Intelligence officials acknowledged 510 reports of unidentified flying objects from 2004 through 2022, according to a newly declassified report.
Many of those sightings were reported by military pilots, sometimes in “restricted or sensitive airspace, highlighting possible concerns for safety of flight or adversary collection activity,” a report summary released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said Thursday.
More that 140 of those claims are from alleged encounters reported between 2004 and 2021. The other 366 either occurred late in 2021 or during 2022, or were newly discovered incidents recorded after 2004.
Objects observed were said to share “unremarkable characteristics.” Some of the reported sightings could have been weather balloons or unmanned aircraft, officials concluded.
The report was released six months after the formation of an All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office by the Director of National Intelligence.
The office is tasked with reporting observations that suggest a U.S. adversary may have new technologies that could present security issues in the sky as well as underwater or in space. It works with the nation’s intelligence agencies to assess potential threats.
A classified version of the analysis focuses on unidentified objects near nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons facilities.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence said the report declassified Thursday aims to destigmatize communicating about objects that could impact national security, which is likely to have contributed to the high number of incidents reported.
Former Daily News aviation writer Andy Danziger said he and a co-pilot encountered a UFO over the Midwest in the 1980s.
Danziger, who flew President Obama on Election Day 2008, claimed he’d been told pilots frequently experienced such encounters, but feared for their careers if they said anything.
“We knew through the grapevine that pilots weren’t supposed to talk about UFOs so we swore the station agent on duty to secrecy and agreed not to talk about our incident to any of our co-workers,” Danziger wrote of his experience.
With News Wire Services
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