US Congress held its first hearing in half a century Tuesday last week on unidentified flying objects. And no, there is still no government confirmation of extraterrestrial life. Congress last held a hearing on reports of UFOs — unidentified flying objects synonymous with space aliens — in the 1960s, and even in the realm of fiction, Scully and Mulder of The X-Files seem to have retired.
Testifying before a House Intelligence subcommittee, Pentagon officials did not disclose additional information from their ongoing investigation of hundreds of unexplained sightings in the sky. But they said they had picked a director for a new task force to coordinate data collection efforts on what the government has officially labeled “unidentified aerial phenomena” (UAP). Ronald Moultrie, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, said the Pentagon was also trying to destigmatize the issue and encourage pilots and other military personnel to report anything unusual they see. “We want to know what’s out there as much as you want to know what’s out there,” Moultrie told lawmakers, adding that he was a fan of science fiction himself.
Lawmakers from both parties say UFOs are a national security concern. Sightings of what appear to be aircraft flying without discernible means of propulsion have been reported near military bases and coastlines, raising the prospect that witnesses have spotted undiscovered or secret Chinese or Russian technology.
Photo: Reuters 照片：路透
But the sightings are usually fleeting. Some appear for no more than an instant on camera — and then sometimes end up distorted by the camera lens. The US government is believed to hold additional technical information on the sightings that it has not disclosed publicly. An interim report released by intelligence officials last year counted 144 sightings of aircraft or other devices apparently flying at mysterious speeds or trajectories. In all but one of the sightings investigated, there was too little information for investigators to even broadly characterize the nature of the incident.
“Finding UAP is harder than you may think,” said Scott Bray, deputy director of naval intelligence, using the acronym for “unidentified aerial phenomena.” Rep. Andre Carson, an Indiana Democrat who chaired the hearing, called on investigators to show they “are willing to follow the facts where they lead.” Rick Crawford, an Arkansas Republican, noted that the investigations were not “about finding alien spacecraft but about delivering dominant intelligence.”
(AP and Bloomberg)
Photo: EPA-EFE 照片：歐新社
上週二，美國國會針對不明飛行物舉行了聽證會，這是半世紀以來首次。沒有，政府仍未證實外星生命的存在。國會上次就UFO（「不明飛行物」，外星人的代名詞，或音譯為「幽浮」）的報導舉行聽證會是在一九六○年代；甚至在虛構的領域，「X檔案」的史卡利與穆德似乎也已退隱。
對於在空中所目擊到數百起無法解釋之事件，五角大廈官員在眾議院情報小組委員會作證時，並未對他們持續進行的調查多加透露。但他們表示，已為一個新的工作小組指派了主管，負責協調政府正式名為「不明空中現象」（unidentified aerial phenomena, UAP）的資料收集工作。負責情報的國防部副部長羅納‧莫特里表示，五角大樓還嘗試將此問題去汙名化，並鼓勵飛行員及其他軍事人員呈報所看到的任何異狀。「我們想知道外面有什麼，就像你們想知道外面有什麼一樣」，莫特里告訴國會議員，並補充說他自己也是科幻小說的粉絲。
兩黨的議員都表示，不明飛行物是攸關國家安全的問題。在軍事基地與海岸線附近所目擊到、看來像是沒有明顯推進裝置的飛行器，讓其為中國或俄羅斯秘密技術之可能性大為增加。
Photo: AFP 照片：法新社
但目擊事件通常是稍縱即逝的。有些在相機上出現的時間不過是一瞬間——然後有時會被鏡頭扭曲。據信，對於這些目擊事件，美國政府握有未公開披露的更多技術資料。情報官員去年發布的一份期中報告統計，飛行器或其他裝置明顯以神秘的速度或軌跡飛行，被目擊到一百四十四次。在所有調查的目擊事件中，調查人員所提供的資訊太少，連將該事件的性質大致歸類都無法辦到。
「尋找 UAP 比你想像的要難」，海軍情報局副局長史考特‧布雷表示，他用「UAP」這首字母縮寫來代表「不明空中現象」。主持聽證會的印第安納州民主黨眾議員安德烈‧卡森呼籲調查人員表明他們「願意遵循其所導向的事實」。阿肯色州共和黨眾議員里克‧克勞福指出，調查並不是「為了尋找外星飛船，而是為了提供重要的情報」。
（台北時報林俐凱編譯）
Photo: Reuters 照片：路透
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