NASA created a new division to study unidentified flying objects (UFOs), now known as Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP). NASA administrator Bill Nelson announced the new task force on Thursday without dropping the name of the inaugural head.
Pentagon Liaison Heads NASA's New UAP Division
Mark McInerney, a former meteorologist and liaison to the Pentagon, has been selected as the inaugural director of NASA's newly established UAP research division. After refusing to reveal McInerney's identity out of concern that he might be harassed, NASA officials eventually changed their minds.
After releasing the organization's much-awaited research of more than 800 UAP sightings, NASA's associate administrator Nicola Fox addressed the media. He told the new UFO boss they have been working for a while now.
Fox said they would not disclose the name when asked if she could identify the official. Hours later, however, everything changed when NASA issued a press release dropping McInerney's character and revealing he had previously served as the organization's liaison to the Pentagon.
Why McInerney's identity was made public after NASA first declined to do so has not been explained. However, it was revealed at the briefing last night that a number of the independent research group members had received death threats, hate mail, and online teasing.
Some individuals may have even been advised not to conduct UFO studies to protect their scientific reputation.
Dan Evans, the NASA officer in charge of the study, first stated that this is one of the reasons they did not publicly announce the identity of the new director because science needs to be free. However, some of the occurrences have reportedly become threats in their own right.
About The New UAP Taskforce
NASA decided to create a new division to study UAP after determining that UFOs must be investigated. Following the release of the report conducted by a specialized UFO team that the space agency commissioned in 2022, they concluded that UAP remains a mystery and has to be further studied.
According to Nelson, it is difficult to establish scientific inferences regarding the nature of UAPs because the majority of UAP sightings yield little to no data. He added that they would utilize artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to examine the anomalies related to UAPs.
To create a strong database for analyzing all future data, the new director of the UAP Specialist Division will centralize communications, resources, and data analysis skills across the federal government. The director will support and improve the effort utilizing NASA's experience in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and space observations.
NASA's Science Mission Director Fox acknowledged that UAPs are among the "planet's greatest mysteries." She also recognized the numerous eyewitness accounts linked with UAPs. However, they are reportedly not consistent, curated, and detailed enough for them to draw scientific conclusions about the matter.
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