Public Affairs emails with The Debrief

agencies told The Debrief that these reports include clear photographic evidence of UAP. The reports also explicitly state that the
Task Force is considering the possibility that these unidentified objects could, as stated by one source from the U.S. Intelligence
Community said, be operated by "intelligences of unknown origin."
Significantly, a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general and head of RAND corporation's Space Enterprise Initiative has—for the first
time—gone on record to discuss some of the most likely explanations for UAP. His responses were surprising.
Briefings At The Highest Levels
In June, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's FY2021 Intelligence Authorization Act contained an intriguing section titled
report on "Advanced Aerial Threats." In the inclusion, the committee gave an eye-opening official hint (in recent history) the
government takes UFOs seriously by offering its support for the "efforts of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force at the
Office of Naval Intelligence." The Intelligence Committee additionally requested an unclassified report detailing the analysis of
"UAP" or "Anomalous Aerial Vehicles."
Though already acknowledged by the Intelligence Committee, in mid-August, the Pentagon formally acknowledged they had
established a task force looking into UAP. In a press announcement, the Secretary of Defense's Office stated, "the UAPTF's mission
will be to detect, analyze and catalog UAPs that could potentially pose a threat to U.S. national security." According to the release,
authority for the Task Force was approved by the DoD's chief operating officer, Deputy Secretary of Defense David L. Norquist.
The summer news of the establishment of the UAPTF seemingly suggests—for the first time since the shuttering of Project Blue
Book (the Air Force's official investigations into UFOs) in 1969—that the Pentagon is now taking the subject of UFOs seriously.
However, an internal email obtained by The Debrief shows that almost one year before the DoD's announcement, the highest levels
of the U.S. military were already being briefed on UAP.
The email, obtained via Freedom of Information Act request, shows an October 16th, 2019 exchange between then Vice Chief of
Naval Operations, Admiral Robert Burke, and current Vice Chief of Staff for the Air Force General Stephen "Steve" Wilson.
In the email, Adm. Burke tells Gen. Wilson, "Recommend you take the brief I just received from our Director of Naval Intelligence
VADM Matt Kohler, on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP)." Adm. Burke concludes the email, "SECNAV [Secretary of the Navy]
will get the same brief tomorrow at 1000."
The "SECNAV" referenced in Adm. Burke's email was then-Secretary of the Navy, Richard V. Spencer. A little over a month after this
UAP briefing, Spencer was fired by then-Secretary of Defense Mark Esper over public disagreements stemming from a series of
controversies involving the court-martial of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher.
Speaking on background, one U.S. Defense official lamented that a lack of continuity with DoD leadership might have hindered some
of the UAPTF's work. Within the past 24 months, there have been four different Secretaries of the Navy and five additional
Secretaries of Defense. Vice Admiral Matt Kohler, noted for having provided the briefings, retired after 36 years with the Navy in
June of this year.
Reaching out to several active government officials and individuals who retain their government-issued security clearances, The
Debrief learned that last fall was a busy time for the UAPTF. On October 21st, 2019, a briefing on UAP was conducted at the
Pentagon for several Senate Armed Services Committee staffers.
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