Three months ago, following last summer’s congressional hearings on UFOs, the Pentagon’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office issued a 63-page report evaluating almost 80 years of evidence. Its conclusion — not altogether surprising, given the name of the office — can be summarized as follows: Not much to see here. Please move on.

(The actual language from the report: “AARO has not discovered any empirical evidence that any sighting of a UAP represented off-world technology or the existence a classified program that had not been properly reported to Congress.”)

The Senate Intelligence Committee isn’t buying it. The Intelligence Authorization Act , which it passed this month, among other things calls for review of the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office. The bill would also limit research into what are now called UAPs (for unidentified anomalous phenomena) unless Congress is informed and add whistleblower protections for anyone who might wish to step forward and speak their minds.

Less plausible claims about UAPs have been achieving greater circulation in part because of the efforts of David Grusch, who testified before Congress last year about hidden alien bodies, crashed vehicles and secret conspiracies. Those claims, which primary witnesses have not corroborated, defy belief, and the ensuing controversy has helped make concerns about UAPs appear silly.

Nonetheless, the truth remains that there are systematic sightings and sensor data of fast-moving entities that the government cannot explain. You don’t have to think they are space aliens to realize that they are threats to national security. At the very least, the mere fact that some experienced military pilots entertain the more speculative alien-linked hypotheses suggests that the military is not processing information effectively. Does it make anyone feel better when reports from pilots are dismissed as crazy?

UAPs will remain an issue as long as China and Russia (and possibly other nations) remain national security threats, because the US military will always want to identify possible entrants to its airspace. No report or bureaucratic process can make those concerns go away. And so there is a kind of paralyzed equilibrium, where a very strong force — the desire to know — has met an immoveable object — a lack of knowledge.

In this sense, the frustration of the Senate Intelligence Committee — as expressed by its unanimous 17-0 vote — is understandable. The Pentagon’s report presents many of the weaker UAP allegations and notes that there is no serious evidence to back them up. And it simply dismisses some of the stronger UAP puzzles, such as the Nimitz or Gimbal incidents.

It is not until Page 26 that the report concedes: “A small percentage of cases have potentially anomalous characteristics or concerning characteristics. AARO has kept Congress fully and currently informed of its findings. AARO’s research continues on these cases.” Those sentences should have been on the first page, and then the report should have presented the evidence about those cases. If this were an undergraduate term paper, I would have given it a D+.

The chatter among insiders, some of which surely reaches senators, is that some of the data is very hard to explain. Some people, such as John Brennan, former head of the CIA, have even speculated that the available evidence might imply contact with a non-human civilization. Agree or disagree, the admission is a marker of our ignorance.

The conspiracy, to the extent there is one, is not to suppress evidence of different life forms; it is to avoid admitting the embarrassing absence of any real answers. So at the very least, the Senate Intelligence Committee deserves credit for reopening the issue.

It can be hard to wrap your head around such huge questions. People are often more concerned with dismissing the possibility of alien life than with admitting the possibility of genuine uncertainty. And since even partial evidence of aliens might scare the public too much, there is an overriding incentive to keep matters under wraps.

When I think about all this, I try to keep two questions separate. First, is there a major puzzle to account for? And second, what is the best explanation for that puzzle? It helps to focus on the first question in isolation, since we can’t seem to keep our heads on straight when it comes to the second.

By admitting that there is a real puzzle to be solved, the Senate Intelligence Committee has moved decisively to answer the first question. Once we clarify exactly what the puzzle is, maybe we’ll be able to make some progress explaining it.

Tyler Cowen is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a professor of economics at George Mason University and host of the Marginal Revolution blog.

Related Articles

Trudy Rubin: Ukraine’s volunteer spirit buoys its fight against Russia

Gabe Roth: Supreme Court ethics lapses aren’t a partisan issue

Nicholas Kristof: What have we liberals done to the West Coast?

Sarah Green Carmichael: Elon Musk allegations are a reminder that harassment is about power

Noah Feldman: Biden’s immigration order is built to fail

What about the residents’ rights?

I was genuinely pleased to read about the proposed expansion of the St. Paul Downtown Improvement District.

Now, given that I am a condo owner in the Lowertown district, that might seem a bit odd as the plan would essentially mean additional taxes I would be paying for what I believe the City already has an obligation to provide.

However, I am a realist and if it means paying more to create a safe, clean and well-maintained environment, so be it. However, my elation was quickly dashed upon reading the comments by the city attorney on the proposal. Among other things the proposal provides to add a dedicated attorney to pursue perpetrators of non-felony, quality-of -life issues downtown, especially chronic offenders.

I gather from the comments from the city attorney that she is more concerned about the First Amendment rights of the graffiti artist, the pursuit of happiness by the vandals and thieves and the due process rights of the guy peeing on the sidewalk in broad daylight.

I am completely unmoved by the comments by the city attorney alluding to preserving our core principles of democracy and constitutional protections. What about the residents’ rights? Procedures and rules certainly could be established to prevent abuse by the attorney’s office to ensure that prosecutions are fair and equitable to all.

