A lot has changed in the way the American government, the media, and the public in general view and talk about the subject of UFOs in a relatively short period of time. Dating back to at least the 1940s, there were civilian groups studying the topic and investigating sightings, but they generally tried to fly below the radar, figuratively speaking. Those who went public were generally regarded as kooks and people could lose their careers in some cases. It didn’t help that the government typically jumped on the bandwagon and wrote such ideas off as nonsense. But the world has changed. At the Wall Street Journal, science reporter Alexander Saeedy (!) has a lengthy article examining the idea of the “UFO movement” and how it has gone mainstream, particularly since 2017. Arguments over the topic have moved from coffee shops and festivals to the halls of Congress and even the White House. We haven’t reached a point that could be described as “disclosure” as aficionados like to call it, but we appear to have at least reached the point where the subject has gained some respectability. (Subscription required)

There’s probably never been a better time to believe in aliens than right now. That’s mostly because the federal government quietly admitted in April 2020 that several Navy pilots have encountered “unidentified aerial phenomena,” or UAPs, while flying around the Pacific Ocean. The feds released videos and say they still have no idea who was flying them or where they came from.

Congress followed up with a hearing in 2022 on UAPs, its first probe into flying saucers in 50 years.  At a second hearing last year, former Air Force intelligence officer David Grusch testified that he was told on the job by current and former military officers that the U.S. government has possessed aircraft of nonhuman origin for decades and that he has seen classified photographic and physical evidence to prove it. The Pentagon has said there is no verifiable evidence to substantiate his claims.

“We are living in a watershed moment,” says Dr. Christopher Bader, a sociologist at Chapman University in southern California who studies American beliefs in the paranormal. The hearings before Congress “have legitimized the discussion of UFOs in a way that is virtually unprecedented.”

The author points out that recent polling shows that skepticism of the UFO topic has declined significantly. More than one-third of recent poll respondents recently said that they believe UFOs probably represent some form of alien or at least nonhuman technology. That’s a sharp increase from the 20% who said the same in 1996. Many more remain unsure, but they’re not just laughing the subject off anymore.

That makes sense, particularly when you consider that it’s harder to laugh something away as nonsense when bipartisan coalitions of members of Congress are enshrining this language in legislation. In the National Defense Authorization Act for 2024, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer included the phrase “nonhuman intelligence” more than two dozen times.

I still recall when I first became “the UFO guy” for Salem Media in early 2018. It was a bit nerve-wracking and nobody was sure how this would be received. I was hit with plenty of skepticism and even mockery from some readers, and I wasn’t even talking about “little green men.” I was simply covering MSM reporting of funded Pentagon programs set up to study UFOs. (The little men turned out to be grey, not green, but you get the general idea.)

Those revelations about a program known as AATIP turned out to be only the tip of the iceberg. We’ve learned so much more since then, and the Pentagon, after decades of total denial, has been heavily involved in the subject of UFOs and possibly even aliens for decades. They’ve kept this fact hidden from the public and apparently even from Congress, possibly illegally. But now the dirty laundry has largely been hung out on the line. There is still a great distance to go if we’re ever to reach a point of full public disclosure, but many who cover this topic and follow it closely are saying that 2024 could be a breakthrough year with some very big news coming out soon.

The Pentagon continues to try to make sly, cleverly worded denials, but one gets the sense that the wall of secrecy is showing a lot of cracks. UFO whistleblowers like David Grusch have been moving the ball forward and more are reportedly having their own material reviewed for release, at least to Congress and to the public where possible. Time will tell, but the topic is now out in the open and being discussed in a serious fashion. That’s as it should be. And we’ll stay on top of it for as long as I can manage.