Tracking UFOs in the Movie 'X-File' Becomes Reality [Reading Science]

US Department of Defense Establishes Dedicated Organization

Photo by CIA of a suspected UFO

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] In the movie 'The X-Files,' protagonists Mulder and Scully investigate secrets such as the existence of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and aliens. This story from the film is finally becoming a reality. The U.S. Department of Defense has established an organization to uncover the identity of UFOs and has begun full-scale tracking.

On the 20th (local time), the U.S. Department of Defense announced in a statement that it had established the AARO (All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office) under the Deputy Secretary for Intelligence and Security to track UFOs. The head of the office is Sean Kirkpatrick, former chief scientist at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Missile and Space Intelligence Center.

AARO plans to cooperate with the Department of Defense and federal government agencies to detect and identify unidentified anomalous aerial phenomena that have been occasionally observed on land, sea, and air.

NASA also formed a committee in June to investigate UFOs and is preparing a program to identify their nature and eliminate various biases and prejudices.

Earlier, in May, the U.S. Department of Defense concluded the 'Project Blue Book,' which investigated the national security impact of UFOs by the U.S. Air Force in the 1970s, and held a hearing for the first time in 50 years, releasing new UFO observation data and declaring that it would mobilize all efforts to track their identity.

Until now, the U.S. government had not officially acknowledged the existence of UFOs or aliens despite continuous eyewitness reports. However, the situation changed when The New York Times (NYT) revealed in December 2017 that the Department of Defense secretly operated a UFO analysis unit and that Navy pilots had recorded three clear UFO videos since 2004. Since 2019, the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee has repeatedly amended the National Defense Authorization Act to mandate government investigation and reporting on UFOs. In 2021, the Department of Defense officially acknowledged in a report that 'UFOs are objects' and stated that unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), including UFOs, could pose a threat to national security, prompting investigations and countermeasures.