(NewsNation) — Pentagon officials say people interviewed for a report on unidentified anomalous phenomena sightings, or UAPs, may have mistakenly thought classified programs were related to extraterrestrial activity.
These programs, the over 60-page report by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office said, were well-known and understood by those allowed access to them. However, people who didn’t have that same access who spoke to the AARO incorrectly associated the “authentic” programs with “alien” activity for various reasons, the report said.
There is no empirical evidence, the Pentagon said, that UFO sightings were not properly reported to Congress.
This goes against claims made by “whistleblowers” in recent months. In an interview with NewsNation’s Ross Coulthart, a former career intelligence official, David Grusch, alleged the U.S. government has secretly been in possession of nonhuman spacecraft but did not provide direct evidence about his assertions.
AARO acting Director Tim Phillips told reporters Wednesday at a briefing that none of the whistleblowers who repeated these claims did so in an intentional effort to mislead the public but instead “sincerely misinterpreted real events or mistaken sensitive U.S. programs, for which they were not cleared.”
Here are some events the Department of Defense said were misinterpreted.
Officials Not Involved in Experiments
A CIA officer signed a memo rejecting claims he managed experimentation on off-world technology.
The AARO said in its report that, despite accusations to the contrary, that official was not involved in the “movement of extraterrestrial technology.”
Part of what was being alleged by whistleblowers was that government officials had been reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology. This is not the case, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said. A program called “Kona Blue” to reverse engineer UAPs had been proposed in the past, but this program never came to fruition. It was rejected by the Department of Homeland Security as officials said it lacked merit.
In addition, the AARO did not find evidence corroborating that private American companies have “off-world technology.” Executives, scientists and chief technology officers of these companies denied ever recovering, posessing or engaging in reverse engineering of extraterrestrial technology.
There were also questions surrounding a sample from what some alleged was an off-world spacecraft the AARO received from a private UAP investigating company and the U.S. Army. The AARO concluded in its report that this sample does not have components that are not already found on Earth, nor does it possess any “exceptional qualities.”
“The sample is primarily composed of magnesium, zinc, 9 and bismuth with some other trace elements, such as lead,” the report said. “This assessment was based on its materials characterization.”
Interviewees were also asked about their claims the White House requested a research institute in Virginia study the theoretical societal impacts of disclosing that UAP are extraterrestrial between 2004 and 2007. AARO said the White House had not requested this study.
‘Leaked’ Document Is Inauthentic
A 1961 Special National Intelligence Estimate alleged to have been “leaked” to online sources suggesting an “extraterrestrial nature” to UFOs was deemed inauthentic by the AARO.
According to the report, most sightings of UAPs people claim are alien-related are actually the “result of misidentification of ordinary objects.”
“Although many UAP reports remain unsolved, AARO assesses that if additional, quality data were available, most of these cases also could be identified and resolved as ordinary objects or phenomena,” the AARO said.
Claims Around Alleged ‘Off-World Craft‘
One interviewee said a former military officer talked, in detail, about how he physically touched an extraterrestrial spacecraft — but this claim was denied, on the record, by that very same former officer.
The AARO says the officer had been recounting a story of when he touched an F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter. An F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter is an aircraft made by Lockheed Martin that was officially retired in 2008.
The report suggests this was “misconstrued” by the person who heard it, “although the officer does not recall having this conversation” with the interviewee.
One person said he witnessed the testing of extraterrestrial technology at a government facility, but this was “almost certainly” an observation of an authentic, non-UAP-related technology test. AARO officials came to this conclusion because the interviewee’s claim and the actual test “strongly correlated” in time, location and description.
The AARO spoke to another person, who said they overheard a conversation about a technology test at a military base and alleged “aliens” were observing the process.
AARO said that person misunderstood the conversation in question.
