US Government Has Been Dancing Around UFOs for 75 Years
A legacy of hype, hysteria and fraud is undermining legitimate inquiry into those strange objects in the sky, whether you call them spy balloons, flying saucers or unidentified aerial phenomena.
Klaatu would not approve.
Photographer: David McNew/Hulton ArchiveThe spectacle of the US military shooting down three unidentified objects in the space of a week has opened the door to baseless speculations and conspiracy theories, thanks in part to the government’s contradictory messaging, which has toggled between genuine alarm and casual dismissal.
Sadly, this looks a lot like what happened 75 years ago, when sightings of what became known as unidentified flying objects, or UFOs, led to a media circus that undermined legitimate inquiry into what is now known simply as unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAP.