The Pentagon Press Briefing Room seal (Credit: DoD/photo by Lisa Ferdinando)
The Debrief reached out to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Office and DoD Executive Services Office and formally requested an interview with someone authorized to speak on the UAP briefings with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In an email, Senior Strategist and Pentagon spokesperson Susan Gough responded, “To maintain operations security, which includes not disseminating information publicly that may be useful to our adversaries, DOD does not discuss publicly the details of either the observations or the examination of reported incursions into our training ranges or designated airspace, including those incursions initially designated as UAP – and that includes not discussing the UAPTF publicly, also.”
Official public affairs channels indicate the Pentagon is not interested in sharing any more information on the UAP topic. However, several current and former officials with the DoD and individuals working for multiple U.S. intelligence agencies told
The Debrief that there was much more going on behind closed doors.
UAP Intelligence Position Reports
Multiple sources confirmed for
The Debrief that the UAPTF had issued two classified intelligence position reports, which one individual described as “shocking.” Details provided on these reports suggest both a greater degree of Pentagon involvement, and that the UAPTF’s hunt for unidentified objects isn’t confined only to aerial phenomena.
Two officials with the DoD and one from the U.S. Intelligence community were willing to provide details on the contents of the classified report. An additional three other U.S. Intelligence Officials and a federal law enforcement officer confirmed the report’s existence but were only willing to provide comments on their distribution. Given the report’s classification and their discussion of a “sensitive intelligence matter,” the officials we spoke with did so only under strict conditions of anonymity. While
The Debrief has agreed not to provide information on sources, identities, and employers, though everyone we spoke with works within the U.S. Intelligence Community and under the authority of the U.S. Director of National Intelligence.
Aerial view of the headquarters of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in Chantilly, Virginia, by Trevor Paglen.
One of the intelligence reports, released in 2018, is said to have provided a general overview of the UAP topic and included details of previous military encounters. According to sources who had read it, the report also contained an unreleased photograph of an “aerial phenomena” categorized as “unidentified.”
The Debrief was told the accompanying photo was captured from within the cockpit of an F/A-18 fighter jet with a pilot’s personal cell phone. According to three U.S. officials who had seen it, the photo showed an unidentified silver “cube-shaped” object. The report is said to have indicated the object was “hovering” or completely motionless when military pilots encountered it. All three officials agreed that based on the photo, the object appeared to be at an altitude of roughly 30,000 to 35,000 feet and approximately 1,000 feet from the fighter jet.
Defense and intelligence officials willing to discuss the report and those who only wished to confirm its dissemination all expressed shock that it had been so widely distributed amongst the Intelligence community.
“In decades with the [Intelligence Community] I’ve never seen anything like this,” said one intelligence official.
One defense official described the report’s distribution as having gone through “normal, non-public, information sharing channels.” Other officials who’d seen and read the report either declined to elaborate or indicated the report was distributed on various secure systems. One defense official indicated it was distributed on the DoD’s Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet). Two other intelligence officials said they received the information via “NSANet” (the NSA’s official intranet). An additional source said the report was distributed via the CIA’s Intelink system.
According to those willing to discuss the document, the report’s most disconcerting aspect was one of the potential explanations for what UAP could represent. Sources say a “list” of possible prosaic explanations for these mysterious airborne encounters was provided. However, the report expressly stated that the potential for UAP to be “alien” or “non-human” technology was of legitimate consideration.
All sources interviewed by
The Debrief confirmed that the Task Force issued an updated second UAP position report later in the summer of this year. Like the first, officials say this recent intelligence report was very widely distributed and shared amongst the Intelligence Community.
“It went viral,” said one intelligence official who had read the report.
Artist’s recreation of the image as described in the UAPTF Intelligence Report issued in 2020 (Image by Dave Beaty of
The Nimitz Encounters, 2020).
Overwhelmingly, everyone
The Debrief spoke with said the most striking feature of the recently released UAPTF intelligence position report was the inclusion of new and “extremely clear” photograph of an unidentifiable triangular aircraft.
The photograph, which is said to have also been taken from inside the cockpit of a military fighter jet, depicted an apparent aerospace vehicle described as a large equilateral triangle with rounded or “blunted” edges and large, perfectly spherical white “lights” in each corner. Officials who had seen it said the image was captured in 2019 by an F/A-18 fighter pilot.
Two officials that received the report said the photo was taken after the triangular craft emerged from the ocean and began to ascend straight upwards at a 90-degree angle. It was indicated that this event occurred off the eastern coast of the United States. Several other sources confirmed the photo’s existence; however, they declined to provide any further specifics of the incident.
Regarding the overall theme of the recent report, officials who read it say the report primarily focused on “Unidentified Submersible Phenomena,” or unidentified “transmedium” vehicles capable of operating both under water and in the air.
The three officials we spoke with said the report suggested the UAP Task Force appears to be concerned that the objects being termed as UAP may be originating from within the world’s oceans. Strange as this may sound, the idea of “USOs” or “unidentified submersible objects” is not something exclusive to the current UAPTF.
In various public appearances, astronomer and chief video/image analyst for the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), Marc D’Antonio, has
shared an unusual experience involving the detection of an underwater “Fast Mover,” which occurred while he was sailing as a civilian aboard one of the U.S. Navy’s prized attack submarines.
Last year, defense journalist Tyler Rogoway
spoke with several veteran submariners to get their take on D’Antonio’s account. While at least one person expressed skepticism about D’Antonio being granted a civilian ride-along, the Navy vets being interviewed almost unanimously acknowledged that unexplained, very high-speed sonar targets are indeed recorded by some of the most sophisticated listening equipment on the planet.
Agreeing only to speak on background, a senior member of the Intelligence Community whose responsibilities for decades involved underwater surveillance and reconnaissance programs told
The Debrief there was validity to claims of extremely fast-moving underwater objects being detected by U.S. military systems.
“On occasion, there are detections made of non-cavitational, extremely fast-moving objects within the ocean.” The intelligence official declined to elaborate further, citing the high-levels of security classification associated with underwater reconnaissance.
Officials who had read the reports say the UAPTF appears particularly interested in “transmedium vehicles.” While this may seem unusual, many accounts exist–some going back centuries–in which people say they have observed unidentifiable craft operating in and out of the water.
The Debrief reached out to Steven Zaloga, co-author of the annual
World Military Unmanned Aerial Systems Market Profile & Forecast and senior defense analyst for the
Teal Group in Virginia, about the state of current or near-future development of “transmedium” vehicles or systems. Zaloga indicated he was unaware of any past or present technologies that are close to being capable of transitioning between air and submersible travel. “I have no idea what-so-ever on objects able to cross the air/water barrier,” Zaloga said in an email.
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Pedro A. Rodriguez