I investigated UFOs for the Pentagon – the US is finally facing up to the uncomfortable truth after decades of silence
AN EX-PENTAGON official who probed UFOs for the US government as part of a shadowy programme has said the world is now finally facing up to the uncomfortable truth about the phenomena.
Lue Elizondo – a former US Army intelligence officer – has become one of the leading figures in calling for more disclosure after he first went public in 2017.
Heading up the secretive Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), Elizondo probed UFOs and spoke to US servicemen who had experienced the unexplained encounters – some of which were captured of video, like the infamous Tic Tac.
The unidentified objects displayed extraordinary speed and moved in ways which appeared far beyond known human technology.
And now the discussion about the phenomena has taken centre stage in Washington.
UFOs – now more commonly called UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) in official circles – will be discussed tomorrow in an on Capitol Hill for the first time in decades – something Mr Elizondo hailed as “historic”.
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US Congressmen will have a chance to grill defence and intelligence officials about what is going in the skies – with objects reportedly flying close to nuclear bases and US warships.
“I am not a UFO guy, I am not a UFOlogist, I never have been and never will be,” Mr Elizondo told The Sun Online.
“My job was to hunt terrorists and spies – and then use those same skills to hunt UFOs. It’s the same thing.
“I didn’t care if it was supernatural technology, bottom line is there is something over controlled US airspace performing in ways we can’t – we’ve got to figure it out.”
Mr Elizondo told The Sun Online the highly anticipated hearing is a “long time coming” – but said this is “just the beginning” and urged eager viewers to temper their expectations.
He also urged Washington DC to offer “amnesty and protection” to people held by tough non-disclosure agreements so they can feel comfortable in coming forward to discuss the topic.
Mr Elizondo accused some within the Pentagon of attempting to discredit and smear him.
And he said others who may come forward to shed light on UFOs could be put off from doing so due to this reaction.
“When they persecuted and accused of being fabricators, that is not helpful,” he said.
The truth can be scary – but ultimately the truth is the truth
Luis Elizondo
He described a culture within certain wings of the US Government as having deaf ears when facing “uncomfortable” discussions about UFOs.
“We have a hard time articulating this to our leaders,” Mr Elizondo said.
He would face questions of “Well then Lue, what it is?” – and he could only respond with: “We don’t know”.
“We spend billions of dollars to know everything in our sky, and you’re going to tell them we have no idea what they are?
“There are institutions in our government who are used to having answers, they are paid to have answers and to solve problems, so when you present them with a problem that doesn’t have a solution – that is an uncomfortable conversation to have.”
Mr Elizondo also revealed in his work he often suffered a push back from people who saw probes into UFOs as a potential “challenge” to their religion.
Acknowledging while he is a “man of faith”, some people he encountered tried to make the facts fit their world view rather than altering their world view to fit the facts.
And the veil of secrecy around the topic by the government helped push the UFO topic into the fringe realms of conspiracy theories – something which is only now being broken down after decades.
He compared the growing push for disclosure on what the US knows about the mysterious craft to when mankind first came out of caves to look at the stars, or when man made fire.
The former intelligence official said the world may see a “paradigm shift” in our thinking – just like when the astronomer Galileo established the Earth was not the centre of the Solar System.
“They tried to persecute him, to put him to the death – but in the end [the revelation] didn’t disrupt society and it benefited the species,” Mr Elizondo told The Sun Online.
“At the end of the day, the truth can be scary – but ultimately the truth is the truth.
“This is a topic that belongs to everyone – it doesn’t belong under the provenance of any particular government or organisation
“There is nothing classified about the fact there is something in our skies we don’t what it is, we don’t know where its from, and we don’t know how to works. But that is okay.”
“The only way we are going to learn is if we ask the question – and if we’ve been for the last 70 years told not to ask the question and made to believe that it’s silly or stupid, then that’s a problem.”
He added: “It is going to take time and patience for the full truth to come forward – which is something both Congress and the American people deserve.
“This is a global issue, not just an American one – people deserve the truth, whatever the truth may be.
“Sunlight is the best antiseptic, its important that transparency prevails and this is no exception.”
What is going on with UFOs in the US?
UFOS have stepped from fringe conspiracy theories to a genuine national security debate in the US.
Pentagon officials took the unprecedented step to confirm a trio of remarkable videos which showed US encounters with UFOs.
The debate is still open as to what the phenomena caught on film were – but it made clear to everyone, something is in the skies.
Perhaps the most striking was a video known as the “Tic Tac” – which showed an unidentified object being pursued by fighter planes.
The US also confirmed the existence of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) – a Pentagon $12million programme set up to study UFOs before being disbanded in 2012.
Eventually, it was replaced by the UAP Task Force in June 2020 after a vote by the US Senate Intelligence Committee.
Defence chiefs have since confirmed a number of leaked UFO videos and photos which were submitted to the Task Force for investigation.
Why this sudden rush for transparency?
No one outside the secretive wings of the US government currently knows for sure.
And as a tacked on addendum to a 5,500 page Covid relief bill passed in December, the the Director of National Intelligence’s office was ordered to compile a report on UFOs within 180 days.
The UAP report dropped as expected on June 25, and while not giving much away – it did not rule anything out either as much of it remains classified.
The US appear to have acknowledged that UFOs – whatever they are – are real and are a potential threat to national security as they appear to be able to enter restricted airspace with total impunity.
Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have both discussed the topic and seemed to acknowledge something is going on – a massive turnaround from previous total denial the government had anything to do with UFOs.
Is it aliens? Officially the US position is simply, “we don’t know yet” as further disclosure is expected in the coming months and years.
Mr Elizondo told The Sun Online: “You can’t put the cat back in the bag or the genii back in the bottle.
“Even slow progress is progress.
“There is a difference between doing things right and doing things right now.
“We only get one chance to get this done in the right way.”
He joked while some people may be watching on Tuesday expecting to hear revelations about “aliens hidden under Area 51” – he added that “isn’t going to happen”.
Tomorrow at 10am the House Intelligence Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence and Counterproliferation subcommittee will hold the landmark public hearing on UFOs.
Ronald S. Moultrie, under secretary of defence for intelligence and security, and Scott W. Bray, deputy director of naval intelligence, will both answer questions on the highly controversial topic.
US Congressman Andre Carson, the committee’s chairman, said: “The American people expect and deserve their leaders in government and intelligence to seriously evaluate and respond to any potential national security risks – especially those which we do not fully understand.”
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And US Congressman Adam Schiff added: “There’s still much to learn about UAP and the potential risks they may pose to our national security”
He described the issue as the “one of the greatest mysteries of our time” and said he hopes to “break the cycle excessive secrecy and speculation with truth and transparency”.