Surrounded From All Sides, The Pentagon Will Lose Its UFO Battle - And That Starts This Week In Congress
Written by Christopher Sharp - 29 November 2021
The Pentagon is on its last legs when it comes to the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) issue.
Not only has it undermined Congress, but it’s also now putting up a desperate resistance whilst surrounded by all sides.
The truth will come out, but the Pentagon's actions are only making its problems worse.
The Pentagon’s New UAP Office WILL Anger Politicians
Last week, the Department of Defense (DoD) decided to establish a new Office / Group to replace the U.S. Navy’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF).
The Office is named the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG) - not exactly something which flows off the tongue. Hint - that’s the point.
The DoD’s move came with the backing of two senior Administration members, Avril Haines (Director of National Intelligence) and Kathleen Hicks (Deputy Secretary of Defense).
It’s not a good look. The DoD may cry out that it was simply responding to June’s UAPTF Preliminary Assessment and Hick’s subsequent memorandum. But it did so with the full knowledge that the Senate’s Gillibrand-Rubio amendment (to the NDAA 2022) was a far superior version of AOIMSG.
What’s more, the Senate’s version includes public and Congressional transparency and the inclusion of a bridge to the scientific community.
The Senate’s proposed office is named the Anomaly, Surveillance, Tracking and Resolution Office (or Astro) - a much more digestible name, perfect for public discourse and transparency.
The Hicks and Haines-backed AOIMSG stands in stark contrast to the White House trust and transparency agenda. This comes at a time when the UAP topic is of national security significance and has sparked the public’s imagination.
AOIMSG is an embarrassing undemocratic damp-squib, which reeks of secrecy and the ineffectual status quo.
It is a major misstep from the DoD, Haines, and Hicks. In fact, it goes against the wishes of Congressional transparency from some of the most powerful politicians in the country representing both parties.
Vice-Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Marco Rubio (Republican), has previously remarked how he and some of his colleagues are very interested in the topic and want to know what is flying over the nation’s most sensitive military installations, be it terrestrial or something else.
Senator Gillibrand (Democrat), who judging from her previous comments, should be significantly opposed to the DoD’s new creation, has recently stated:
“Having no oversight or accountability up until now to me is unacceptable.”
That sentiment has been reflected in the Gillibrand-Rubio Amendment, which would see four key Senate committees and their House equivalents (including Appropriations) being briefed twice a year regarding UAP. Therefore, the DoD would be held accountable for its actions and any lack of cooperation within its associated agencies.
Alarming Aspects Of DoD’s UAP Office
AOIMSG would (from our understanding) have no Congressional oversight and would include no unclassified public reporting, unlike ASTRO.
That begs the question, why on Earth would the DoD not want to brief politicians and provide public transparency on this topic? What are they trying to hide?
It’s an alarming picture. If this does (as some speculate) reflect Russian or Chinese technology, then shouldn’t committees, including Foreign Relations, Armed Services, and Intelligence be privy to information, so that necessary decisions can be made?
There is ZERO chance that Senators and Representatives will react positively to the DoD’s AOIMSG. Does one wonder whether politicians were even given the heads-up by the DoD before announcing its new Office?
For the last few years, politicians have been briefed on UAP and will not be fooled by the latest DoD actions.
And it’s not just transparency - key components contained within ASTRO, but not included within AOIMSG, (from our understanding of the Hicks memo) are as follows:
No reference to UAP being transmedium - the new group would concentrate on airborne phenomena, ignoring any ocean and perhaps space activity
No requirement for the development and implementation of a plan for collection and analysis
No application to incidents that occur outside of Special Use Airspace
No reference to unclassified public briefings
No study into the physiological impact of UAP, which could indeed be impacting military personnel
No reference to scientific study or bridges built with the science community
No requirement to consult foreign nations
No requirement to examine technical issues, such as non-combustion propulsion
No accountability or explanation required for agencies that withhold UAP data
No mention of the threat posed to nuclear assets, which may represent an urgent national security risk
No requirement to provide unclassified findings to Congress.
Politicians responsible for national security should be very alarmed that the DoD doesn’t intend to cover these components.
Is The DoD Tone Deaf?
In perhaps a show of tone-deafness, Hicks and Haines would also downgrade UAP responsibility to the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (USDI). ASTRO would elevate it to the Secretary of Defense (Hicks’ boss), and the Director of National Intelligence, held by Haines herself.
This apparent downgrade has been established despite Senator Gillibrand calling the issue “urgent”. Relegating responsibility will certainly not look good to politicians.
