MYSTERY WIRE — Now that more media and lawmakers at the highest levels of the United States government are talking openly about unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), better known as UFOs, the Pentagon is clarifying what the mission will be for a new UAP task force.

According to a statement put out by Pentagon spokesperson Sue Gough, the UAP task force will be run under the Department of Defense (DoD). The task force will “protect our people and maintain operations security” as it examines “incursions that are initially reported as “unidentified aerial phenomena” (UAP) when the observer cannot immediately identify what he or she is observing.”

The statement was first published by Popular Mechanics and has since been independently confirmed by Mystery Wire with the Pentagon.

Gough goes on to write the task force will “gain knowledge and insight into the nature and origins of UAPs, as well as their operations, capabilities, performance, and/or signatures. The mission of the task force will be to detect, analyze, catalog, consolidate, and exploit non-traditional aerospace vehicles/UAPs posing an operational threat to U.S. national security and avoid strategic surprise.”

You can read Gough’s complete statement below.

“As we have said previously, the Department of Defense and all of the military departments take any incursions by unauthorized aircraft into our training ranges or designated airspace very seriously, and examine each report. This includes examinations of incursions that are initially reported as “unidentified aerial phenomena” (UAP) when the observer cannot immediately identify what he or she is observing. Thorough examinations of any incursions into our training ranges or designated airspace often involves assessments from across the department, and, as appropriate, consultation with other U.S. government departments and agencies. The safety of our personnel and the security of our operations is of paramount concern. To protect our people and maintain operations security, which includes not providing information 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. Regarding the task force mentioned in the article, I can say that the department is creating a task force to gain knowledge and insight into the nature and origins of UAPs, as well as their operations, capabilities, performance, and/or signatures. The mission of the task force will be to detect, analyze, catalog, consolidate, and exploit non-traditional aerospace vehicles/UAPs posing an operational threat to U.S. national security and avoid strategic surprise.”

Sue Gough, Pentagon Spokesperson

In mid-July, the New York Times released a new article about the government’s involvement in UFO investigations. In the days leading up to the Times story, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), who is also the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said during an interview, “there are things flying over your military bases, and you don’t know what they are, because they’re not yours. And they exhibit potentially technologies that you don’t have at your own disposal. That to me is a national security risk and one that we should be looking into.”

The Senate Intelligence Committee is requested funding for the DoD to run the UAP task force out of the Office of Naval Intelligence. This was revealed in late June, 2020 when Sen. Rubio put the language of the request into the 2021 Intelligence Authorization Act.

Lawmakers ask for unclassified UFO report in new intelligence bill

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