In reviewing 144 sightings, investigators found no extraterrestrial connections. They did not draw any other conclusions, but they highlighted the need to improve data collection on what is increasingly being viewed by Republicans and Democrats as a national security threat. Investigators could not even begin to describe the incident's nature, with the exception of one sighting.
The report stated that 18 witnesses witnessed "unusual" patterns or flight characteristics in 18 cases. Further analysis is needed to determine whether those sightings were "breakthrough technology."
UFOs have been long considered science fiction, and so-called Ufologists. In recent years, UFOs have attracted serious attention from the Pentagon as well as intelligence agencies. Both sides have been alarmed by the possibility of adversary spying using unknown technology.
Congress required that the Friday report be created last year. Although it has not been published, the report on "unidentified aerial phenomena", as the government refers to them, is still a landmark in the investigation of the problem.
Reporters were briefed by U.S. officials under anonymity who said that there was no evidence to suggest the sightings were linked with alien life. It is not clear that sightings could have been linked to the potentially unidentified technology of an enemy like Russia or China.
One official stated that "it's evident that we need to increase our capacity to further analyse remaining UAP observations" and that "we accept that there are some limitations to our ability to characterize or understand some of these observations."
The report was posted online , and sent to the House and Senate intelligence panels with a classified annexe. Last week, lawmakers were briefed on the investigation. A person who spoke under anonymity at the classified briefing said that lawmakers were not given much information beyond what is publicly available. The only videos that were shown were already made public.
Five possible categories are listed in the report, from foreign adversaries flying unidentified technology to natural events in the atmosphere.
Only one example was classified as "airborne clutter", and it was believed to have been a large, inflatable balloon. Because of lack of information, the rest of them are not classified. This includes three cases of possible sightings that were captured on video clips that have been declassified and made public in recent years.
