UFOs: Pentagon launches ‘one-stop shop’ website for declassified information
Declassified information about resolved UFO sightings will be available on a new website set up by the US defence department.
The Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) website launch comes amid increased attention on reported UFO sightings.
In July, whistleblowers told a Congress hearing the US government was “hiding crucial information” about UFOs, months after NASA’s first public meeting on UFOs.
The site, which is being billed as a “one-stop shop” for publicly available records about UFOs, currently includes just a handful of videos, some labelled “unresolved” or “unclassified”.
UFOs are officially referred to as unidentified aerial phenomena or UAPs. NASA said at its public meeting that is because the topic is a “serious business”.
The website will house photos and videos about resolved UAP cases as they are declassified and approved for public release, the Pentagon said.
A tool for members of the public to report UFO sightings will be added to the site in the coming months.
The Pentagon will also release a tool allowing current and former US government employees, service members and contractors to “provide reports via a private and secure means”, Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder told a news conference.
A press release about the new site said the defence department was “committed to transparency with the American people” over its work on UFOs.
A former US Navy pilot who claimed to have experienced UFOs “first-hand” accused the US government of downplaying the threat they pose at July’s Congress hearing.
Ryan Graves said the number of UAPs was being “grossly underreported” and was an “urgent” issue.
“Military air crew and commercial pilots are frequently witnessing these phenomenons,” he told the hearing.
“The stigma is real and powerful and challenges national security.”