Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force


The Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force is a program within the United States Office of Naval Intelligence used to "standardize collection and reporting" on sightings of unexplained aerial vehicles. The program was detailed in a June 2020 hearing of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

History

In December 2017, the United States Department of Defense confirmed the existence of a defense program used to collect data on military UFO sightings, despite the disbandment of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program in 2012. Like its predecessor program, the UAP Task Force is managed by the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence in collaboration with the Office of Naval Intelligence.
After the June 2020 Senate hearing, Senator Marco Rubio requested the release of video footage of unexplained aerial vehicles collected by the United States Navy, including the Pentagon UFO videos.
On June 24, 2020, the Intelligence Committee voted to require United States Intelligence Community and the United States Department of Defense to publicly track and analyze data collected on unexplained aerial vehicles. A reports from the task force will be issued to the Intelligence Committee 180 days after the passage of the intelligence authorization act.
Writing for Politico, Bryan Bender quoted Christopher Mellon, advisor to the UFO-promoting company To the Stars, as saying "It further legitimizes the issue," adding "That in itself is extremely important. People can talk about it without fear of embarrassment." Mellon also said "We are talking dozens of incidents in restricted military airspace over years."
In July 2020, Rubio stated that he was worried that an adversary country had achieved “some technological leap” that “allows them to conduct this sort of activity,” while also saying that there might be a conventional explanation that was "boring".