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Pentagon's New UFO Website Lets You Explore Declassified Sightings Info (cnet.com) 54

Posted by BeauHD from the fresh-insight dept.
The U.S. Department of Defense has launched a website collecting publicly available, declassified information on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs). "For now, the general public will be able to read through the posted information," reports CNET. "Soon, US government employees, contractors, and service members with knowledge of US programs can report their own sightings, and later, others will be able to submit reports." From the report: "This website will provide information, including photos and videos, on resolved UAP cases as they are declassified and approved for public release," the department said in a release posted on Thursday. "The website's other content includes reporting trends and a frequently asked questions section as well as links to official reports, transcripts, press releases, and other resources that the public may find useful, such as applicable statutes and aircraft, balloon and satellite tracking sites."

For now, one of the most interesting parts of the site is its trends section. Apparently, most reported UAPs are round, either white, silver or translucent, spotted at around 10,000 to 30,000 feet, 1-4 meters in size, and do not emit thermal exhaust. Hotspots for sightings include both the US East and West coasts. There's also a small section of videos with names such as "DVIDS Video - Unresolved Case: Navy 2021 Flyby," and "UAP Video: Middle East Object." Readers are able to leave comments on the videos. Of the "Middle East Object" video, one person writes,"Noticed I never saw it cast a shadow. But other objects have shadows."
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Pentagon's New UFO Website Lets You Explore Declassified Sightings Info More

Pentagon's New UFO Website Lets You Explore Declassified Sightings Info

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  • Sampler (Score:4, Funny)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Saturday September 02, 2023 @02:22AM (#63816482) Journal

    1. Fuzzy blob, faded when chased.
    2. Fuzzy blob, faded when chased.
    3. Fuzzy blob, faded when chased.
    4. Three fuzzy blobs, faded when chased.
    5. Fuzzy blob, went into ocean upon chase.
    6. Etc.

    • The 2 linked videos didn't have fuzzy blobs, they had shiny blobs! The first one looked like a small balloon and so did the 2nd. In fact if you look carefully at the 2nd one you can see what looks like string hanging underneath and I imagine the speed is simply parallax from the plane moving. The camera was focused on the ground and balloon seems to move fast, focus the camera on the balloon and the ground will seem to move fast underneath.

  • I don't know if they're trying to dispel the idea that aliens may have visited us or if they're trying to instill it. All I know if that the reason why they're "declassifying" information and coming forward is not transparency. I watched the videos. As fuzzy and small as they are, there's no telling what the moving objects are, no matter how irrational the movement or how fast the change of direction. I find it hard to believe that these are the best videos we have of UFOs. But I guess if we had better

    • Re:More Government Bullshit (Score:5, Insightful)

      by gtall ( 79522 ) on Saturday September 02, 2023 @04:23AM (#63816544)

      Congress demanded transparency as long as it didn't compromise national defense. What you see is merely DoD acceding to Congress's wishes. There's no hidden agenda except in your head.

      What they ought to do is release a statement to the effect of: Aliens cannot get here from there.

      Followed by the Douglas Adam's quote: “Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.”

      The whiners in Congress have your attitude, "if I don't get the memo, they must be hiding something."

      • Exactly. An alien species advanced enough to be able to manage interstellar flight would be advanced enough to avoid ever being seen. They would also be advanced enough to consider us uninteresting. They would either have to have technology, that is so advanced that we cannot even theoretically conceive it, or a life span of millions of years.

        • It does not necessarily follow that a species more advanced in some ways would develop technology to avoid detection by a species and technology not found in their previous experiences.

