About a third of Americans believe that UFOs — which are now openly admitted to exist by the Pentagon — are from other worlds. About 60 percent believe they are manmade. And almost 80 percent believe there is life elsewhere in the universe
Former U.S. Sen. Harry Reid has long advocated for more transparency in the study of what is officially known as unidentified aerial phenomena.
In June, the Pentagon is set to release unclassified information about UFOs collected over years by the military. The report was demanded by Congress last year as part of an appropriations bill.
Reid told State of Nevada that he thinks it's unlikely the report will contain blockbuster revelations, but he's encouraged by the process that produced it.
"I really don’t expect anything, he said. "Whatever they come up with will be preliminary in nature; it will require a lot more work."
The release of this information might have never happened without a move by Reid. In 2007, the Nevada Democrat secured $22 million in funding to study military contacts with UFOs.
Investigative television reporter George Knapp, who has long covered unidentified aerial phenomena, said he, too, is not expecting any major disclosures in the upcoming report, but it is heartening to see the issue being taken more seriously.
"The fact that Congress authorized it, that a formal part of the Pentagon is preparing it, and that a report will be delivered, even if it’s a preliminary report, is astonishing,” he said. “If you had told me 10 years ago this was going to happen, I’d have laughed.”
Much of Knapp's work and other reporting on unidentified aerial phenomena can be found at MysteryWire.com.
A witness to the 2004 encounter between the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and unidentified aerial phenomena said he hopes the momentum toward more transparency continues.
“It has been a journey to get here today,” said former Navy Chief Master-at-Arms Sean Cahill, but without keeping the issue in the public eye, “this will slip back into the shadows.”
The information currently available already suggests “a present technology that outstrips the arsenal that I had dedicated myself to be a part of,” said Cahill, who is now retired in San Diego.
Harry Reid, U.S. senator, retired; Sean Cahill, U.S. Navy chief master-at-arms, retired; George Knapp, investigative reporter, KLAS-TV
