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> Although the Navy has given no explanation or identification for the incidents, skeptics, and some 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><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>{{Better source needed|date=May 2020|reason=The cited sources don't support this statement. However, skeptics, experts and commentators are researching this incident and believe mundane explanations are probably more likely}}

== Encounter ==