The Pentagon has acknowledged that it conducted a secret Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program for five years before wrapping it up in 2012. The US Government initiated this mission to find the real truth behind UFO sightings in the nation. The $22 million annually funded program was not a classified one, but it was operated with the knowledge of a limited number of officials. This news about Pentagon's mysterious UFO search program was first published in the New York Times.
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The initial funding of this program was made after requests made by Harry Reid, a former Senate Democratic leader known for his enthusiasm related to space phenomena. Apart from Harry Reid, the program was conducted under the guidance of late Senators Daniel Inouye and Ted Stevens.
The program was initiated following n number of UFO sightings in US. While several congressional leaders believed that these sightings were a potential threat to the national security, others strongly affirmed that these crafts are of Chinese or Russian origin, and they have developed advanced technologies, which can threaten the United States.
The program began in 2007 and it was wrapped up in 2012 as the US defense shifted attention to other priorities.
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"The Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program ended in the 2012 timeframe. It was determined that there were other, higher priority issues that merited funding and it was in the best interest of the DoD to make a change," replied Laura Ochoa, the Pentagon spokeswoman to a Reuters query.
The spokeswoman also added that the Pentagon is taking all potential threats to the US nationals very seriously, and made it clear that proper action will be taken whenever credible information is developed.
As soon as the news got published in NY Times, Harry Reid posted on his Twitter handle, "The truth is out there, seriously."
