The former head of the official team investigating UFOs asked the public to remain open.

Luis Elizondo, former director of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program initiated by the US Defense Intelligence Agency, said: “This is a conversation that may lead us on a path that may prove … it is not of human origin.”

Report by The New York Times before the release of the document It shows that “most of the more than 120 incidents that have occurred in the past two decades did not originate from any U.S. military or other advanced U.S. government technology.”

In other words, the pilot did not accidentally discover the secret technology of the US government.

The newspaper also reported that although there is no evidence that these objects are products of extraterrestrial technology, it does not rule out this possibility.

This leaves two main theories to explain these mysterious moments: something otherworldly, or perhaps a new technology developed by an opponent (perhaps China or Russia).

Watch |’Watch it fly! The navy pilot who found the UFO said:

The authenticity of the leaked video has been confirmed

In recent years, the US Department of Defense has confirmed the authenticity of leaked videos, which show fast-moving objects that sometimes catch pilots off guard.

“In my opinion, what you see in the public media now are some of the least compelling videos,” Elizondo said in an interview with CBC News.

He said that because of the signing of a confidentiality agreement, he was unable to elaborate further.

“I hope that at some point, we can become transparent enough that we can share this information with the public without affecting the source and methods,” Elizondo said. For security reasons, he does not want to disclose his own information. position.

This is a mystery that puzzles and fascinates some of the most powerful people in the world.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said on ABC’s morning talk show earlier this month: “There is something flying there, and we are not completely sure yet.” Live with Ryan and Kelly.

Former President Barack Obama said he did not have all the answers.

“There are shots and records of objects in the sky, we don’t know what they are,” Obama said in an interview in May James Corden’s Late Night Show On CBS.

Elizondo said that he took no position on what these objects might be-although he said that if these sightings turned out to be the work of a foreign adversary that surpassed U.S. aerospace capabilities, it would be a serious intelligence failure.

“We are talking about a national security issue. There are things in our airspace that we don’t know, the airspace we control, it can surpass anything we have,” he said.

Hadfield rejects the alien theory

Few people in the world know flight and outer space better than Colonel Chris Hadfield.

Before becoming Canada’s most famous astronaut, he was a fighter pilot and test pilot.

In an interview with CBC News, he completely ruled out that these objects are some form of alien technology.

“It didn’t even pass the basic common sense test,” Hadfield said.

“I mean, it’s totally meaningless, you know, intelligent life — comes from somewhere, we don’t know, it obviously doesn’t come from our solar system, because so far we have carefully observed every planet-it can Traveling through interstellar space, they will not try to communicate with anyone. They will only be sneaky and will only be captured by some fighter pilots in strange-looking videos. It has not passed any basic logical sniffing tests,” Hadfield said.

He said that given its prominence in popular culture, he understands why the public might be fascinated by the story.

But pilots can always see things they can’t explain, because “trying to understand everything that catches your eye is just a very complicated environment,” Hadfield said.

“I can’t count… the number of times I turned my head to see something in the cockpit, it was just a reflection-just a glimmer of light on the roof somewhere or somewhere in the cockpit on the ground just aligned with the sun. It emits a huge light.”

Watch | Col. Chris Hadfield does not believe in alien technology theory:

Colonel Chris Hadfield, a retired Canadian astronaut, has been following the conversation about UFOs, but said that the idea that they are alien technology “failed even a basic common sense test.” 1:03

Canadian UFO sighting report

This is by no means just an American phenomenon. Paul Kingsbury, Professor and Associate Dean of Paranormal Activities at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, said that in Canada, there are approximately 1,000 UFO sightings each year—a combination of pilot and public reports. result.

The Canadian authorities handled these sightings differently from the American authorities. When pilots see something they cannot explain, they usually notify Nav Canada, which owns and operates Canadian civil air navigation services.

The pilot must then fill out a report containing basic information, including a brief description of the event, date and time, and any other relevant information.

“Based on these details, Nav Canada may send reports to the U.S. Department of Defense, North American Aerospace Defense Command, Transport Canada, and/or Federal Aviation Administration,” said Brian Boudreau, NAV Canada’s media relations manager. .

Some of these reports can be found online in publicly searchable databases, including A report from a Delta Air Line pilot last month He found something mysterious while flying over Saskatchewan.

Canadian libraries and archives also have Publicly searchable database These include reports dating back to the 1950s.

A government spokesperson said that reports specifically shared with the Department of Defense are usually not subject to further investigation.

Senior Correspondent Jessica Lamirande (Jessica Lamirande) said: “The Canadian Armed Forces and the Royal Canadian Air Force generally do not investigate unknown or uncovered in the context of search and rescue while investigating credible threats, potential threats, or potential deaths. Unexplainable phenomenon.” Adviser to the Ministry of Defense.

In an email to CBC News, she added: “Although we work closely with the United States in aerospace control, we are currently not aware of any connections or involvement in UFO research conducted by the U.S. Department of Defense. No [Canadian Armed Forces] There is a unit that specializes in investigating UFOs. “

Kingsbury of Simon Fraser University said the United States has more resources to investigate these incidents.

“It’s backed by millions of dollars, which is supported by The 2017 New York Times Story In December last year, there was indeed a project to study these anonymous anomalous aircraft,” he said in an interview with CBC News.

Kingsbury said that the upcoming report in the United States may help advance scientific research on this phenomenon.

“It can be said that governments around the world, including Canada, would better urge the United States to publish data so that it can be scientifically studied.

The public wants “transparency”

Although there is no consensus on what these objects might be, the public is increasingly motivated to understand them.

Peter Ragone is the co-founder of a new bipartisan political action committee called UFO PAC in the United States, which is dedicated to fundraising and supporting politicians pursuing this issue.

“It’s best to have as much information as possible and be completely transparent,” he told CBC News.

Lagon said he thinks this is one of the very few themes that Democrats and Republicans can find in common.

“The United States is ready for a mass movement, a popular movement for transparency around this issue,” he said.

“We believe that this kind of secret is dead. You can’t keep these things in one room, only a few people see them. So let us publish them all.”

Neither side of this debate can be satisfied with the content of this week’s report.

However, as the public’s interest becomes stronger and stronger, the authorities are under increasing pressure to be more transparent about what they have determined — to be honest about what they don’t know.