The Pentagon has admitted to DailyMail.com that it has images or video of ‘UFOs’ shot down over North America – but says they’re still classified.
A Defense Department spokesman said they have footage of the three unidentified objects shot out the sky by US fighter jets using sidewinder missiles last month.
But the videos are classified and there are no plans to change that, the spokesman said.
‘I can tell you that there is not currently any images or video footage that we can release,’ the Pentagon press officer told DailyMail.com.
‘The imagery remains classified, and I have not received any information as to the potential timeline on a change in classification.’
The refusal to hand over the images is in stark contrast to the speedy release of a photo taken by an Air Force pilot of an alleged Chinese spy balloon shot down off the East coast at the same time as the ‘UFOs’.
The Pentagon was also quick to release a video of a Russian jet colliding with a US drone flying over the Black Sea last on March 14.
The Chinese balloon was shot down over the South Carolina coast on February 4. The three unidentified objects met the same fate between February 10 and 12 over Alaska, Lake Huron in Michigan, and Canada’s Yukon territory.
The reluctance to release footage of the F-22 Raptors intercepting the unidentified objects has led to speculation that the government knows what the objects are, but is simply embarrassed to reveal it to the public – as they may have been as harmless as a hobbyist weather balloon.
The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade say their $13 hobby balloon was floating in the Yukon area and stopped transmitting around the same time that a Raptor fired on the unidentified object there.
‘When I heard that [it was a] silver object with a payload attached to it, that could be one of our balloons,’ a member told Politico.
Senior Republican Ted Cruz mocked President Biden over the possibility, tweeting that he is providing ‘powerful deterrence for any high school science clubs that might try to invade America.’
On February 14, Senator Josh Hawley tweeted: ‘Joe Biden let a Chinese spy balloon cross the entire U.S. Now he’s shooting down everything that flies. Why? Who knows. He apparently doesn’t. Either the Biden administration is lying to us or they’re totally and completely incompetent. Or both.’
Prolific UFO researcher John Greenewald requested images of the UFO shootdowns via a Freedom of Information Act request.
On Tuesday the Pentagon responded, citing national security exemptions to deny his request
An Air Force official said that the images would reveal ‘intelligence activities (including covert action), intelligence sources or methods, or cryptology’ and ‘scientific, technological, or economic matters relating to the national security’ if released.
Greenewald, who posted the DoD letter on his website The Black Vault, said that he is appealing the denial.
Another clue that the objects may be nothing special is the cancellation of searches for the wreckage.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gallantly promised on February 11 that ‘Canadian Forces will now recover and analyze the wreckage of the object’ shot down in the remote Yukon region.
But six days later Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) called off the search for the ‘UFO’, described by Canada’s Defense Minister Anita Anand as a ‘small cylindrical object’.
Neither the Canadian nor US governments have indicated any intention to resume search efforts.
‘The RCMP has decided to discontinue search efforts in the Yukon for the aerial object shot down on February 11. The highest probability area has been searched and the debris was not located,’ the Canadian police force said in a statement.
‘Given the snowfall that has occurred, the decreasing probability the object will be found and the current belief the object is not tied to a scenario that justifies extraordinary search efforts, the RCMP is terminating the search.
‘The RCMP would like to thank the Canadian Armed Forces, RCMP members, the Yukon community and Indigenous Communities that have supported this effort.’
US agencies also called off their search for the object downed over Alaska.
On February 17 the White House announced it was no longer looking for the unidentified craft, following an admission from President Biden that the three objects were most likely research balloons.
But witnesses on the ground said the search appeared to finish even earlier, by Monday February 13.
Thomas Lees, an energy industry worker based near Prudhoe Bay, posted videos on his YouTube channel showing US C-130 planes and Black Hawk choppers flying over the area where the object was shot out the sky.
‘Friday February 10, 9am, one of my co-workers hears jets flying low and fast over the top of them. It was weird, we didn’t know what was going on,’ he said.
‘About an hour later, the news starts reporting about this object shot down over the northern coast of Alaska, right close to Dead Horse.
‘By Monday, absolutely nothing. Everybody’s gone, zero activity at all. Same thing Tuesday 14. It’s crazy. In and out, got what they were coming for.’
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the White House did not regret the shootdown decision.
‘Given the situation we were in, the information available, the recommendation of military commanders, it was exactly the right thing to do at exactly the right time,’ he said last month.
‘You make decisions based on the best information that you have… And ultimately you have to come down to some core principles when you’re making decisions as commander in chief.’
