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US Defense Department eyes possible threat of unidentified phenomena

The DoD is acting on an annual report to Congress on unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP, to ensure personnel safety.
US Defense Department eyes possible threat of unidentified phenomena
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The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) says it will be taking further steps to ensure the safety of U.S. personnel, bases and installations after the arrival of an annual report to Congress on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena — or UAP. 

The Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence together delivered the report which sought to further understand any potential threats that might be posed by UAP. 

U.S. defense leaders said the protection of U.S. operations on land, at sea, in the sky and in space is "paramount."

The DoD says the U.S. All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) received 291 UAP reports between Aug. 31, 2022, and April 30, 2023. The office said 17 reports of UAP that occurred between 2019 and 2022 were also received. 

In June last year, NASA said the agency would be commissioning a study by a team examining "events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena — from a scientific perspective."
It published the final report for the initiative last month, issuing recommendations on how NASA could help in the understanding of UAP. 

According to AARO, there are over 800 cases of UAP that they have been reviewing as of April 30, 2023. 

NASA said the study of UAP will require a unique, scientific and evidence-based approach. The space agency said it has a number of Earth and space-observing assets that already exist and that are planned, which can be used in studying and identifying UAP. 

The space agency says its expertise "should be comprehensively leveraged as part of a robust and systematic data acquisition strategy within the whole-of-government framework," for the effort to study UAP. 


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