A week ago, the New York Times reportedthat in 2007, former Senator Harry Reid of Nevada slipped $22 million into the budget to study military encounters with UFOs.
Talking about that report on KNPR's State of Nevada, Las Vegas reporter George Knapp said the only way that funding ever passed muster was to categorize those encounters as threats.
"In order to get it funded they had to present it as a possible threat. And they had to present the threat that, we need to study this technology and figure it out before the Russians and the Chinese do, because as Harry Reid said, there are indications that the Russians and Chinese are studying it and may be ahead of us on this, so that’s a tried and true tactic."
Knapp is the reporter who exposed Area 51, the top-secret military base northwest of Las Vegas, to the world almost 30 years ago.