A former Pentagon official has spoken out about why the US government supposedly doesn’t want people to know the truth about UFOs.
While scientists are still looking for solid proof of alien life, conspiracy theorists argue that we’ve already found it.
Some say that the government is keeping this discovery under wraps and one former official has shared his own thoughts on the matter.
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Though his claims sound pretty out there, some of what he's saying makes sense.
Luis Elizondo is the former head of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) that operated within the Pentagon.
He sat down with Steven Bartlett on his podcast Diary of a CEO and shared why government officials stay quiet about UFO sightings.
The video was posted to YouTube, with the description reading: “Are we alone in the universe? If we aren't, are we among friends or enemies? A former top US official reveals the classified UFO secrets that the Pentagon has hidden for years.”
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Elizondo explained: “I think it's a stigma, taboo. There’s several reasons but I think superficially, stigma [and] taboo.
“No one wants to be known as that UFO guy or gal."
For pilots and military personnel, talking about UFOs has real consequences, Elizondo said.
“I get it you know, especially if you're a pilot because historically you'd be taken off flight status," he added.
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“You’d be put behind a desk and you'd fly a desk the rest of your career because people think you're mentally unstable.
“It could affect your security clearance, I mean there's all sorts of things that can happen and so people were being reinforced not to report this information.”
When Bartlett asked whether the US government wants people to believe in UFOs or UAPs (unidentified anomalous phenomena), the Pentagon official's answer was both yes and no.
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“I think it's both," he claimed. "I think up until recently nobody wanted to have this conversation, the problem is the government backed itself up after 70 years of denial into a corner and it has to figure a way out.”
While some officials are open to finally having the conversation, others are still working behind the scenes to 'discredit individuals and launch this campaign against them.'
One of Elizondo’s most intriguing claims is that UFO activity spiked after World War II. When we 'started developing the atomic weapons, we started releasing a lot of UFOs over our controlled military airspace and over our research facilities.'
He also suggested that the government may be hiding advanced technology to prevent rival nations from getting their hands on it - which is a good reason for all the secrecy.