          Maybe they don't have eyes so cameras aren't a thing. Maybe they are purely organic so radar and electro-mechanical devices aren't a thing. Maybe they are so high tech that the idea of bouncing radar off an object isn't even a consideration since they have Star Trek sensor arrays (attached to the tachyon cardiometer reflect

        • I highly doubt anythings visiting us. That speed of light is hard non-negotiable, and I suspect it will be as impermiable to us in a million years as it is now. physics isnt a tech tree despite what people who didnt finish high school think. It *may* be possible to hit 99.999% of C and in theory that means visiting other planets. But anything outside of about 100 light years probably isn't going to be visiting, and certainly not in nifty little sedan sized sports-ufos. This is something where you take off o

          • Re:More Government Bullshit (Score:4, Insightful)

            by Thoth Ptolemy ( 110353 ) on Saturday September 02, 2023 @10:02AM (#63816856)
            If you can warp space [tauzero.aero] (via NASA [nasa.gov]) you only need to go School Zone speeds to travel the galaxy. The fact that people are so intent on citing c as the limit and ending any thought there, is just autistic levels of myopic stupidity. FTL is an engineering problem with zero evidence that anything anywhere has solved that engineering problem.
            • Saying that C is the limit is not "autistic levels of myopic stupidity"... it's simply application of the best knowledge we have, which is the most sensible thing to do, in the general case. This is especially true when there are no consequences for being wrong, like in this case.
      • The latest feeling is that: Some do come from there to here. Most are here already. They always have been, and this isn't really our world alone. They made us, or tweaked us genetically. All early religions are basically them - Sumerian, Babylonian, Greek They have agendas, we know some of it. They're not on our side.

      • Anything possibly real would involve National Security and not be disclosed. I would think they'd have more studies showing the slow half the population would freak if it was proven to be true clearly superior aliens existed. It would undermine most religions who'd have to adapt or freak out. Just look how stupid all the religious Trump people are.

        Why an intelligent creature would want to discover ants far far away is beyond me... and why they wouldn't want to get out their magnifiers... Oh! that is the re

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by silentphate ( 1245152 )

        There's no hidden agenda except in your head.

        The whiners in Congress have your attitude, "if I don't get the memo, they must be hiding something."

        Oh because every conspiracy that pertains to the US government is all just in my head.

        Project MK Ultra

        Project Bluebook

        The Manhattan Project

        US poisoning alcohol during prohibition

        John Lennon Surveillance

        Gulf of Tonkin incident

        Roswell, Area 51, S-4, Groom Lake

        Radioactive Testing on Fetuses

        Tuskagee Experiment

        DARPA's HAARP Program

        Operation Northwoods

        But yeah, its just in our heads. "The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears." and you did.

  • ‘The strategies used by the US to distract public opinion seem increasingly stupid. Now, Washington is resorting to science fiction mechanisms [infobrics.org], promoting the narrative of “UFO attacks”. The reasons seem quite simple: to prevent the media from paying attention to the recent chemical disasters in the country and at the same time generate concern among citizens about alleged "unknown threats", which may enable the advancement of military agendas.’

    • Re:US uses UFO psyop to advance military agenda (Score:4, Informative)

      by gtall ( 79522 ) on Saturday September 02, 2023 @04:26AM (#63816546)

      Bullshit. The UFO mania came because Congress critters recognized it interested people. DoD wishes it would just die of its own accord and it has nothing to do with advance a "military agenda" except the one living in our head. There is very little there there, so there. When you, the public, finally catches the little critters in the act of repairing their space ship, then we'll need to take it seriously.

      • âThe strategies used by the US to distract public opinion seem increasingly stupid. Now, Washington is resorting to science fiction mechanisms, promoting the narrative of âoeUFO attacksâ.

        The UFO mania came because Congress critters recognized it interested people.

        Right, Congress is using UFO mania to distract The People from matters of importance, not the military.

        • And what are these 'matters of importance' that are being distracted from or suppressed? Pretty sure Jimmy Buffets death is global news.

        • âThe strategies used by the US to distract public opinion seem increasingly stupid. Now, Washington is resorting to science fiction mechanisms, promoting the narrative of âoeUFO attacksâ.

          The UFO mania came because Congress critters recognized it interested people.

          Right, Congress is using UFO mania to distract The People from matters of importance, not the military.

          Considering the house is narrowly Republican controlled, it isn't a stretch to believe they are trying to distract people form their leader being arrested for a shitload of crimes with a lot of evidence.

