WEBVTT

00:00:01.840 --> 00:00:06.960
we have tackled many strange stories on 
60 minutes but perhaps none like this

00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:13.759
it's the story of the u.s government's grudging 
acknowledgment of unidentified aerial phenomena

00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:21.920
uap more commonly known as ufos after decades 
of public denial the pentagon now admits

00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:26.400
there's something out there and the 
u.s senate wants to know what it is

00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:31.120
the intelligence committee has ordered the 
director of national intelligence and the

00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:36.960
secretary of defense to deliver a report 
on the mysterious sightings by next month

00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:51.840
the story will continue in a moment so what 
you're telling me is that ufos unidentified flying

00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:57.760
objects are real bill i think we're beyond that 
already the government has already stated for the

00:00:57.759 --> 00:01:01.280
record that they're real i'm not telling you that 
the united states government is telling you that

00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:07.840
luis elizando spent 20 years running 
military intelligence operations worldwide

00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:15.520
in afghanistan the middle east and guantanamo 
he hadn't given ufos a second thought until 2008

00:01:15.519 --> 00:01:20.879
that's when he was asked to join something at 
the pentagon called the advanced aerospace threat

00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:27.359
identification program or atip the mission of 
atip was quite simple it was to collect and

00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:32.799
analyze information involving anomalous uh aerial 
vehicles uh what i guess in the vernacular you

00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:40.079
call them ufos we call them uaps you know 
how this sounds it sounds nutty wacky look

00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:45.519
bill i'm not i'm not telling you that that it 
doesn't sound wacky what i'm telling you it's real

00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:49.439
the question is what is it what are its 
intentions what are its capabilities

00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:57.280
buried away in the pentagon atip was part of a 22 
million dollar program sponsored by then senate

00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:05.120
majority leader harry reid to investigate ufos 
when elizondo took over in 2010 he focused on

00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:11.759
the national security implications of unidentified 
aerial phenomena documented by u.s service members

00:02:12.479 --> 00:02:18.319
imagine a technology that can do six to seven 
hundred g forces that can fly at thirteen thousand

00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:27.039
miles an hour that it can evade radar and that can 
fly through air and water and possibly space and

00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:32.639
oh by the way has no obvious signs of propulsion 
no wings no control surfaces and yet still can

00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:38.639
defy the natural effects of earth's gravity that's 
precisely what we're seeing elizondo tells us atip

00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:45.599
was a loose-knit mix of scientists electro-optical 
engineers avionics and intelligence experts

00:02:45.599 --> 00:02:52.159
often working part-time they comb through 
data and records and analyzed videos like this

00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:00.000
a navy air crew struggles to lock onto

00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:04.000
a fast-moving object off the 
u.s atlantic coast in 2015.

00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:13.680
recently released images may not convince ufo 
skeptics but the pentagon admits it doesn't know

00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:23.680
what in the world this is or this or this so what 
do you say to the skeptics it's refracted light

00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:32.479
weather balloons a rocket being launched 
venus in some cases there are are simple

00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:38.959
explanations for what people are witnessing but 
there are some that that are not we're not just

00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:43.360
simply jumping to a conclusion that's saying 
oh that's a uap out there we're going through

00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:48.000
our due diligence is it some sort of new type of 
cruise missile technology that china has developed

00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:53.759
is it some sort of high altitude balloon that's 
conducting reconnaissance ultimately when you

00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:59.599
have exhausted all those what-ifs and you're 
still left with with the fact that this is in

00:03:59.599 --> 00:04:05.439
our airspace and it's real that's when it becomes 
compelling and that's when it becomes problematic

00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:12.079
former navy pilot lieutenant ryan graves 
calls whatever is out there a security risk

00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:20.079
he told us his f-18 squadron began seeing uaps 
hovering over restricted airspace southeast of

00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:27.199
virginia beach in 2014 when they updated their 
jets radar making it possible to zero in with

00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:33.920
infrared targeting cameras so you're seeing it 
both with the radar and with the infrared and that

00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:40.160
tells you that there is something out there pretty 
hard to spoof that these photographs were taken

00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:47.439
in 2019 in the same area the pentagon confirms 
these are images of objects it can't identify

00:04:48.079 --> 00:04:54.399
lieutenant graves told us pilots training off the 
atlantic coast see things like that all the time

