This post was originally published on this site
Sen. Marco Rubio said the US should take the “threat” of UFOs “seriously” in an interview aired Sunday.
The Florida Republican’s comments on CBS’ “60 Minutes” came ahead of a government report on UFO sightings that is set to be released before the end of June.
“Anything that enters an airspace that’s not supposed to be there is a threat,” he told the program.
“I want us to take it seriously and have a process to take it seriously,” Rubio said. “I want us to have a process to analyze the data every time it comes in. That there be a place where this is cataloged and constantly analyzed, until we get some answers.”
“Maybe it has a very simple answer. Maybe it doesn’t.”
As acting Senate Intelligence Committee chair in December, Rubio has asked for an unclassified copy of the report to be presented to Congress.
But Rubio told host Bill Whitaker that there is a “stigma” among some on Capitol Hill when it comes to UFOs, also known as unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP).
“I mean, some of my colleagues are very interested in this topic and some kinda, you know, giggle when you bring it up,” he said. “But I don’t think we can allow the stigma to keep us from having an answer to a very fundamental question. ”
Former Navy Lt. Ryan Graves told “60 Minutes” that he and other members of his squadron spotted UAPs hovering over restricted airspace southeast of Virginia Beach “every day for a couple of years” beginning in 2014.
Graves said that the unidentified vessels — like ones seen in a Pentagon-confirmed US Navy video near San Diego — are a security threat.
“I am worried, frankly. … if these were tactical jets from another country that were hanging out up there, it would be a massive issue,” Graves said.
“But because it looks slightly different, we’re not willing to actually look at the problem in the face. We’re happy to just ignore the fact that these are out there, watching us every day.”
An ex-Pentagon official who says he ran the agency’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program told the network that UAPs have technology vastly exceeding any human invention.
The controversial whistleblower, Luis “Lue” Elizondo, said that sometimes there were “simple explanations” for the sightings — and others that were “problematic.”
“Ultimately when you have exhausted all those what ifs and you’re still left with the fact that this is in our airspace and it’s real, that’s when it becomes compelling, and that’s when it becomes problematic,” he said.
In an interview with The Post last month, Elizondo said he believes the feds covered up the existence of UAPs, which he described as a serious national security risk.
He welcomed the release of the government’s report on the phenomena.
“The level of interest is reaching a critical mass,” Elizondo told The Post. “I think [government officials realize that] it would be like putting the cat back in the bag or like putting toothpaste back in the tube. Now that the government has acknowledged the reality of Unexplained Aerial Phenomenon [or UAP, which is synonymous with UFO] … it’s going to be real hard to backtrack.”
