Pentagon watchdog investigating military handling of UFO sightings

The Pentagon’s watchdog is investigating the military’s policy around how it handles sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). 

The Department of Defense’s (DOD) Office of Inspector General said in a memo Monday that it will conduct evaluation into the “extent to which the DoD has taken actions regarding Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.”

It added “we may revise the objective as the evaluation proceeds, and we will consider suggestions from management for additional or revised objectives.”

The move comes as the Pentagon confirms several UFO sightings were real over the past year. Most recently, the Defense Department last month confirmed that a leaked video taken by Navy personnel of a triangle-shaped object flying through the sky was real.

Last year, the DOD released three videos of UFOs that were previously leaked in 2007 and 2017. One of the videos was recorded in 2004 and two others were filmed in January 2015.

The Pentagon established a task force under the Navy in August to “improve its understanding of, and gain insight into, the nature and origins of UAPs” it said at the time.

“The mission of the task force is to detect, analyze and catalog UAPs that could potentially pose a threat to U.S. national security,” the agency said.

The Pentagon is expected to send a report to Congress regarding UFOs on June 1. According to Military.com, the report is required under the fiscal 2021 Intelligence Authorization Act, which was passed as part of the omnibus COVID-19 relief bill in December.