Here is an article by a SETI scientist that appeared in the WSJ talking about whether the USG could actually cover up the UFO phenomenon. It is skeptical.
Could the Government Really Cover Up UFOs? – WSJ
From the interviews I have seen of SETI personnel talking about UFOs, it seems that they are miffed that people are fascinated by the possibility of aliens buzzing our skies while SETI has found absolutely nothing in terms of its mission over the last six decades (other than the WOW message back in the 1970s). As for the article’s arguments:
- While the aliens might be out there, it would be difficult for them to come here. Consider what would be required for them to pay a house call, even if the nearest extraterrestrials were a mere 10 light years away, a trivial distance by astronomical standards.
This assumes that aliens are traveling from point A (their home planet) to point B (Earth). This is nonsensical given the vast distances and speeds at which these vehicles would be flying. Most likely they are nomadic or self-replicating AI. They can never go home. Have just been roaming the galaxies for millennia. They just happen to be in our neighborhood these days. Who knows how long it took them to get here. Then there is the physics of wormholes, if they exist, that would allow travel vast distances in a fraction of the time.
- It’s hard to believe that these cosmic visitors would have made the long journey just for the chance to tease our military aviators.
If you just look at what is under the streetlamp, you will only find what is under the streetlamp. IOW, if the USG is focusing its UAP analysis on military encounters only, then it only gives you a subset of the phenomenon. If you throw in 70 years of sightings and expand the aperture beyond military sightings, it is vast, worldwide, and in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of data points, not 144 credible sightings since 2004. More akin to something observing us as opposed to happenstance encounters.
- Many of the sightings are accompanied by cellphone videos, but these are invariably ambiguous, usually showing only unsteady, small sources of light in the night sky. Frankly, for scientists, such sightings don’t carry much weight; eyewitness testimony is the weakest form of evidence.
Fair point. But when you consider the quality of cell phone photography at vast distances, the fact that someone seeing something may be too fascinated to pull out their camera, it is not surprising that most film footage of UFOs is grainy and indecipherable. Add in photoshop and computer spoofing technology and even if you have something compelling on film, you cannot trust it. That said, you do have many old daylight photos of these things in the days before photoshop that have compelling stories from credible witnesses that go along with them. You also have photos taken of things that have nothing to do with UFOs, yet there in the background is something in the sky. Maybe discovered decades later. Old Timey Photobomb. Does it prove anything, no. Just adds to the body of evidence that there is something up there we need to examine.
- There are approximately 8,000 active satellites in orbit around the Earth, many of them continuously imaging our planet. This nonstop reconnaissance has failed to find any alien craft.
Do we know this to be true? There are stories that US intelligence satellites have picked up things coming in and out of Earth’s atmosphere. They are not shared with the public. Is this just hooey? Maybe. But we cannot assume that nothing has ever been picked up. If radar is picking stuff up in the atmosphere, it is likely that satellites have locked onto one of these “craft” from time to time.
- But this, too, is hard to believe, given that more than 80 countries have launched Image from a video taken by a Navy pilot shows an ‘unexplained aerial phenomenon,’ April 28, 2020. Is there a secret worldwide agreement to hide the amazing news that aliens are close at hand? Unlikely. Someone would say something.
Worldwide agreement? Highly unlikely. Other countries also keeping high quality satellite photos secret, not so unlikely. Even though there are 8000 satellites up there, unless they are pointed at the right place at the right time with the right resolution, it is like finding a needle in a haystack. Hey, even the North Koreans know how to do things without being detected by our ISR capabilities. Look at the 2015 flushing of over 50 subs. There one minute, gone the next. If Kim can do it, I’m thinking that aliens with a billion year head start on us can figure it out, as well.
- Also consider the efforts of another large body of people who monitor the heavens. According to the International Astronomical Union, there are about one million amateur astronomers worldwide. If our skies host even a few alien craft, you’d expect frequent sightings by these amateurs, who are well practiced in recognizing things on high.
This is a warped assumption that astronomers seem to have. They believe because they look at space, they can see stuff whizzing around in our atmosphere. Their telescopes are not calibrated to observe these objects. That said, the chief astronomer tied to Project Blue Book, J. Allen Hynek, became a believer in the phenomenon after doing a hell of a lot more analysis of these things than the average astronomer. Then there is Avi Loeb up at Harvard who suggests that the phenomenon could be real. So to assume that astronomers (amateur and professional) are unified in the belief that this is all nonsense is just flat out wrong.
- It’s interesting to consider the possible consequences of an alien presence on Earth. If they were sufficiently altruistic, maybe they would help humanity out by telling us something useful.
Maybe they are. Just by giving us a glimpse of their technology, they may be seeding our consciousness about the world of possibilities, thus propelling us forward. On the other hand, if they are here to observe, then maybe they do not want to interfere out of fear that it could do us harm (or if they are from our future, do themselves harm).
- And despite the fervent hopes of many, I doubt that the impending Pentagon report will endorse that idea. The unclassified version of the 2021 report never mentioned the possibility that any of the incidents it investigated could be attributed to alien visitors. The new report will surely make the same conclusion.
I agree that the new report will say nothing earth shattering. It will say that we have no evidence of alien visitation. It will harp on the possibility of Chinese or Russia stealth drones. Yeah, we had those around in 1947.
Besides, if we had evidence that UFOs were alien, would the USG tell the people? I doubt it. We are still releasing documents related to the Kennedy assassination. Docs released yesterday showed that some of them were withheld (despite the 1992 legislation mandating all records be made public in 2017) because they showed that the FBI and CIA were tracking Oswald (with the help of the Mexican government), but did not alert the Secret Service. I don’t think that bit of coverup rises to the level of “oh, we discovered aliens and they are here.” So whenever the USG says:
So far, “we have not seen anything, and we’re still very early on, that would lead us to believe that any of the objects that we have seen are of alien origin.”
May be true. May not. Who knows? And do we think the Pentagon will ever speak up if it had evidence of aliens in our skies? That means we are helpless to defend our airspace. We are at the mercy of some extraterrestrial entity. Mission failure for 70 years. I don’t think so. We would cover it up and pray that these things are benign. Got to justify our defense budgets with terrestrial threats we can hype, but not too much.
So, do I believe these things are alien? I DON’T KNOW. Most likely not, but I have an open mind. More than I can say for many scientists.
Finally, next time Congress hauls officials up to Capitol Hill to give testimony about UAPs, I want some member of Congress to ask them two questions under oath.
“If you ever come across evidence that UAPs are extraterrestrial, knowing that there is very little if anything you could do to deter or defeat them, would you let the American public know? Do you think that the American public has the right to know?”