Undermining Congress (especially on something both parties agree on) will never end well.
And when Appropriations Committees from both Houses are involved (yes, ASTRO would mean they are briefed), it could hurt purse strings and set the tone for a confrontational relationship between the DoD and Congress.
It looks like the DoD’s decision may very well backfire, although we will learn if that is correct in the coming weeks, as we get closer to a final NDAA. From the current signs, AOIMSG seems the antithesis to the will of Congress.
Public Hearings
If the move from the DoD does backfire, key political committees may very well decide to press the trigger on public hearings, bringing Pentagon officials to account sooner rather than later.
Representative André Carson (who chairs the subcommittee on counterintelligence and counterproliferation on the House Intelligence Committee) has already stated his intention to hold such hearings.
In fact, planning may already be underway at this moment, perhaps even involving Carson and his committee.
Under this possible scenario, the public would become the jury as elected members ask questions of DoD and Intelligence Community officials.
To also hear possible testimony regarding UAP incidents (even perhaps involving nuclear assets) would be a mark of shame for some within the DoD, and there would be no saving grace, especially when they continue to resist transparency.
IG Investigation
In May 2021, the DoD’s Inspector General (IG) released a memo, announcing it would undertake an “evaluation of the DoD’s Actions Regarding the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena”.
Commenting on the memo to POLITICO, Christopher Mellon, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence, stated:
"You are looking at how is it possible that restricted military airspace is being routinely violated for months and years and nobody is informed in the Defense Department or the Congress and there is a complete system breakdown.
“That's a valid thing for them to investigate."
The DoD must be very careful with its actions, and last week’s announcement of AOIMSG may not be seen positively by those undertaking the IG evaluation.
The recent move suggests the continued status quo of Congress and the public being left in the dark about incursions. Its actions in the following weeks will be tightly scrutinized.
In fact, the evaluation was only established after “complaints from congressional leadership regarding the DoD’s handling of the UAP topic”, according to Tim McMillan of The Debrief in an article published on 4 May 2021.
Again, this is another sign of frustration from politicians in Washington D.C, which will likely see the DoD’s latest move backfire.
International Pressure
We are currently awaiting for San Marino to potentially present the U.N. Secretary-General with a proposal to create a permanent structure within the United Nations tasked with organizing a periodic World Conference on UAP.
Moves for a potential UN conversation started in 2018, with the governments of China and Russia likely involved. Since then, both countries have gone quiet, which led to the creation of the ‘International Coalition for Extra-terrestrial Research’ (ICER), which has requested San Marino to engage with the UN.
If the DoD does succeed in blocking Congressional efforts, it may be likely that another nation may take leadership on this issue.
This year, China revealed its efforts to investigate UAP using AI. This comes at a time sightings across the Communist nation are on the rise.
It is not beyond imagination that China could kickstart its 2018 effort once again and take a leadership role, leaving the U.S. in the lurch.
Scientific Engagement
Science has now started to become involved in the UAP topic. Harvard’s Galileo Project will soon start investigating UAP, led by a team of world-class scientists.
Furthermore, NASA’s administrator, Bill Nelson, has confirmed his interest in the topic and stated that the agency will now investigate the phenomena.
This suggests that the scientific stigma surrounding the topic is steadily eroding.
We have already started seeing scientific interest from academics in other nations as well. For instance, the Indian Astrobiology Research Foundation announced (in July 2021) its own research effort into the topic.
If a major discovery is made, then the DoD and other militaries would be left in an embarrassing position, having to explain why they had hidden such information or were unable to seek such scientific assistance from the outset.
The Game Is Up
Something is starting to stink, as Lue Elizondo, former Director of the Pentagon’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), might say.
Technology is increasing and private organizations are now sending people into space.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to hide UAP incidents.
And with the web closing around from all sides, the DoD is fighting a losing battle.
Now is the time for rational voices. Those voices (who still hold most power) must come to terms with the new situation and start planning for a post-disclosure world.
Should the DoD continue its current course, it will have major repercussions. Politicians, such as Tim Burchett, have already lost trust in the DoD. Speaking to Liberation Times about the DoD’s new UAP Office, Representative Burchett stated: “I don't trust this new bureaucracy at the Pentagon”.
Furthermore, public trust in government is also low and conspiracy theories are rampant. Fighting the truth will only bring more problems for the DoD.
And in a time of economic and health crises, this is another one we can ill afford to have.
With the Senate set to consider the NDAA 2022 this week, we ponder what time the disclosure clock will show in December. In our view, midnight is closer than ever.
Liberation Times Opinion