MYSTERY WIRE — Has the U.S. government been hiding pieces from crashed UFOs?  A new report from the New York Times suggests the answer might be yes. 

It’s a question being asked again by many thanks the most recent UFO related story published in the New York Times.

The Times acknowledged what Mystery Wire has reported before, that a secret Pentagon study looking into UFOs is still active.

But since it was published the journalists who wrote the story have drawn a rebuke from one of the quoted sources, former Nevada Senator Harry Reid.

Reid has spoken to Mystery Wire on and off the record about UFO issues more times than any other media organization. Each time, Reid was asked about the ongoing rumors of crashed vehicles, recovered materials, and other dark secrets.

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These are the same rumors that started with the Roswell incident in 1947 and resurfaced in 1989 with news reports about alleged alien technology stashed in the Nevada desert near Area 51.

“Well, you know, George, I’ll have to look at this,” Reid said during one interview. “I have heard about this exact story. I’ve heard about it as a kind of a preview of your program I visited with you once before. I’m anxious to get the facts.” Reid said this on the same day Bob Lazar’s tale was unveiled.

Reid visited area 51 several times over his time in Congress, but has never talked about what he did or did not see at the base.

Harry Reid’s important role in UFO studies

The new report from the Times has re-sparked public interest in UFOs around the globe. The Times confirmed what Mystery Wire reported dating back to 2017.  The paper published details of a secret study of UFOs, or as the government now calls them, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), continues inside the Office of Naval Intelligence.

The UAP task force is studying reports, videos, and sensor data from recent encounters between U.S. warplanes and advanced craft of unknown origin. Congress has received closed-door briefings and is now on record in favor of public releases about the UAP task force.

But the times story also focused on a more controversial angle, the so-called crash retrievals, which allegedly have generated pieces of exotic materials of unknown origin.

The Times quotes Reid as saying he, “came to the conclusion that there were reports – some were substantive, some not so substantive – of actual materials the government and the private sector had in their possession.”

The same article quoted astrophysicist Dr. Eric Davis, who was a consultant to the Advanced Aerospace Weapon Systems Applications Program (AAWSAP), the once-secret UFO study initiated by Reid, and based in Las Vegas.

Davis lived in Las Vegas and worked for billionaire Robert Bigelow who was awarded a Pentagon contract to study the UFO mystery. Davis told the Times he has briefed both the Pentagon and Congress about “retrievals of off world vehicles not made on this earth.”

Reid staffers reacted to the Times story by demanding a correction, which the Times provided, but the reporters say they still stand by the story and the quote from Reid.

Reid then fired off a pointed message on social media reiterating that he has no knowledge of, and never suggested, that the government has debris from flying saucers or other worlds.

So how did the disagreement arise?

Looking back at our previous interviews with Senator Reid, his primary interest in UFOs has always been national security, and whether Russia or China might be able to duplicate the technology displayed in known UFO incidents before the U.S. does.

Reid says neither he nor anyone else knows for sure where these mystery craft originate. In 2009, he attempted to create a special access program that might pursue UFO information, files, and evidence hidden in other secret programs. It would also to track down persistent rumors about crashed saucers and alien technology.

“One reason I did that is there’s always this rumor … some people say that there are some public corporations that have materials that we should look at.” Reid said during a 2019 interview. “Now, I wanted to make sure that that was valid or not valid.”

When asked if he thought anyone has pieces or a craft, he said, “But I don’t know, George. I don’t know why they want to put this to sleep. Unless there’s something to it.”

While the Times stands by its reporting, people close to Reid say the senator feels his comments were unfairly characterized. 

Since the tweet above to clarify his statements according to the Times, Senator Reid hasn’t publicly said or written anything, until now.

“For me, this has never been about proving other worlds exist. Thousands upon thousands of people have reported seeing unidentified aerial phenomena. ‘Unidentified’ doesn’t mean other-worldly. It means of an unknown origin. I want to find out what this is, where it’s from, what it means to our national security.”

Fmr. Sen. Harry Reid

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