USS Nimitz UFO incident: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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In April 2020 the footage was declassified and officially released by the Department of Defense.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Statement by the Department of Defense on the Release of Historical Na|url=https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/|website=U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE|language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-28}}</ref> According to ''[[The Washington Post]]'', the videos were initially released by former intelligence officer [[Luis Elizondo]] to shed light on a secretive [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] operation to analyze reported UFO sightings, the [[Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program]].<ref name="Politico-20171216">{{cite web|title=The Pentagon's Secret Search for UFOs|url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/12/16/pentagon-ufo-search-harry-reid-216111|last=Bender|first=Bryan|date=December 16, 2017|website=[[Politico]]|access-date=December 17, 2017}}</ref><ref name="WP-20171216" /><ref name="WP-20180309">{{cite news|last=Mellon|first=Christopher|authorlink=Christopher Mellon|date=March 9, 2018|title=The military keeps encountering UFOs. Why doesn’t the Pentagon care?|work=[[The Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/the-military-keeps-encountering-ufos-why-doesnt-the-pentagon-care/2018/03/09/242c125c-22ee-11e8-94da-ebf9d112159c_story.html|access-date=March 12, 2018}}</ref>

As of April 2020 the aerial phenomena observed in the videos is characterised as "unidentified" by the Department of Defense.<ref name=":13">{{Cite web|title=Statement by the Department of Defense on the Release of Historical Na|url=https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/|website=U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-01}}</ref> AlthoughThere the Navy hascurrently givenis no explanation or identification for the incidents, skeptics, experts and commentators say the sightings likely have mundane explanations such as equipment malfunction or human error.<ref>{{Cite web|title='UFO' videos declassified by US Navy|url=https://www.space.com/ufos-videos-declassified-navy-release.html|last=April 2020|first=Mindy Weisberger 28|website=Space.com|language=en|access-date=2020-05-04}}</ref> In 2018 ''[[Skeptical Inquirer]]'' questioned the accuracy of the pilots' accounts stating that the sightings are more likely explained by equipment malfunction or human error.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Navy Pilot’s 2004 UFO: A Comedy of Errors {{!}} Skeptical Inquirer|url=https://skepticalinquirer.org/2018/05/navy-pilots-2004-ufo-a-comedy-of-errors/|last=Kreidler|first=Marc|date=2018-05-01|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-15}}</ref>

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