Some preliminary details on the upcoming report.
US intelligence officials have no evidence confirming Navy pilot UFO encounters were alien spacecraft
By Zachary Cohen and Katie Bo Williams.
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US intelligence officials have found no evidence confirming that unidentified flying objects encountered by US Navy pilots in recent years were alien spacecraft but also have not reached a definitive assessment as to what these mysterious objects might be, according to five sources familiar with the findings of an upcoming report on UFOs that is expected to be delivered to Congress later this month.
According to three of those sources, the report does not however rule out the possibility they are alien spacecraft.
While that uncertainty is likely a blow to the hopes of UFO enthusiasts who were hoping for definitive proof of extraterrestrial life, it does not minimize the significance of the report, especially given what sources describe as a years-long battle inside the Pentagon over whether even to acknowledge what are now hundreds of unexplained sightings by US military personnel
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The New York Times was first to publish details of the upcoming report. (May encounter paywall).
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US officials also cannot rule out the possibility that these flying objects were aircraft belonging to American adversaries, namely Russia and China -- a potentially more troublesome conclusion that raises a host of potential national security concerns, one of the sources said.
However, the forthcoming report is expected to conclude that the objects are not secret American technology, the source added.
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Historic UFO report
For the first time, the US government is preparing to issue an extraordinary unclassified report detailing what it knows about a series mysterious encounters with unidentified flying objects, or what are more commonly known as UFOs.
While the report isn't expected to confirm the existence of extraterrestrial life, the mere fact that the intelligence community is set to acknowledge these incidents at all represents a remarkable shift in the way US officials think about this phenomenon.
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