Calls for transparency and increased governmental efforts to investigate unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) have continued to grow, with a recent bipartisan push by senators to provide adequate funding and resources to the UAP office. Current legislation has instructed the government to look into UAP events dating back to 1945 in a search for answers to the phenomenon. This also includes looking back into the events of July 1947 in Roswell.
Christopher Mellon, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, told The Roswell Daily Record, "Congress is clearly intent on getting to the bottom of all the rumors about the events that occurred in your town in July of 1947." He added, “The current DoD funding bill requires a review of all intelligence documents related to UAP going all the way back to 1945. It also requires any U.S. agencies with secrecy agreements related to UAP to identify those and provide copies to the new All Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). Finally, Congress has established a whistleblower process that enables anyone with information about secret government UAP programs to share that information with AARO despite any prior government secrecy agreements they may have signed. This is new, unprecedented and amazing. Assuming Congress shares the results with the American people we may finally know the truth in 12-18 months.“
Lue Elizondo, former director of the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), stressed the urgency of investigating UAPs in a statement released Friday, noting that they "present an urgent national security threat" and can display capabilities that defy what is currently understood about physics. He emphasized the need for the government to take the matter seriously and to work together in the best interest of the American people, calling attention to recent bipartisan UAP legislation in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Recent news regarding the search for three UAPs shot down by the U.S. military underscores the importance of transparency and accountability in UAP investigations. The military's efforts to recover the objects reflect growing concerns about potential threats posed by UAPs. Ships and military pilots searched the remote areas of Alaska and Lake Huron, but ultimately the objects were not recovered due to punishing terrain and weather conditions.
The search for those objects shot down over Alaska and Lake Huron has been called off after a thorough investigation by the U.S. and Canada. Despite utilizing various capabilities, including airborne imagery, surface sensors and subsurface scans, the search party could not locate any debris. As a result, U.S. Northern Command has decided to lift the air and maritime safety perimeters at both sites. Authorities have expressed their gratitude to all involved in the search efforts, but this development comes as a disappointment for those who were hoping for a breakthrough in the investigation.
Recovery operations for the high-altitude People’s Republic of China surveillance balloon that was shot down on Feb. 4, concluded on Thursday off the coast of South Carolina after U.S. Navy assets assigned to U.S. Northern Command successfully located and retrieved debris. Final pieces of debris are being transferred to the FBI laboratory in Virginia for counterintelligence exploitation, as has occurred with the previous surface and subsurface debris recovered. U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard vessels have departed the area, and air and maritime safety perimeters have been lifted.
In a White House press briefing, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Command John Kirby was asked about the possible release of cockpit video from the shooting down of the unidentified objects. “I’d have to refer you to DOD on that, in terms of releasing the imagery.”
The Department of Defense Press Operations office responded to requests from The Roswell Daily Record seeking their plans to release visual evidence collected by gun camera footage via email stating, “We do not have any footage or images to release at this time. That could change in the future, but we couldn’t speculate on a timeline.”
Despite the unsuccessful search for the objects that were shot down over Alaska and Lake Huron, there is a growing desire for transparency and more significant efforts to understand UAPs. Senator Marco Rubio highlights the need for a dedicated office to investigate UAPs and for adequate resources to ensure their success, emphasizing that "the American people deserve to know what the government is doing to protect them from potential threats."
Senator Jeanne Shaheen also stresses the importance of understanding potential airborne national security risks posed by UAPs. She stated that "it's critical that we have a complete understanding of any potential airborne national security risks...so that our military and intelligence communities can comprehensively investigate these incidents and provide transparency to the American people."
The recent events related to UAPs only increase the urgency for a more coordinated effort to study and understand these phenomena. As Elizondo noted, "we cannot allow the antiquated stigma around UAP or inflexible mindsets within our government to prevent the American people from learning the truth, whatever that may be."
With the government's renewed focus on investigating UAPs and providing transparency, it is clear that Americans have a growing desire to know what is in their skies and to fully understand any potential risks to national security. The efforts to recover the debris from the high-altitude PRC surveillance balloon underscore the importance of monitoring the skies and identifying potential threats to national security. The investigation into UAPs will likely continue as the government seeks to understand the nature and origin of these phenomena.
