The secret that this UFO report exposes

Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large

Sometime later this month, Congress is expected to receive a detailed report from the Defense Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence that provides — in far greater detail than ever before — what the government knows about unidentified flying objects.

The New York Times got an early look at it and wrote this humdinger of a opening to their story:

“American intelligence officials have found no evidence that aerial phenomena witnessed by Navy pilots in recent years are alien spacecraft, but they still cannot explain the unusual movements that have mystified scientists and the military, according to senior administration officials briefed on the findings of a highly anticipated government report.”

OK, so, based on that information, we know that:

1) There’s no evidence that the various UFO sightings over the years are aliens.

2) The US government has no idea what these aircraft, in fact, are.

Which is, well, sort of sketchy? Because how could the government conclusively rule out the possibility of alien spacecraft when they know the sightings “did not originate from any American military or other advanced US government technology” and they have no way of explaining the movements of these UFOs?

Answer: They can’t.

The plot thickens even more! Here’s CNN’s reporting following on what the Times wrote:

“US intelligence officials have found no evidence confirming that unidentified flying objects encountered by US Navy pilots in recent years were alien spacecraft but also have not reached a definitive assessment as to what these mysterious objects might be, according to five sources familiar with the findings of an upcoming report on UFOs that is expected to be delivered to Congress later this month.

“According to three of those sources, the report does not however rule out the possibility they are alien spacecraft.”

Which, candidly, makes a lot more sense. Because if the US government a) doesn’t know what these crafts are and b) does know that they aren’t any sort of technology — secret or otherwise — that they have been working on, then it’s very tough to swallow the conclusion that they can’t, under any circumstances, be alien.

None of that means, of course, that these crafts are alien in origin. It’s possible that they are the work of a foreign power like Russia or China. Or that our own government is simply not willing to fully open up about the technology it is working on and why. (Remember that the government engaged in a massive disinformation campaign over decades aimed at tamping down even the mention of UFO sightings.)

To be candid, I remain skeptical that there are aliens manning these UFOs that have been seen in the skies over these past many years. But the attempted spinning of this report by the government — and make no mistake, that’s what’s happening here — to suggest that we can conclusively say these spacecraft were not of alien origin does seem a bit suspicious.

The truth that this report seems likely to lay bare? There are limits to what we know. And we’re going to have to get used to that.