US Expected to Release Report on UFO Mysteries
2021-06-09
LRC
TXT
大字
小字
滚动
全页
1The United States has been taking a closer look at unidentified flying objects, or UFOs.
2A report detailing what the government knows about UFOs is expected to be made public this month.
3While it is not known what new information the report will include, two officials with knowledge of it said no aliens will be uncovered.
4The officials, speaking to The Associated Press, said the report found no link to aliens from unexplained sightings also captured on video.
5The two officials did not want to be named because they did not have permission to publicly discuss the report.
6They said the report will not rule out the possibility that unexplained sightings could be linked to military activities involving other nations.
7The main conclusions about what the U.S. government knows about UFOs have already been reported.
8But the full report is expected to present a more complete picture of available data.
9U.S. lawmakers ordered an investigation into UFOs because of concerns about national security threats from enemies.
10The government resisted talking about UFOs for generations.
11Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida was one lawmaker who wanted the investigation.
12He said, "there is stuff flying in our airspace."
13He continued, "We don't know what it is. We need to find out."
14Congress late last year told the director of national intelligence to report on UFO data from multiple government agencies within 180 days.
15That time period is about up.
16 The intelligence office has not said when the full document will be released.
17The bill passed by Congress asked the intelligence director to provide any evidence that a possible enemy may have flight technology that could put the United States at risk.
18Flight technology has become much more developed in recent years.
19There is concern among some U.S. officials that enemies may have technology that could be a risk to U.S. military sites, including nuclear missile bases.
20But sometimes when lawmakers talk about the issue, they leave room for explanations that might not be from this planet.
21"Right now there are a lot of unanswered questions," Democratic Representative Adam Schiff of California recently told NBC.
22"If other nations have capabilities that we don't know of, we want to find out. If there's some explanation other than that, we want to learn that, too."
23Luis Elizondo is the former head of the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program.
24He said he does not believe that unexplained sightings were another country's technology because it would be impossible to keep that secret.
25Elizondo accused the Defense Department of trying to discredit him.
26He said there is much more information the U.S. has on UFOs that is kept secret.
27Pilots and sky-watchers have long reported UFO sightings in U.S. airspace.
28They seem to travel at unusual speeds or directions.
29In most cases, however, such mysteries are explained after an investigation.
30In 1960, the CIA said 6,500 objects had been reported to the U.S. Air Force over a 13-year period.
31The CIA said the Air Force concluded there was no evidence that those sightings were hostile or related to alien spaceships.
32Reports of UFOs have continued since then.
33Some people who study the subject say investigations have been limited by the stigma of the subject.
34They also note the government has a history of staying silent or lying about investigations of UFOs.
35In 2017, The New York Times reported on a five-year U.S. Defense Department program to investigate UFOs.
36The Pentagon then released videos, leaked earlier, of military pilots seeing objects they could not identify.
37The Navy announced in 2019 it would create an official process for its pilots to report UFOs.
38And in August, the Defense Department created a special group to study, search for, and record UFO sightings.
39I'm Dan Friedell
1The United States has been taking a closer look at unidentified flying objects, or UFOs. A report detailing what the government knows about UFOs is expected to be made public this month. 2While it is not known what new information the report will include, two officials with knowledge of it said no aliens will be uncovered. The officials, speaking to The Associated Press, said the report found no link to aliens from unexplained sightings also captured on video. 3The two officials did not want to be named because they did not have permission to publicly discuss the report. They said the report will not rule out the possibility that unexplained sightings could be linked to military activities involving other nations. 4The main conclusions about what the U.S. government knows about UFOs have already been reported. But the full report is expected to present a more complete picture of available data. 5U.S. lawmakers ordered an investigation into UFOs because of concerns about national security threats from enemies. The government resisted talking about UFOs for generations. 6Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida was one lawmaker who wanted the investigation. He said, "there is stuff flying in our airspace." He continued, "We don't know what it is. We need to find out." 7Congress late last year told the director of national intelligence to report on UFO data from multiple government agencies within 180 days. That time period is about up. The intelligence office has not said when the full document will be released. 8The bill passed by Congress asked the intelligence director to provide any evidence that a possible enemy may have flight technology that could put the United States at risk. 9Flight technology has become much more developed in recent years. There is concern among some U.S. officials that enemies may have technology that could be a risk to U.S. military sites, including nuclear missile bases. 10But sometimes when lawmakers talk about the issue, they leave room for explanations that might not be from this planet. 11"Right now there are a lot of unanswered questions," Democratic Representative Adam Schiff of California recently told NBC. "If other nations have capabilities that we don't know of, we want to find out. If there's some explanation other than that, we want to learn that, too." 12Luis Elizondo is the former head of the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program. He said he does not believe that unexplained sightings were another country's technology because it would be impossible to keep that secret. 13Elizondo accused the Defense Department of trying to discredit him. He said there is much more information the U.S. has on UFOs that is kept secret. 14Pilots and sky-watchers have long reported UFO sightings in U.S. airspace. They seem to travel at unusual speeds or directions. In most cases, however, such mysteries are explained after an investigation. 15In 1960, the CIA said 6,500 objects had been reported to the U.S. Air Force over a 13-year period. The CIA said the Air Force concluded there was no evidence that those sightings were hostile or related to alien spaceships. 16Reports of UFOs have continued since then. Some people who study the subject say investigations have been limited by the stigma of the subject. They also note the government has a history of staying silent or lying about investigations of UFOs. 17In 2017, The New York Times reported on a five-year U.S. Defense Department program to investigate UFOs. The Pentagon then released videos, leaked earlier, of military pilots seeing objects they could not identify. 18The Navy announced in 2019 it would create an official process for its pilots to report UFOs. And in August, the Defense Department created a special group to study, search for, and record UFO sightings. 19I'm Dan Friedell 20Nomaan Merchant and Calvin Woodward reported this story for The Associated Press. Gregory Stachel adapted it for VOA Learning English. Bryan Lynn was the editor. 21____________________________________________________________________ 22Words in This Story 23alien - n. a creature that comes from somewhere other than the planet Earth 24conclusion - n. an opinion reached after considering all the facts and information related to a subject 25stuff - n. materials, supplies, or equipment 26capability - n. the ability to do something 27stigma - n. a set of negative and often unfair beliefs that a society or group of people have about something