Regular readers are already aware of the frustration many of us, particularly journalists, have experienced when trying to get information out of the Pentagon on the subject of UFOs (or “UAPs,” Unidentified Aerial/Aerospace Phenomena) encountered by our military. It’s not just the secrecy, as a certain amount of that is expected, particularly if there are any sensitive American military programs involved. The bigger problem is the way they actually do provide some answers but almost invariably wind up contradicting what other departments tell us or, more often, their own previous statements.

The key person at the Pentagon who is supposed to be responsible for answering all questions regarding the AATIP program and UFOs, in general, is spokesperson Susan Gough. She has directly contradicted both herself and other agencies such as the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) on multiple occasions. Ms. Gough apparently noticed the number of us pointing out these inconsistencies and decided on Friday to send out something by way of explanation. A copy of her statement was obtained by research expert John Greenewald at The Black Vault. Here’s the key portion.

Myself and my predecessors in my office, as well as our colleagues in the Defense Intelligence Agency and elsewhere in the department, have done our best to provide you and others asking about AATIP the most accurate information we had available to us at the time we responded to your questions. Questions about AATIP have continued ever since this past Spring, becoming more focused and asking for details beyond what was readily available on a program that ended nearly eight years ago, especially as people who had direct knowledge of AATIP have moved to other positions or left the department.

As we conducted research to try to answer the continuing questions, we sometimes uncovered new information that changed some of our previous responses. When responding to subsequent queries, we used the new information in our responses to be as accurate as possible with what we now knew.”

Without injecting any more snark than is absolutely required, allow me to try to translate this memo from military to civilian. What Ms. Gough seems to be saying is that the program (AATIP) ended roughly eight years ago and many of the people involved in it have moved on. So when we ask her questions, she tells us what is known. But sometimes, the Pentagon learns new information so they issue new, contradictory statements based on this “new information.”

Pardon my saying, but I think we still have some questions, Madam.

As you point out, the program ended eight years ago. Did nobody keep any records? Speaking as someone with direct experience in both the military and government work, I can reliably report that very little ever goes on in that world without meticulous, frequently mind-numbing records being stored. When you found out that the New York Times piece was about to drop in December of 2017, did nobody go back and review those records so the Pentagon could get its story straight and determine what information should be made available to the public?

Even if we are to assume that “new information” keeps somehow popping up, the expanse of some of the discrepancies we’ve observed can’t plausibly be explained by a few memos that were missed originally. For two years you told us that AATIP was created to study these UFOs. And then suddenly, one day in December, you discovered some “new information” indicating that the program was never even about UFOs in the first place? We would dearly love to know what new information revealed that gem, particularly when you consider that Harry Reid (the guy who originally started AATIP) came out the same day and said you were wrong.

For another example, you’ve consistently told us that the three, brief, grainy videos released over the past two years are the only ones in existence. And yet, just this week, the Office of Naval Intelligence came out and said they had another one, but they couldn’t release it because it still hadn’t been declassified. Is this more “new information” that you didn’t previously have? And if so, will you be confirming it? Correct me if I’m wrong, but the ONI is part of the Pentagon/DoD, isn’t it? Didn’t anyone think to ask them about this previously?

I’d love to be more generous and assume that the Pentagon isn’t simply lying to us on a regular basis. But the only other explanation is that everyone up there is basically clueless and the left hand doesn’t know what the right one is doing. And these are the people who are supposed to keep us safe. If that’s the case, it’s pretty darned alarming.