A Pentagon report is detailing a dramatic increase in UFO sightings. More than 350 since 2021. Many of them are explained as being drones, birds or weather events. But about half of them remain unexplained. And the office that tracks these sightings and restricted military airspace says that some, quote, require further analysis. That's an understatement. CNN's space and defense correspondent Kristen Fisher has the details. Boris and Amara, Capitol Hill has been waiting for this report from the office of the Director of National Intelligence or the DNI. And what this report found is that there have been more than 300 new sightings of what the government calls UAPS or unidentified aerial phenomena or more commonly called UFOs. Since the last time that the DOD and I put out a report like this back in 20, 21.
Back then, the odd and I could not explain 144 sightings of UAPs this time. Now they can't explain 171 of them in one part of the report that really stands out is this one. It says that some of these uncharacterized UAPs appear to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities and require further analysis. So is it advanced U.S. technology, is it advanced technology from a foreign adversary like perhaps China or Russia, or is it extraterrestrial in origin or something else entirely? We just don't know. And the U.S. government says that it doesn't know either, or at least it will not say so publicly in this unclassified report. But they did give some explanations for about 163 of the sightings that have been detailed in this report. And here's how they explained those The vast majority are either balloons or balloon entities. A handful were drones. Another handful were what they called airborne clutter, things like birds, weather events or airborne debris, like plastic bags. So the bottom line here, members of Congress say that this is a step in the right direction to reducing the stigma associated with reporting sightings of UAPS.
It's also a step in the right direction to enhancing national security, because remember, a lot of these sightings happen right around military bases or assets but while it's a step in the right direction, members of Congress say the Pentagon, the Office of the director of National Intelligence, still have a long way to go to giving them the answers that they ultimately want..
