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An image provided by Nasa on July 11, 2022, shows galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. A recent report about a US government whistle-blower claiming to have knowledge about unidentified flying objects has sparked renewed interest in the phenomenon. Photo: NASA/AP
Opinion
Gareth Nicholson
Gareth Nicholson

As a US whistle-blower raises the UFO question, perhaps it’s time the world looked for answers

  • A whistle-blower says he gave US authorities extensive classified information about deeply covert programmes that possess retrieved craft of non-human origin
  • It is easy to dismiss these claims as fantasy or fabrication, but maybe it’s time the world took the issue seriously
Gareth Nicholson
Gareth Nicholson
Why you can trust SCMP
Earlier this month, The Debrief, which describes itself as a platform dedicated to credible reporting on science, tech and defence news published an article about a whistle-blower who says he gave the US Congress and the Intelligence Community Inspector General extensive classified information about deeply covert programmes that he says possess retrieved craft of non-human origin.

The whistle-blower is David Charles Grusch, a former combat officer in Afghanistan and veteran of the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office. He has also filed a complaint alleging he suffered illegal retaliation for his confidential disclosures.

The article was written by Leslie Kean and Ralph Blumenthal, who, along with Helene Cooper, co-authored a report published in The New York Times in December 2017 that detailed the existence of a Pentagon programme investigating unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP).

Separately, Australian journalist Ross Coulthart interviewed Grusch for US television network NewsNation. Grusch asserted that the United States is in possession of multiple vehicles made by a “non-human intelligence”, and that this information is being illegally withheld from the US Congress. He has not seen these craft himself but claims he has talked with high-level people who have.

He says that these craft have either landed or crashed on Earth, and that the US government and defence contractors have made efforts to reverse-engineer the technologies involved. He also alluded to “dead pilots”, and said that some of the craft are as large as a football field and that the secrecy goes back 90 years.

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South Koreans spooked as secret rocket launch mistaken for UFO

South Koreans spooked as secret rocket launch mistaken for UFO

Cue laughter, disbelief and derision. How is it possible for a secret like this to be kept for so long, and is this guy a genuine source?

Grusch’s credentials appear to be genuine, and until recently he was represented by a lawyer who served as the original Intelligence Community Inspector General. James Comer, the Republican chair of the House of Representatives oversight committee, said the committee will hold a hearing into Grusch’s claims.

Grusch has come forward under new provisions contained in the latest US Department of Defence Appropriations Act, which features an extensive anti-reprisal clause designed to protect those who might face repercussions for disclosing classified information. A new reporting mechanism has also been set up under the recently established All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, which enables whistle-blowers – including government employees and defence contractors – to report activities related to UAP within so-called special access programmes.

In recent years, China critic and Republican Senator Marco Rubio and others have urged US lawmakers to pay attention to the UAP issue. “I want us to take it seriously and have a process to take it seriously,” Rubio told CBS’s 60 Minutes, framing the matter as a national security issue.

James Corden, the former host of CBS’s Late Late Show, jokingly asked former US president Barack Obama in 2021 for his opinion on UFOs. Obama replied: “What is true, and I’m actually being serious here, is that there is footage and records of objects in the skies that we don’t know exactly what they are.”

The potential discovery of alien intelligence would have huge existential implications for human beings, surpassing the current challenge of artificial intelligence. Optimists see the potential for life-saving and species-advancing technologies, whereas pessimists argue it could herald the end of humanity, much like the colonisation of the Americas was a disaster for indigenous tribes.

Sceptics might say this is either complete fantasy or part of a sophisticated psychological operation, coming at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions. Seen in this light, the current UAP flap could be an attempt by the US military to engage in a disinformation campaign to disguise real aerospace breakthroughs or an attempt to flush out advanced technologies held by rivals such as Russia and China.

Some of the experts popping up on television programmes to discuss the topic in recent years have established ties to the US intelligence community. But rather than assign sinister motives, perhaps they simply realise that what is allegedly known by government insiders about the topic will never see the light of day unless the issue is framed as a national security risk.

The unidentified flying object topic is a tangled web, subject to a series of hoaxes over the years. It is easy to dismiss it out of hand, but a former US intelligence officer has just put the cat among the pigeons and perhaps it’s time the world took the issue seriously – whatever it means.

Gareth Nicholson is an editor for the Post.

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