00:04:55.199 --> 00:05:01.120
every day every day for at least a couple years 
wait a minute every day for a couple of years

00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:06.720
you know i don't see an exhaust pool 
including this one off the coast of

00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:12.560
jacksonville florida in 2015 captured on a 
targeting camera by members of graves squadron

00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:17.759
it's rotating oh my gosh

00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:26.480
they're all going against the wind the wind's 120 
out of the west you can sort of hear a surprise

00:05:26.480 --> 00:05:31.520
in their voices you certainly can they seem to 
have broke character a bit uh and we're just kind

00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:36.079
of amazed at what they were seeing what do you 
think when you see something like this this is

00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:42.399
a difficult one to explain you have rotation you 
have high altitudes you have propulsion right i

00:05:42.399 --> 00:05:48.479
don't know i don't know what it is frankly he told 
us pilots speculate they are one of three things

00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:57.040
secret u.s technology an adversary spy vehicle 
or something otherworldly i'd say you know the

00:05:57.040 --> 00:06:03.040
highest probability is it's a threat observation 
program could it be russian or chinese technology

00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:09.279
i don't see why not are you alarmed i i 
am worried uh frankly you know if these

00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:12.959
were tactical jets from another country that were 
hanging out up there it would be a massive issue

00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:17.039
but because it looks slightly different we're 
not willing to actually look at the problem in

00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:22.080
the face uh we're we're happy to just ignore 
the fact that these are out there watching us

00:06:22.079 --> 00:06:27.359
every day the government has ignored it at 
least publicly since closing its project

00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:34.080
blue book investigation in 1969 but that began to 
change after an incident off southern california

00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:40.719
in 2004 which was documented by radar 
by camera and four naval aviators

00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:47.360
we spoke to two of them david fravor a graduate of 
the top gun naval flight school and commander of

00:06:47.360 --> 00:06:54.080
the f-18 squadron on the uss nimitz and flying 
at his wing lieutenant alex dietrich who has

00:06:54.079 --> 00:07:00.479
never spoken publicly about the encounter i 
never wanted to be on national tv no offense

00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:06.000
so why are you doing this because i was 
in a government aircraft because i was on

00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:12.000
the clock and so i feel a responsibility to 
to share what i can and it is unclassified

00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:20.160
it was november 2004 and the uss nimitz 
carrier strike group was training about

00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:26.800
100 miles southwest of san diego for a week 
the advanced new radar on a nearby ship

00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:33.280
the uss princeton had detected what operators 
called multiple anomalous aerial vehicles over

00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:42.000
the horizon descending 80 000 feet in less than 
a second on november 14 fravor and dietrich

00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:48.639
each with a weapon system officer in the back 
seat were diverted to investigate they found an

00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:55.039
area of roiling white water the size 
of a 737 in an otherwise calm blue sea

00:07:55.839 --> 00:08:03.679
so as we're looking at this her backseater says 
hey skipper do you and about that got out i said

00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:09.600
dude do you do you see that thing down there and 
we saw this little white tic-tac-looking object

00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:14.240
and it's just kind of moving above the 
white water area as dietrich circled above

00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:20.480
fravor went in for a closer look sort of spiraling 
down the tic-tacs don't point north-south it goes

00:08:21.920 --> 00:08:26.879
and just turns abruptly and starts mirroring 
me so as i'm coming down it starts coming up

00:08:26.879 --> 00:08:31.680
so it's it's mimicking your moves yeah it was 
aware we were there he said it was about the

00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:38.240
size of his f-18 with no markings no wings no 
exhaust plumes too i'll see how close i can get

00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:43.919
so i go like this and it's climbing still and when 
it gets right in front of me it just disappears

00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:52.000
disappears disappears like gone it had sped 
off what are you thinking so your mind tries

00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:57.360
to make sense of it i'm going to categorize 
this as maybe a helicopter or maybe a drone

00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:04.079
and when it disappeared i mean it was just 
did your backseaters see this too yeah oh yeah

00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:08.800
there was four of us in the airplanes literally 
watching this thing for roughly about five minutes

00:09:08.799 --> 00:09:15.599
seconds later the princeton reacquired the 
target 60 miles away another crew managed to

