Aliens Have Not Visited Earth, Pentagon Says After Investigation: 'Result of Misidentification'

The report also refuted a claim that the U.S. government is hiding the reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial technology from Congress

<p>Getty</p> Stock image of a UFO

Getty

Stock image of a UFO
  • The Department of Defense said in a report that "most sightings were ordinary objects and phenomena and the result of misidentification"

  • The study also refuted a claim that the U.S. government is hiding the reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial technology from Congress

  • The study acknowledged that many people do believe in unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) due to their previous experiences, as well as the influence of the media and the internet

The Pentagon unveiled some bad news for believers of aliens and UFOs on Friday.

According to the 63-page “Report on the Historical Record of U.S. Government Involvement with Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) – Volume 1,” the Department of Defense’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) found no evidence that any U.S. government investigation, research or review panel verified a “UAP represented extraterrestrial technology” – adding that “most sightings were ordinary objects and phenomena and the result of misidentification.”

The review went on to state that AARO found no proof surrounding allegations that the government and private companies “have been reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology.” It characterized claims that specific people, known locations, tests and documents are linked to that technology as “inaccurate.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Science Photo Library/Getty Stock illustration of a UFO
Science Photo Library/Getty Stock illustration of a UFO

The AARO also attributed an inaccurate claim that the government is hiding alleged reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial technology from Congress to “circular reporting from a group of individuals who believe this to be the case, despite the lack of any evidence.”

The report noted that some of the sightings reported since the 1940s have been due to “misidentification of never-before-seen experimental and operational space, rocket, and air systems, including stealth technologies and the proliferation of drone platforms.”

Related: Shocking Video of Pyramid-Shaped UFO Is Real — and Part of 'Ongoing Examinations,' Pentagon Says

According to the report, the AARO has reviewed all government UAP investigations going back to 1945, conducted about 30 interviews and examined classified and unclassified documents.

In a statement about the AARO report, Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Friday: “AARO assesses that all of the named and described alleged hidden UAP reverse-engineering programs provided by interviewees either do not exist; are misidentified authentic national security programs that are not related to extraterrestrial technology exploitation; or resolve to a disestablished program.”

Claims of UFO sightings took center stage in Congress last year, when, during a House Oversight Committee hearing, former U.S. intelligence official David Grusch said that “non-human” beings were retrieved from spacecraft. In addition to alleging that U.S. officials recovered the bodies of those who piloted UFOs, Grusch told the committee about a secret program in which the Pentagon allegedly collected UAPs that crashed.

Related: Congress Moves to Expose Evidence of UFOs in Rare Bipartisan Effort: ‘We’re Done with the Cover-Up’

“I was informed, in the course of my official duties, of a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse-engineering program, to which I was denied access,” Grusch said to the panel.

Other things that Grusch claimed included that he had spoken with people "with direct knowledge of non-human-origin craft” and that he had personal knowledge of someone who was injured while reverse-engineering a UAP. "You have to imagine, assessing an unknown, there's a lot of potentialities you can't fully prepare for," he said after he was asked to elaborate.

In the new report, the AARO acknowledged that many people believe in UAPs based on their perceptions of their and others’ past experiences, as well as what they’ve come across through the media and the internet.

“The proliferation of television programs, books, movies, and the vast amount of internet and social media content centered on UAP-related topics most likely has influenced the public conversation on this topic, and reinforced these beliefs within some sections of the population,” said the study.

Related: NASA Launches Independent UFO Study with a 'Full' Report Expected by Mid-2023

The AARO added that the intention of the report was not to refute any particular belief set, but to “use a rigorous analytic and scientific approach” in examining previous government-led UAP investigations, as well as claims from people who alleged that the government and contractors are concealing “off-world technology and biological material.”

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.