Pentagon watchdog says "uncoordinated" approach to UAPs, or UFOs, could endanger national security

The Pentagon's lack of a coordinated approach to track and report unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs, poses potential risks to U.S. national security, according to an unclassified summary of a report prepared by the Defense Department's inspector general. 

The summary released Thursday said the department has "no overarching UAP policy" and thus cannot assure "that national security and flight safety threats to the United States from UAP have been identified and mitigated." The full classified report was first issued last August.

UAPs, formerly known as UFOs, have bewildered pilots and military officials for years, and lawmakers have been increasingly vocal about the government's failure to identify the mysterious objects. The term encompasses a broad range of encounters and data anomalies, many of which end up having innocuous origins. But a small subset have defied easy explanation, prompting national security concerns about the implications of strange objects flying through or near U.S. airspace.

The inspector general's report found the military's response to UAP incidents is "uncoordinated" and confined to each service branch, since the Pentagon has not issued a department-wide UAP response plan.

"Given the significant public interest in how the DoD is addressing UAPs, we are releasing this unclassified summary to be as transparent as possible with the American people about our oversight work on this important issue," the inspector general said in a press release Thursday. 

Congress has shown an increased interest in learning more about the detection and reporting of UAPs. A House subcommittee held a headline-grabbing public hearing last summer featuring a former intelligence officer and two pilots who testified about their experience with UAPs. The lawmakers have continued to demand answers, and recently held a classified briefing with the inspector general of the intelligence community.

The Defense Department's inspector general issued 11 recommendations to the Pentagon, with the first calling on officials to integrate UAP-related roles and responsibilities into existing procedures across the department. The others called on the heads of the various military branches to issue their own guidance as department-wide procedures are established.

The under secretary of defense for intelligence and security and the director of the UAP office, known as the All‑domain Anomaly Resolution Office, agreed with the first recommendation, and said a more comprehensive policy is on the way.

Eleanor Watson

Eleanor Watson is a CBS News reporter covering the Pentagon.

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