Something of a bombshell dropped last night in the world of the United States military and its relationship with unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP or UFOs) on Fox News. Maria Bartiromo had John Ratcliffe, the former Trump administration Director of National Intelligence on to talk about the upcoming report from the Pentagon’s UAP Task Force, but she wound up getting more she bargained for. In the middle of the discussion, Ratcliffe, in an almost casual fashion, calmly announced that there are “quite a few more” military encounters with these unexplained craft than have been made public. He then went on to confess that we don’t understand the technology behind them. He also gave the impression that he was dismissing the idea that the Russians or the Chinese could be responsible. In short, he didn’t say the words “non-human intelligence” but he might as well have. (Washington Examiner)

John Ratcliffe, who served as director of national intelligence under former President Donald Trump, was asked on Fox News by host Maria Bartiromo what he knows about unidentified flying objects that have captured people’s imaginations for generations.

After saying that there have been sightings all around the world, Ratcliffe insisted that reports of “unidentified aerial phenomena” already in the public eye are only part of the bigger picture.

“Usually, we have multiple sensors that are picking up these things … There is actually quite a few more than have been made public,” he said.

Before getting to the highlights, check out the video for yourself. Even if you don’t want to sit through the whole clip (it’s really not very long), go to the 2:34 mark in the video and take in the look on Maria Bartiromo’s face as Ratcliffe calmly explains that there are “quite a few more sightings” than have been made public and that we can’t explain the technology we’re seeing. This is the look you get on your face when one of the highest-ranking people in the intelligence community tells you that UFOs are real and we don’t know what they are.

We’ve known about the expected report from the UAP Task Force since last summer when language directing the UAPTF to generate such a report was included in the Senate Intelligence Committee’s Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021. Personally, I’ve been working to keep my expectations low, assuming that the government wouldn’t publicly own up to anything it didn’t absolutely have to. But after listening to Ratcliffe’s comments, I’m not so sure about that anymore.

Ratcliffe told Bartiromo that he had been working to assemble and declassify information on UAP encounters last year, but had been unable to get the information together before leaving office. He then mentioned aspects of the performance of the UAP that military pilots have encountered such as “actions that are hard to explain, movements that we don’t have the technology for.” He describes objects “that exceed the sound barrier without a sonic boom.”

In reference to the expected report, Ratcliffe says that information on encounters that we can’t explain will be declassified and made available in a way the American public can see. He then told the host, “When that information becomes declassified I’ll be able to talk a little bit more about that.” Notice he didn’t say “if” it becomes declassified. He said “when.” Most of the people at that level in the intelligence community know each other and manage to stay in the loop no matter which administration they serve. It’s a safe bet that Ratcliffe was in on the preparation efforts for the upcoming report and is well aware of what it will contain.

While I always hate to get my hopes up, this interview contained some of the most stunning admissions we’ve heard yet from one of the highest-ranking people in the government’s intelligence apparatus. He all but came out and said that UFOs are not only real but that we’ve been studying them for quite some time. The fact that there is more evidence that the Pentagon has been sitting on is one that many of us have been convinced of for a while now. The idea that the Pentagon never had more than three grainy videos of UAPs was preposterous. Navy pilots have come forward and said that there were periods of time when they were encountering these things “on a daily basis.” After decades of dealing with this, we’re supposed to believe that was all the evidence they managed to collect?

I would still caution everyone to remember that the declassified report requested by the Senate was also allowed to have a “classified annex.” All of the good information that Ratcliffe is hinting at could still wind up in the classified section, but he really doesn’t sound like that’s the case. I will remain cautiously optimistic about the upcoming report. It’s expected to be released in roughly ten weeks, or possibly even sooner.