Pentagon Has Spread Disinformation About UFOs for Years

The Pentagon has spread disinformation about UFOs for years as part of efforts to conceal secret military programs, according to The Wall Street Journal.

According to the report, in the 1980s, a U.S. Air Force employee sent fake photographs of flying saucers to a bar owner near the secretive Area 51 in Nevada. This action was part of an operation to hide test flights of secret aircraft. Military leaders were concerned that the program would be exposed, so they decided that if locals were to see some experimental flights, they would be more likely to believe it was a UFO.

“It was all a deception to hide what was really happening at Area 51. The Air Force was using that facility to develop highly classified fighter jets that were considered crucial in the fight against the Soviet Union,” the article states.

WSJ reports that hundreds of military personnel who signed confidentiality agreements believed their research on UFOs was genuine. Some of them still believe in extraterrestrial intervention.