How much of a “breakthrough” this story represents can be left to the eye of the beholder, but it certainly suggests a change in policy by our military on the subject of the unidentified phenomenon in our skies. As we’ve discussed here on multiple occasions, those videos the Navy released of UAPs (unidentified aerial (or aerospace) phenomenon… basically the new phrase for UFOs) have created quite a stir and led to an extended discussion in the mainstream media. The one group we haven’t heard much from, however, is the Navy. It’s true that a number of the pilots involved have given interviews, which is great, but the Navy hasn’t taken any official position on what we’re seeing in those videos and what the pilots encountered.

That is, not until now. Through diligent work using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), one researcher got the Navy to respond. And they do indeed consider these craft to be “unidentified.” (Vice)

In official statements, the US Navy has for the first time officially stated that the three UFO videos made public by former Blink-182 singer Tom DeLonge’s UFO research organization are footage of real “unknown” objects violating American airspace.

Navy spokesperson Joseph Gradisher told Motherboard that “the Navy considers the phenomena contained/depicted in those 3 videos as unidentified.” Previously, the Navy never addressed the content of the videos. The terminology here is important: The UFO community is increasingly using the terminology “unidentified aerial phenomena” to discuss unknown objects in the sky.

John Greenwald, author and curator of The Black Vault, the largest civilian archive of declassified government documents, originally reported the news.

I’m familiar with the guy who broke this story because he’s been working in the field for many years and does quite a few interviews. John Greenwald runs the website The Black Vault. It’s a project he started long ago and serves as a repository for all of the documents he’s been able to squeeze out of the government on obscure topics via FOIA requests. He makes it available to the public at no cost and it’s searchable if you’re curious about any of this.

The real news came from a single line in the response he received when he requested information on investigations into the craft shown in those videos. It reads, “The Navy considers the phenomena contained/depicted in those 3 videos as unidentified.”

Up until now, the Navy had remained mum. If they had any suspicions about who was behind these crafts, be it the Russians, the Chinese or something of ours out of Skunkworks, they weren’t saying. This is the first time they’ve directly admitted that they simply don’t have any idea. The objects are true UAPs. Personally, I don’t know if that makes me feel better or worse.

One other item of interest is the way that these revelations have begun creating movement in Congress. Republican Congressman Mark Walker of North Carolina wrote a letter to the Navy last month requesting more answers on this subject. He’s looking to find out what sort of threat these things might be to our pilots and ships, as well as wanting to know if we have any physical evidence or “exotic materials” from them.

The Navy hasn’t answered yet, but it will be enlightening when they do. Or perhaps I should say if they do.