  • Trying to drum up support for your Space Farce? (Score:3)

    by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Saturday September 02, 2023 @03:07AM (#63816504)

    Uh, we gotta defend against those scary blobby alien threat. Better pump a couple billions into it.

  • "Hey hey hey! Look over here! Look over here, everyone! Please! AAAA!"

    People often underestimate the stupidity of the general public, but I'm surprised that we all seem unified in seeing this for the distraction psyop it is.

  • most reported UAPs are round, either white, silver or translucent, spotted at around 10,000 to 30,000 feet, 1-4 meters in size, and do not emit thermal exhaust

    I.e. they are balloons, most likely meteorological balloons, of mundane terrestrial origin.

    • most reported UAPs are round, either white, silver or translucent, spotted at around 10,000 to 30,000 feet, 1-4 meters in size, and do not emit thermal exhaust

      I.e. they are balloons, most likely meteorological balloons, of mundane terrestrial origin.

      But wait - maybe they're alien weather balloons!

      • Re:Balloons (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 ) on Saturday September 02, 2023 @01:33PM (#63817280)

        most reported UAPs are round, either white, silver or translucent, spotted at around 10,000 to 30,000 feet, 1-4 meters in size, and do not emit thermal exhaust

        I.e. they are balloons, most likely meteorological balloons, of mundane terrestrial origin.

        But wait - maybe they're alien weather balloons!

        The truth is on Hunter Biden's laptop.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Entrope ( 68843 )

      So you're saying that the light from Venus reflected off of swamp gas trapped in a thermal pocket by a weather balloon? I knew it! [tvtropes.org]

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      Many pilots swear they either are changing directions quickly, or are going too fast to be balloons.

  • I've looked at some of the videos just to see if there was anything different. Nope.

    - The first two the military itself identifies as ordinary commercial aircraft. Why are they there?

    - The "Middle East Object", yup, definitely an object, almost certainly a silvery balloon being blown by the wind. Could also be a drone carrying a payload.

    - The "Navy 2021 Flyby" looks like a reflection. Probably sunshine on something shiny in the cockpit, then reflecting in the window, moving as the plane maneuvers. Could

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jwhyche ( 6192 )

      Another simple answer is, they are unknown natural phenomena that we have yet to discover or explain. It is foolish to to think we know everything about the atmosphere. We certainly don't. We are still trying to figure out if ball lightning exists or what it really is.

      If ball lightning is a possibility here, is it reasonable to assume it might have a invisible counterpart? That counterpart might only show up on FLIR or radar? I really don't' know. I'm just asking.

      • LIGHTNING? That is from Zeus! You expect me to believe thin air just spontaneously generates massive amounts electricity from NOTHING?? I've got a perpetual motion machine to sell you...

  • = list of uninteresting released (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Hellc ( 10502202 ) on Saturday September 02, 2023 @04:53AM (#63816564)
    Or would you seriously believe anything they believe is real alien activity would be declassified ?

    • Or would you seriously believe anything they believe is real alien activity would be declassified ?

      The question that needs asked then is exactly why they would be classified? The only reason I could remotely come up with it that fundamentalist christians would be upset because that means Jeebuz might be an alien.

      Otherwise, it's darn difficult to come up with any reasons. Most people would be excited, and since the laws of the universe would be the same, almost impossible for us not to have their technology, so we wouldn't have to fool with chemical rockets.

      And the real impossibility that we could ha

  • Visiting that website will just put you on a list somewhere. No thanks.
  • The fact that none of the disclosed information so far, or likely in the future, exposes any evidence of Aliens pretty much answers the question of Alien visitors once and for all ... can we go back to fixing the healthcare system now and stop wasting money on the stupidity.

  • What's up with the cert name of the aaro.mil site? https://www.aaro.mil/ [aaro.mil]

  • This should not be in the DoD, but rather in HHS, to gather statistics on the number of people suffering delusions. Yeah, ok, 1% of the reports will be things that really happened.

  • It'd be fun to see just how small the list of unique remote IPs is, and log each one's page count.

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