Three U.S. senators received a classified Pentagon briefing on Wednesday about UFOs and a series of reported encounters by the Navy with unidentified aircraft, according to congressional and government officials — part of a growing number of requests from members of key oversight committees writes New York Times and Politico.
“If naval pilots are running into unexplained interference in the air, that’s a safety concern Senator Warner believes we need to get to the bottom of,” his spokesperson, Rachel Cohen, said in a statement.
The interest in “unidentified aerial phenomenon” has grown since revelations in late 2017 that the Pentagon had set up a program to study the UFO phenomenon.
The Navy has played a prominent role in light of the testimony of F/A-18 pilots and other personnel operating with the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier battle group off California in 2004 - 'the now famous Nimitz incident with the so-called 'Tic Tac' and the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Atlantic in 2015 and 2016 where strange craft would appear in their training airspace and persist there not for minutes, but many hours, or even days at a time.
These objects persisted, showing up at 30,000 feet, 20,000 feet, even sea level. They could accelerate, slow down and then hit hypersonic speeds.
And according to a New York Times article published on May 26th, 2019, Navy pilot Graves said that one time he almost hit one of these objects which was like a translucent sphere encasing a cube when it right past the cockpit.
The growing congressional interest is credited for playing a major role in the service’s recent decision to update the procedures for pilots and other personnel to report such unexplained sightings, which Politico first reported in April.
“In response to requests for information from Congressional members and staff, Navy officials have provided a series of briefings by senior Naval Intelligence officials as well as aviators who reported hazards to aviation safety,” the service said in a statement to Politico at the time.
The Navy had no immediate comment on Wednesday, and few details of the latest secret sessions were available.
They come several days after President Donald Trump told ABC News (video) that he, too, had been briefed on the reports. “I did have one very brief meeting on it,” he said. “But people are saying they’re seeing UFOs. Do I believe it? Not particularly.”
“There are people coming out of the woodwork,” said one former government official who has participated in some of the meetings. A current intelligence official added: “More requests for briefings are coming in.”
The sessions have been organized by the Navy but have also included staff from the under secretary of Defense for Intelligence, the sources said. Both were not authorized to talk publicly about the briefings.
“If naval pilots are running into unexplained interference in the air, that’s a safety concern Senator Warner believes we need to get to the bottom of,” his spokesperson, Rachel Cohen, said in a statement.
The interest in “unidentified aerial phenomenon” has grown since revelations in late 2017 that the Pentagon had set up a program to study the UFO phenomenon.
The Navy has played a prominent role in light of the testimony of F/A-18 pilots and other personnel operating with the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier battle group off California in 2004 - 'the now famous Nimitz incident with the so-called 'Tic Tac' and the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Atlantic in 2015 and 2016 where strange craft would appear in their training airspace and persist there not for minutes, but many hours, or even days at a time.
These objects persisted, showing up at 30,000 feet, 20,000 feet, even sea level. They could accelerate, slow down and then hit hypersonic speeds.
And according to a New York Times article published on May 26th, 2019, Navy pilot Graves said that one time he almost hit one of these objects which was like a translucent sphere encasing a cube when it right past the cockpit.
See video clip from 'Unidentified'
Posted by Alejandro Rojas on his Twitter account.
The growing congressional interest is credited for playing a major role in the service’s recent decision to update the procedures for pilots and other personnel to report such unexplained sightings, which Politico first reported in April.
“In response to requests for information from Congressional members and staff, Navy officials have provided a series of briefings by senior Naval Intelligence officials as well as aviators who reported hazards to aviation safety,” the service said in a statement to Politico at the time.
The Navy had no immediate comment on Wednesday, and few details of the latest secret sessions were available.
They come several days after President Donald Trump told ABC News (video) that he, too, had been briefed on the reports. “I did have one very brief meeting on it,” he said. “But people are saying they’re seeing UFOs. Do I believe it? Not particularly.”
“There are people coming out of the woodwork,” said one former government official who has participated in some of the meetings. A current intelligence official added: “More requests for briefings are coming in.”
The sessions have been organized by the Navy but have also included staff from the under secretary of Defense for Intelligence, the sources said. Both were not authorized to talk publicly about the briefings.