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A NASA group that was formed to study UFOs held its first public briefing with the participation of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials.
The group, which officially began their work on Oct. 24, is led by former chair of Princeton University’s astrophysics department David Spergel.
Also on the panel are retired Navy captain and astronaut Scott Kelly, Warren Randolph from the Federal Aviation Administration, former undersecretary for Science and Technology at Department of Homeland Security Reggie Brothers, David Grinspoon from the Planetary Science Institute, and 11 others.
“NASA has brought together some of the world’s leading scientists, data and artificial intelligence practitioners, aerospace safety experts, all with a specific charge, which is to tell us how to apply the full focus of science and data to UAP,” Daniel Evans, the assistant deputy associate administrator for research at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said after the group’s formation. “The findings will be released to the public in conjunction with NASA’s principles of transparency, openness, and scientific integrity.”
On Wednesday, a briefing to discuss their findings was held at NASA’s headquarters in Washington.
During the meeting, it was revealed that the U.S. Department of Defense’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) has now received over 800 UFO sighting reports.
Between 2 to 5 percent of these reports of UFOs were said to “display signatures that could be anomalous.”
Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, director of the AARO, described anomalous UFOs as “anything that is not readily understandable by the operator or the sensor.”
Perhaps the most revealing portion of the briefing was the discussion about the large number of unexplained metallic orbs that have been spotted at high altitudes around the world.
“This is a typical example of the thing that we see most of. We see these all over the world and we see these making very interesting apparent maneuvers,” said Kirkpatrick.
He also added that the east and west coasts of the United States, the Middle East, and over the Pacific were the locations for the most sightings. However, he also pointed out that could merely be a sampling bias due to the amount of U.S. military located in each area.
When asked if NASA would disclose evidence of alien life to the public if it were to be discovered, astrobiologist Dr, David Grinspoon replied that NASA would be “highly driven” to do so.
“If we discovered something, we would try to make sure we were right and then we’d loudly and proudly let the public know about it,” he said.
“The search for life is a really important thing. We haven’t found life beyond Earth yet,” he added. “But we are looking.”
Unfortunately, Evans then stated, “I want to emphasize this loud and proud: there is absolutely no convincing evidence for extra-terrestrial life associated with unidentified objects.”
On the other hand, Evans did also say, “I really want to assure the public that this agency is absolutely cast iron committed to openness and transparency and honesty. And that commitment also extends to our live NASA TV feeds. They provide real-time footage from our various missions.”
Multiple members of the group also expressed being harassed for their work.
Evans stated that several panel members “have been subjected to online abuse due to their decision to participate on this panel.”
“A NASA security team is actively addressing this issue,” Evans said. “We at NASA are acutely aware of the considerable public interest in UAP. However, it’s critical to understand any form of harassment towards our panelists only serves to detract from the scientific process, which requires an environment of respect and openness.”
“My team and I have also been subjected to lots of harassment,” Kirkpatrick added, “especially coming out of my last [Senate] hearing because people don’t understand the scientific method.”
Watch the entire briefing below…
A final report is expected to be published by the end of July with a meeting to discuss it to follow.