The Pentagon should release dozens of UFO videos

The Pentagon has at least two dozen, and likely far more, UFO videos in its possession. Despite public commitments to transparency, officials refuse to release any of the footage. But the government’s rationale – that disclosure would jeopardize sensitive “sources and methods” – likely holds no water with many of the videos.

In March 2019, amid increasing military encounters with objects appearing to exhibit highly advanced flight characteristics, the Navy instituted a standardized UFO reporting mechanism. Despite heavy redactions, these reports show that fighter pilots are frequently left stunned by such incidents.

Importantly, the Navy’s new reporting procedures allow aviators and intelligence officers to submit video footage and other sensor data. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the Navy confirmed that 24 videos are associated with 19 UFO reports, spanning June through December 2019.

If the Pentagon continued receiving 20 UFO videos every six months, it would have well over 100 videos in its possession by now. Of course, increased awareness of the new reporting mechanism and reduced stigma likely resulted in aviators submitting far more UFO footage. Moreover, with 24 videos accompanying 19 reports, it appears that aircrews are unlikely to submit a UFO report without including corroborating data.

As noted by a former director of national intelligence, the government also possesses UFO data – such as “images and videos” – recorded by satellites.

Of course, the public release of satellite data and radar displays could jeopardize sensitive platforms and capabilities. But many, if not most, of the UFO videos in the government’s possession were likely recorded by infrared targeting pods.

Infrared video technology is not inherently sensitive. At the same time, footage from targeting pods is widely available. Most importantly, three famous UFO videos – all recorded with the Navy’s primary infrared targeting pod – are unclassified (and were never classified in the first place).

These facts make it impossible for the government to claim that the release of UFO footage recorded by such platforms (not to mention cell phones) would compromise sensitive technology or intelligence collection capabilities.

Importantly, since targeting pods are fighter pilots’ technological “eyes” in the sky, such videos likely account for a significant proportion of the UFO data held by the Pentagon.

At the same time, the government has no evidence “to indicate any [UFOs] are part of a foreign collection program or indicative of a major technological advancement by a potential adversary.” Therefore, the Pentagon cannot plausibly claim that its UFO videos can be classified as sensitive “foreign government information.”

For its part, Congress does not appear concerned that UFOs are part of a foreign intelligence effort. According to draft legislation approved unanimously by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, a muscular new UFO office must immediately stop investigating any object determined to be “man-made” and turn its analytic attention to another case. If lawmakers are truly concerned that some UFOs are adversarial surveillance platforms, they would not direct a powerful new office to stop investigating as soon as an object is determined to be of human origin.

Of equal importance, officials are confident that none of the 143 unexplained encounters described in a landmark UFO report involve secret American technology. Therefore, the Pentagon cannot withhold UFO videos under the pretext that aviators may have inadvertently captured footage of sensitive U.S. “weapons systems.”

With Congress demanding answers and government officials admitting their own impatience with the slow pace of progress, the public release of non-sensitive UFO videos could quickly resolve several cases. For instance, it took the government “several years” to determine that two UFO videos showed a common camera artifact. Mick West, a prominent UFO skeptic, identified the artifact in a matter of days.

At the same time, verifiable, repeatable geometrical analyses of one of the most well-known UFO videos showed that the object’s flight path matches eyewitness descriptions. This implies that the UFO demonstrated highly anomalous flight characteristics, including controlled flight without any apparent wings, control surfaces or means of propulsion. Perhaps most intriguingly, the analyses indicate that the object thwarted a Navy fighter jet’s attempt to sneak up behind it.

Ultimately, the parameters (approved by a senior intelligence official) under which the government classifies UFO data are at stark odds with that same official’s public promise to declassify information that does not reveal sensitive “sources and methods.”

With infrared targeting pod footage – including three well-known, unclassified UFO videos – widely available in the public domain, the government’s “sources and methods” claim does not hold water. The Pentagon must abide by its emphatic commitments to transparency and release all such UFO footage.

Marik von Rennenkampff served as an analyst with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, as well as an Obama administration appointee at the U.S. Department of Defense. Follow him on Twitter @MvonRen.