The establishment of a new office, signed into law just before New Year's, to study “unidentified aerial phenomenon” has divided the loose community of activists, researchers and pseudo scientists who hunt for proof that we are not alone in the universe.
Some hail the legislation creating the new office, tucked into section 1683 of the massive National Defense Authorization Act, for bringing new resources, rigor and officialdom to the investigation of a phenomenon — and a potential national security threat — that has long been stigmatized in a way that makes it difficult to study.
“Our national security efforts rely on aerial supremacy and these phenomena present a challenge to our dominance,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., who spearheaded the bipartisan measure. “The United States needs a coordinated effort to take control and understand whether these aerial phenomena belong to a foreign government or something else altogether.”
Luis Elizondo and Christopher Mellon, the former government insiders who helped spark renewed interest in Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, or UAPs, as they are more commonly known now, by publicizing video from military aircraft, applauded Gillibrand’s amendment — but worry it was watered down before final passage and will be buried by the Pentagon.
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