00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:21.440
briefly lock onto it with a targeting camera 
before it zipped off again you know i think

00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:27.040
that over beers we've sort of said hey man if 
i saw this solo i don't know that i would have

00:09:27.039 --> 00:09:32.399
come back and said anything because it sounds so 
crazy when i say it you understand that reaction

00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:37.280
i do you've had some people tell me you 
know when you say that you can sound crazy

00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:43.919
i'll be i'm not a ufo guy but from what 
i hear you guys saying there's something

00:09:45.039 --> 00:09:48.639
yes oh there's there's definitely something 
that i don't know who's building it

00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:53.120
who's got the technology who's got the brains 
but there's there's something out there that

00:09:54.000 --> 00:10:01.519
was better in our airplane the air crew filed 
reports then like the mysterious flying object

00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:07.439
the nimitz encounter disappeared nothing 
was said or done officially for five years

00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:14.399
until lou elizondo came across the story and 
investigated we spend millions of dollars in

00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:19.600
training these these pilots and they are seeing 
something that they can't explain furthermore

00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:24.399
that information is being backed up on electro 
optical data like gun camera footage and by

00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:31.600
radar data now to me that's compelling inside the 
pentagon his findings were met with skepticism

00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:38.480
atip's funding was eliminated in 2012 but elizondo 
says he and a handful of others kept the mission

00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:46.159
alive until finally frustrated he quit the 
pentagon in 2017 but not before getting these

00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:53.039
three videos declassified and then things took 
a stranger turn i tried to help my colleague

00:10:53.039 --> 00:10:57.439
lou elizondo elevate the issue in the department 
and actually get it to the secretary of defense

00:10:57.440 --> 00:11:02.240
christopher millen served as deputy assistant 
secretary of defense for intelligence for

00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:08.399
presidents clinton and george w bush and 
had access to top secret government programs

00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:13.279
so it's not us that's one thing we know we know 
that i could say that with very high degree of

00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:19.120
confidence in part because of the positions i held 
in the department and i know the process mellon

00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:27.279
says he grew concerned nothing was being done 
about uaps so he decided to do something in 2017

00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:34.159
as a private citizen he surreptitiously acquired 
the three navy videos elizondo had declassified

00:11:34.159 --> 00:11:41.600
and leaked them to the new york times it's bizarre 
and unfortunate that someone like myself has to do

00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:47.120
something like that to get a national security 
issue like this on the agenda he joined forces

00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:53.279
with now civilian lou elizondo and they started 
to tell their story to anybody who would listen

00:11:53.279 --> 00:11:59.199
to newspapers the history channel to members of 
congress we knew and understood that you had to

00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:03.759
go to the public get the public interested to 
get congress interested to then circle back

00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:10.159
to the defense department and get them to start 
taking a look at it and now it is this past august

00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:17.759
the pentagon resurrected atip it's now called the 
uap task force service members now are encouraged

00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:24.080
to report strange encounters and the senate 
wants answers anything that enters an airspace

00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:29.680
that's not supposed to be there is a threat 
after receiving classified briefings on uaps

00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:36.639
senator marco rubio called for a detailed analysis 
this past december while he was still head of the

00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:42.240
intelligence committee he asked the director of 
national intelligence and the pentagon to present

00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:48.879
congress an unclassified report by next month 
this is a bizarre issue the pentagon and other

00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:55.120
branches of the military have a long history of 
sort of dismissing this what makes you think that

00:12:55.120 --> 00:12:59.200
this time is going to be different i mean we're 
going to find out when we get that report you know

00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:03.120
there's a stigma on capitol hill i mean some of my 
colleagues are very interested in this topic and

00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:08.240
some kind of you know giggle when you when 
you bring it up but i i don't think we can

00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:12.320
allow the stigma to keep us from having an 
answer to a very fundamental question what do

00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:17.120
you want us to do about this i want us to take it 
seriously and have a process to take it seriously

00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:21.679
i want us to have a process to analyze the data 
every time it comes in that there be a place where

00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:27.279
this is cataloged and constantly analyzed until we 
get some answers maybe it has a very simple answer

00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:39.199
maybe it doesn't for more on the nimitz 
encounter i felt the vulnerability of

00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:47.759
not having anything to defend ourselves go to 
60 minutesovertime.com sponsored by colaguard