a letter to the Pentagon on Thursday requesting that it “reprogram funds to cover this significant funding gap… to prevent disruption” to the UAP office’s operations.
“Without funding for FY23, [the UAP office’s] ability to deliver integrated collection and analysis will be delayed and suboptimized,” lawmakers cautioned.
In addition, they requested that the DOD request extra funds for the office in its proposed budget for 2024, due this spring.
While we appreciate the Department of Defense’s public support for resolving unexplained anomalous phenomena, this commitment must also be reflected in budget requests submitted to Congress, the letter stated.
“It is crucial that the mission goals of AARO are met with the necessary resources for success.”
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