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(FILES) This file video grab image obtained April 28, 2020 courtesy of the US Department of Defense shows part of an unclassified video taken by Navy pilots that have circulated for years showing interactions with “unidentified aerial phenomena”. - Are aliens watching us? That’s what Americans hope to find out when a report on the US government’s secret files on UFOs goes to Congress next month after years of sightings and videos suggesting that highly advanced extraterrestrials are, indeed, out there. But the report from the Director of National Intelligence, pulled together with classified military files, could fall short of explaining scores of purported unidentified flying object incidents over decades. (Photo by Handout / DoD / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT “AFP PHOTO /US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE/HANDOUT " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS / To go with AFP story by Sylvie LANTEAUME: “Looming US intelligence report to address UFOs” (Photo by HANDOUT/DoD/AFP via Getty Images)

The Pentagon has announced a new effort to investigate reports of UFOs, also referred to as unidentified aerial phenomena or UAPs.

On Tuesday, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicksannounced an orderto create the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group to “detect, identify and attribute objects of interests in Special Use Airspace” and “assess and mitigate any associated threats to safety of flight and national security.”

At the same time, the report was inconclusive about what the objects are, which fueled speculation that some of what pilots and others observed could be visiting from other worlds.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks.Sarah Silbiger/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty

Kathleen Hicks, deputy secretary of defense, listens during a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, June 30, 2021. Bidensaid he would increase pay for federal firefighters and deploy government satellites to detect blazes as he met today with governors from Western states facing another summer of unquenchable wildfires, drought and massive power failures. Photographer: Sarah Silbiger/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images

“The limited amount of high-quality reporting on unidentified aerial phenomena hampers our ability to draw firm conclusions about the nature or intent of UAP,” the report stated.

An executive committee of defense and intelligence officials will oversee the new group that will focus on special-use airspace, which includes military operations areas, firing ranges and places restricted for national security and other uses,according toThe New York Times.

The Pentagon.STAFF/AFP via Getty

This picture taken 26 December 2011 shows the Pentagon building in Washington, DC. The Pentagon, which is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense (DOD), is the world’s largest office building by floor area, with about 6,500,000 sq ft (600,000 m2), of which 3,700,000 sq ft (340,000 m2) are used as offices. Approximately 23,000 military and civilian employees and about 3,000 non-defense support personnel work in the Pentagon. AFP PHOTO (Photo by STAFF / AFP) (Photo by STAFF/AFP via Getty Images)

As for that last category, “we may require additional scientific knowledge to successfully collect on, analyze and characterize some of them,” the report said.

Hicksindicated in Junethat the Department of Defense would make a plan to follow up on the Navy’s UAP task force and address the challenges it outlined in the report.

“It is critical that the United States maintain operations security and safety at DoD ranges,” she said. “To this end, it is equally critical that all U.S. military aircrews or government personnel report whenever aircraft or other devices interfere with military training. This includes the observation and reporting of UAP.”

source: people.com