The very mention of “UFO” typically conjures skepticism in many mainstream circles.
One of Christopher Buckley’s more astute satirical works, “Little Green Men,” is predicated on the humorous notion of a pundit, akin to George F. Will, believing he has been subject to alien abduction. Historically, unidentified flying objects have been conflated with fringe concepts like Bigfoot or elaborate theories surrounding crop circles.
The primary contributor to this perception is the common assumption that “UFO” is a direct synonym for “extraterrestrial life.” However, upon closer examination, this inference is rather peculiar. The acronym UFO precisely signifies “unidentified flying object.”
Therefore, a UFO does not inherently represent an entity from another celestial body. It is, by definition, an aerial phenomenon that eludes conventional explanation. Due to their frequent association with jest and ridicule, UFOs have been largely disregarded for decades.
A particularly audacious academic presentation I had the privilege of witnessing involved Alexander Wendt and Raymond Duvall presenting a preliminary draft of their paper, “Sovereignty and the UFO.”
This paper, which was subsequently published in the esteemed journal *Political Theory*, posited that the concept of state sovereignty, as it is currently comprehended, is inherently anthropocentric – meaning it is “constituted and organized by reference to human beings alone.”
They contended that the principal reason for the widespread dismissal of UFOs stems from the profound existential challenge they pose to a worldview that places humanity at the apex of technological advancement:
Scientific and governmental investigations into UFOs have been notably absent, predicated on the foregone conclusion that none are of extraterrestrial origin. Paradoxically, this certainty is unfounded, rendering the UFO taboo perplexing, especially given the possibility of ET presence…. This conundrum is elucidated by the functional imperatives of anthropocentric sovereignty; it cannot accommodate a UFO exception without jeopardizing its foundational principles. The “knowledge” of the UFO is achieved solely through the deliberate avoidance of inquiry into its true nature.
The audience reacted with considerable amusement upon hearing Wendt and Duvall articulate this thesis. My own reaction included a chuckle. Nevertheless, their scholarly contribution presents a compelling argument that UFOs demonstrably exist, irrespective of whether they originate from extraterrestrial sources.
Their central assertion is that no official authoritative body treats the prospect of UFOs being extraterrestrial with any degree of seriousness. As they aptly observe, “considerable effort is invested in the dismissal of UFOs, thereby categorizing them exclusively as objects of derision and contempt.”
However, in recent times, a nuanced evolution has begun to manifest, presenting intriguing implications for their proposition.
For instance, discussions concerning actual UFO sightings have garnered significant attention in mainstream media outlets.
A notable example is the December 2017 publication in *The New York Times* by Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal, and Leslie Kean, detailing the Pentagon’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, which was established to document UFO encounters reported by military aviators. The existence of this program was subsequently confirmed by Department of Defense officials.
While this report engendered a degree of warranted skepticism, it marked the first instance of official US governmental acknowledgment of such an initiative.
Subsequently, reports emerged last November concerning ‘Oumuamua, described as a “mysterious, cigar-shaped interstellar object [that] traversed our solar system at an exceptional velocity,” according to comments made by *New York*’s Eric Levitz (in an article).
‘Oumuamua’s distinctive morphology and trajectory were sufficiently anomalous to prompt several reputable astrophysicists to publish research suggesting the plausible hypothesis that it might have been an artificial construct propelled by a solar sail.
Again, this generated reactions of doubt, but even dissenting voices could not entirely preclude the possibility of extraterrestrial involvement.
Then, on Monday, *The New York Times* published another report authored by the same journalists responsible for the 2017 exposé. This piece detailed:
From the summer of 2014 through March 2015, peculiar airborne objects, one resembling a spinning top moving counter to the wind, were observed with noticeable frequency high above the East Coast. Naval aviators reported to their superiors that these craft exhibited no discernible propulsion systems or infrared exhaust signatures, yet possessed the capability to ascend to 30,000 feet and achieve hypersonic velocities.
“These craft were consistently present throughout the day,” stated Lieutenant Ryan Graves, an F/A-18 Super Hornet pilot with a decade of naval service, who relayed his observations to both the Pentagon and congressional representatives. “Sustaining an aircraft in flight necessitates a considerable energy expenditure. Given the speeds we documented, an operational duration of 12 hours far exceeds what would be expected – by 11 hours, in fact.”….
While no representatives from the Department of Defense have asserted that these objects were extraterrestrial in origin, experts underscore that conventional explanations can typically be elucidated for such occurrences. Lieutenant Graves and four other naval pilots, who shared their accounts with *The New York Times* regarding sightings during 2014 and 2015 naval training exercises conducted between Virginia and Florida, off the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, refrain from speculating on their provenance.
The *Times* journalists achieved a significant breakthrough by securing firsthand accounts from pilots. What is particularly noteworthy in this latest media cycle is the divergence in the behavior of Department of Defense officials compared to the predictions of Wendt and Duvall.
Indeed, as reported last month by Politico’s Bryan Bender, “The US Navy is developing new protocols for pilots and other personnel to report encounters with ‘unidentified aircraft,’ a substantial advancement in establishing a formal framework for the collection and analysis of these unexplained observations – and for mitigating the stigma associated with them.” This report details:
My *Post* colleague Deanna Paul subsequently reported that “Luis Elizondo, a former senior intelligence official, informed *The Post* that the new Navy guidelines formalize the reporting process, thereby enabling data-driven analysis while concurrently alleviating the stigma attached to discussions of UFOs, characterizing it as ‘the most significant decision the Navy has made in decades.'” Her follow-up piece elaborates:
It appears that official government bodies are now acknowledging the existence of UFOs, even if they are not explicitly using that nomenclature. This shift is occurring due to the substantial volume of UFO reports and near-miss incidents involving aircraft, necessitating more robust record-keeping practices.
Although the official stance does not claim these UFOs are extraterrestrial, the initiative aims to reduce the societal stigma associated with reporting such phenomena.
Nevertheless, the very implementation of this procedural change somewhat diminishes the potency of the Wendt and Duvall thesis. Their argument presupposed a sequential progression: (a) Acknowledgment of UFO existence; and (b) Consideration of the possibility that UFOs might be of extraterrestrial origin.
In recent years, the United States national security apparatus has addressed the first criterion. What implications will arise for our understanding of the cosmos if major global powers begin to seriously consider the second?
Daniel W. Drezner holds a professorship in international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.
The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the editorial stance of ScienceAlert.
This article was originally disseminated by The Washington Post.
