Pentagon's UFO Program May Make Some Findings Public

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) believes the truth is out there—and he wants to make it public.

According to the lawmaker, there are unidentified objects flying over US military bases that the government cannot explain. "We don't know what it is, and it isn't ours," he told CBS Miami earlier this month. Rubio, chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, is campaigning for the unclassified release of findings—including a detailed analysis of intelligence and FBI data, as well as potential threats by "unidentified aerial phenomenon"—in hopes that someone may be able to help ID these mysterious visitors.

Contrary to claims that the Pentagon disbanded a once-covert program to investigate UFOs, The New York Times has revealed the ongoing effort is alive and well—within the Office of Naval Intelligence. Officials remain mum on the program, which appeared in a July committee report outlining spending on the nation's intelligence agencies.

A section on "Advanced Aerial Threats" details efforts by a Naval Intelligence task force to collect what it deems "unidentified aerial phenomenon." The feds, however, appear less concerned with extraterrestrials and more worried about illegal aliens. The team specifically looks for links to "adversarial foreign governments" and any threats they may pose to US military assets and installations.

"I would say that, frankly, if it's something from outside this planet, that might actually be better than the fact that we've seen some technological leaps on behalf of the Chinese or Russians or some other adversary that allows them to conduct this sort of activity," Rubio said in an interview with CBS.

The Pentagon in April released declassified footage of encounters with UFOs, filmed by US Navy fighter jets in 2004, 2014, and 2015. Theories and speculation abound; explanations run the gamut from drones and software malfunctions to human error and alien spacecraft.

"The bottom line is, there are things flying over United States military bases, and you don't know what they are, cause they're not yours, and they exhibit, potentially, technologies that you don't have at your own disposal," Rubio said. "That, to me, is a national security risk. And one that we should be looking into. Maybe there's a completely boring explanation for it. But we need to find out."