Dave Cassman, St. Paul

Wake up, GOP

What has happened to MY Republican Party? The party that believed in less government, that life began at conception, advocated for lower taxes and small business and respected law enforcement and accountability for those who broke the law?

“Trump is king of the hill for GOP” was the headline in last Friday’s paper. A vast majority of Republicans in Washington, including the congressmen and woman representing Minnesota, have turned into Trump’s puppets. They refuse to take a stand and denounce him for his role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection, turn a blind eye to his insults, whining and lack of accountability , and above all his deplorable narcissistic behavior.

Wake up GOP! Let’s see your backbone. I for one will not be voting for “the King”.

Ann Helvick, Apple Valley

Bump-stock ban is up to Congress

In “Gun bump stocks banned” the news report makes it appear that the Supreme Court decided against banning bump stocks. While their 6-3 decision certainly has that immediate effect, it is by no means the final word on banning bump stocks.

This Court has the unique, and welcomed, practice of reading the law, considering its applications to a case, comparing it with the Constitution’s intent, and issuing an opinion. They have been consistent in this. Bravo. We have missed this for generations.

The Court also clearly stated, Congress had not passed a law that specifically bans bump stocks. I’d vote for it. I bet it would get bipartisan support in Congress, if it wasn’t for the sad reality that Congress has disdain for bipartisanship.

Write your federal House and Senate member and ask them to get this done.

Dave Racer, Woodbury

Related Articles

Get your prix fixe: Three excellent tasting menus for those special occasions

Police, family asking for tips to find 20-year-old missing from St. Paul

Charges: Off-duty St. Paul officer detains tip-jar thief while dad calls 911 during Father’s Day steakhouse dinner

Minnesota officials weigh options as federal regulators threaten to rescind partnership between Delta Air Lines, Aeromexico

St. Paul-Comcast partnership provides internet for SPHA residents

The Carol Matheys Center for Children & Families in Oakdale kicked off its summer session last week with a bounce house that featured inflatable pop-ups, a basketball hoop and two separate climbing walls to reach the top of two slides.

Children who attend Carol Matheys Center for Children & Families in Oakdale play in a bounce house on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. (Courtesy of Carol Matheys Center for Children & Families)

The center paid more to rent the Sports Dual-Lane Slide Combo Bouncer from Froggy Hops Inflatable Jumpers for an extra couple of days so the 64 children who attend Carol Matheys would have even more time to play, said Stacie Penn, the center’s executive director.

But when center staff arrived at work at 6 a.m. Wednesday, the 300-pound deflated bounce house was gone.

“We feel pretty violated by it, and the kids were so disappointed by it,” Penn said. “I’ve been here 30 years, and we’ve never had anything like this. It was huge, so it definitely was more than one person. They had to have a truck or a trailer. It wasn’t a random thing. Somebody had planned it, for sure.”

Police say someone stole the $2,200 bounce house and the $150 blower required to inflate it sometime between 8 p.m. Tuesday and 6 a.m. Wednesday. The large metal stakes used to hold the bounce house in the ground were not taken, according to police.

Per the terms of the center’s contract with Froggy’s, Carol Matheys must cover the full cost of the stolen bounce house and blower.

Given the high deductible on the childcare center’s insurance plan, Penn said center officials decided to pay for the bounce house and blower outright rather than submit it to insurance. Center staff were able to raise the amount needed through an online GoFundMe fundraiser.

A rental bounce house was stolen from the Carol Matheys Center for Children & Families in Oakdale sometime late June 11, 2024 or early June 12, 2024.  (Courtesy of GoFundMe)

The fundraiser had raised $2,915 of its $2,500 goal as of Wednesday afternoon; center staff plan to use any extra funds to pay for the installation of a security camera around the entire center. The center’s current security cameras do not cover the back area where the bounce house was located, Penn said.

Center staff have been monitoring Facebook Marketplace to see if someone is selling the Sports Dual-Lane Slide Combo Bouncer online. “I really don’t think they were teenagers,” Penn said. “This took a little more planning. My guess is that this was somebody who was trying to make some money.”

Penn said the theft has led to some difficult conversations with the children, who range in age from 3 to 12.

“They were disappointed, but also really worried because somebody stole it,” she said. “We had to have conversations about ‘Sometimes people do bad things.’ It was a lesson on, ‘That’s why we don’t take things that don’t belong to us.’”

Police said the case remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or submit a tip at cityprotect.com/agency/oakdalepdmn. Once a crime tip is sent, it will send alerts to police staff.

Related Articles

Bayport church OKs sale of property for new Andersen Elementary

Inmate who died at Stillwater prison may have ingested synthetic drugs, officials say

Lake Elmo, Oakdale residents worried about PFAS contamination in private wells lobby for bottled water

Sheletta Brundidge giving away free locks to keep kids with special needs safe after 4-year-old drowns in Hopkins

Top high school graduates for 2024