Newly declassified files from the British Ministry of Defense shed further light on why the British military shut down its UFO desk nearly three years ago: Despite a surge in reported sightings, the expensive operation just had no defense benefit.
The British National Archives has been releasing declassified ministry files on UFOs for the past five years. The 10th and final tranche released on Friday covers the work carried out during the final two years of the ministry’s UFO desk, from late 2007 to November 2009.
The 25 files detail reports of alien abductions, sightings, offers to develop weapons to shoot UFOs out of the sky and gives the reason for the UFO desk’s shutdown.
Among the documents was a memo to then-British defense secretary Bob Ainsworth in November 2009, saying that the UFO operation was “consuming increasing resource, but produces no valuable defense output.”
In more than 50 years, no UFO sighting report “has ever revealed anything to suggest an extraterrestrial presence or military threat to the UK,” the memo said.
The records show that 2009 saw 600 UFO sightings and reports — triple the number of the previous year and the largest ever number of UFO sighting reports since 1978, the year Close Encounters of the Third Kind was released in cinemas.
Whatever the reason behind the surge — some files suggest the popularity of releasing Chinese lanterns at weddings was behind it — the decision was taken to close the desk.
“The level of resources diverted to this task is increasing in response to a recent upsurge in reported sightings, diverting staff from more valuable defense-related activities,” the documents said, with one saying the desk “merely encourages the generation of correspondence.”
A great deal of that correspondence is contained in the latest release of the declassified files, with a wide variety of examples of sighting reports and the UFO desk’s always polite and often entertaining responses.
One child who wrote in, with a drawing of an alien waving from a UFO, to ask if there were living things outside of Earth got a nice letter and bag of Royal Air Force goodies from the ministry.
“It’s an interesting question and we remain totally open-minded about it, but we don’t know of any evidence to prove life exists in outer space,” the UFO desk replied in 2009.
The files also contained letters sent to officials ranging from former British prime minister Gordon Brown to Queen Elizabeth II voicing concerns that the government was ignoring the threat of unidentified flying objects and even offering technological guidance on how to shoot down UFOs.
The files show the desk also took hotline calls about alleged contact with aliens, one of which was from a man who claimed in 2008 that he had been “living with an alien for some time,” and another from someone saying a UFO had stolen his dog, car and tent while camping in 2007.
The desk sent the man a response, explaining that the ministry does not investigate each sighting unless there is evidence of a potential threat to the UK from an external source.
In response to one e-mail sent in 2009, an unidentified ministry staffer suggested that “everyone who has seen” attached photographs of a reported sighting thinks that two look like stunt kites, and “the third looks like a seagull head on.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number