In a recent report, the U.S. Defense Department Inspector General has criticized the Pentagon for its lack of a coordinated strategy to identify Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), more commonly known as UFOs.
The report, which was released this week, highlighted the department's inconsistent and inconclusive efforts to understand the origin, capabilities, and intent of these phenomena.
The report stated, "Over the past decades, the DoD has initiated infrequent and inconclusive efforts to identify and understand the origin, capabilities, and intent of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP)." It further noted, "We determined that the DoD has no overarching UAP policy and, as a result, it lacks assurance that national security and flight safety threats to the United States from UAP have been identified and mitigated."
The Inspector General's report found that the Pentagon's approach to UAPs is uncoordinated, with the responsibility for investigation and identification largely falling on individual military commands. The report revealed, "The DoD has not used a coordinated approach to detect, report, collect, analyze, and identify UAP" and has largely overlooked "the role of the geographic combatant commands."
The report also found that the Pentagon's response to UAP incidents is disjointed and concentrated within each Military Department. It stated, "The DoD has not issued a comprehensive UAP response plan that identifies roles, responsibilities, requirements, and coordination procedures for detecting, reporting, collecting, analyzing, and identifying UAP incidents. As a result, the DoD response to UAP incidents is uncoordinated and concentrated within each Military Department."
The report further noted that the Pentagon's efforts to understand UAPs have been inconsistent due to "competing priorities, lack of substantive progress, and inconclusive findings."
The Inspector General recommended that the Defense Department issue a policy to integrate UAP roles, responsibilities, requirements, and coordination procedures into existing intelligence, counterintelligence, and force protection policies and procedures. The policy should also include methods to address UAP incidents and align with policies and procedures for the protection of United States persons' civil liberties.
The review was conducted over a two-year period from May 2021 to June 2023. The report's findings underscore the need for a more coordinated and comprehensive approach to UAPs within the Defense Department.
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