A shadowy office deep in the Pentagon that investigates unexplained encounters by military aircraft with flying objects continues to operate even though its mandate was officially ended five years ago, according to The New York Times. The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification program was a pet project of retired Nevada Sen. Harry Reid and spent $22 million a year looking into sightings of things by American aircrews that don’t behave like other aircraft. The office released a video taken from a Navy F/A-18 head up display of an oval object about 100 miles off the coast of California in 2004. The object appears to accelerate at a high rate as the fighter and his wingman move closer.
The office’s mandate isn’t specifically to chase down extraterrestrials and an AVweb reader suggests its real purpose is to be on the lookout for unknown aircraft and drones from foreign powers. Regardless of its true purpose, the office’s funding was ended by the Department of Defense but it seemed to keep going with staffers who fit in the investigations while doing their other work at the Pentagon. Luis Elizondo, a military intelligence official who ran the program from its inception, quit in October, complaining about a lack of resources and excessive secrecy. He told the Times he was replaced but declined to name his successor.
