KPBS Midday Edition

Former Senator Urges More Study On UFOs

By Maureen Cavanaugh / KPBS Midday Edition Co-Host

Published August 3, 2021 at 12:28 PM PDT

This story was published more than 3 years ago.

In this image from video provided by the Department of Defense, an unexplained object is seen at center as it soars high among the clouds, traveling against the wind. "There's a whole fleet of them," one naval aviator tells another, though only one indistinct object is shown.

It’s been about a month since the US Defense Department released a report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena...commonly referred to as UFO’s. That report was dropped on a Friday evening in June with little fanfare – and quite a few Americans may have missed the extraordinary nature of the document.

In June, an extraordinary document was released by the Department of Defense. It outlined 144 encounters by the U.S. military with Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, commonly referred to as UFOs. After decades of dismissing UFO sightings, the government admitted that of those 144 encounters, all but one remain unidentified.

But former Democratic Senate majority leader Harry Reid told KPBS Midday Edition that he was disappointed with the document the government released last month. Reid, who was instrumental in creating a government program to collect data on UFOs, says the six-page preliminary report contained almost no new information. Harry Reid said he applauds the Pentagon for making it easier for military personnel to report sightings of unidentified aircraft and is urging Congress to press for more public disclosure of future sightings.

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As to whether the UFOs documented in the report could be of extraterrestrial origin, Reid says much more scientific study is needed. He says he’ll follow the science wherever it leads.

Asked if the American public is ready for the revelation UFOs are in fact alien spacecraft, the former Senate majority leader says, the American public may not be ready, "but I am."