News & Current Events

Are unidentified flying objects a threat to national security – and could we do anything if they were?

(Photo by Shell R. Alpert/Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)

Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) have mystified mankind for a long time – have alien spacecraft visited our planet, or do these objects belong on Earth?

Some people search the skies for signs of alien life, believing that we have been visited by beings from outer space. Others disagree, saying there must be another explanation for strange objects spotted in the skies – maybe they belong to secret government programs or cutting-edge science. Over the last few years, it was revealed the United States is investigating UFOs, and now a new group is joining the search.

The Pentagon is starting a new office to investigate UFOs – or UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena), as they are now officially called.

The group is named the AOIMSG, which stands for Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group. The name may be complicated, but the group’s task is to look at objects flying in restricted American airspace – such as the air over military bases, military training grounds, and national security areas. According to the Pentagon, UAPs in special airspace “represents a potential safety of flight risk to aircrews and raises potential national security concerns.”

The Pentagon – Headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense (Getty Images)

What about the sky in other areas? It seems the AOIMSG is not really interested. However, the group will work with other offices to “detect, identify and attribute objects of interest” and decide whether they are a threat to national security.

More Interest in UFOs

The U.S. government has generally denied that UAPs are real, but recently it has started to talk more openly about the topic. Videos have been released showing tic-tac-shaped objects flying at speeds that are thought to be too fast for manmade aircraft. The U.S. Navy captured the footage, and those videos created a lot of interest in the topic of UAPs.

In June 2021, alien hunters were excited by a government report that said more than 120 UAPs have been seen in the last 20 years. The report admitted that while those sightings were of unidentified objects, there was no proof they came from outer space.

Some members of U.S. Congress are interested in the study of UAPs. For example, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has introduced a change to the 2022 defense budget that would force the military to be more open about its UAP research. It would also give more resources for civilian branches of the U.S. government to investigate UAPs.

(Photo by plus49/Construction Photography/Avalon/Getty Images)

What Next?

What does the AOIMSG mean for the study of UAPs? Some are not too happy with this change. Some have complained that it seems the military is trying to take back more control over UAP knowledge and keep the information secret.

A spokesperson for Senator Gillibrand said, “the AOIMSG doesn’t go … far enough to help us … understand the data we are gathering on UAPs.” She told U.S. News that Gillibrand’s plan would do more and allow more information to be shared with the public.

Clas Svahn, chairman for the Archives for the Unexplained in Sweden, said, “This is a power struggle over who should have access to UAP information.” He also complained that the military may treat UAPs as an enemy. He added, “Now UAPs will only be seen as a threat – and treated as that.”