So Apparently There Are UFOs or Whatever

So, Harry Reid inserted a $22 million program deep in the fine-print of the Defense budget (so that no one could find it or question it) mostly paid out to a billionaire aerospace magnate (and Harry Reid's chum) to investigate claimed sightings of UFOs.

The Defense Department has never before acknowledged the existence of the program, which it says it shut down in 2012. But its backers say that, while the Pentagon ended funding for the effort at that time, the program remains in existence. For the past five years, they say, officials with the program have continued to investigate episodes brought to them by service members, while also carrying out their other Defense Department duties.

The shadowy program -- parts of it remain classified -- began in 2007, and initially it was largely funded at the request of Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat who was the Senate majority leader at the time and who has long had an interest in space phenomena. Most of the money went to an aerospace research company run by a billionaire entrepreneur and longtime friend of Mr. Reid's, Robert Bigelow, who is currently working with NASA to produce expandable craft for humans to use in space.

On CBS's "60 Minutes" in May, Mr. Bigelow said he was "absolutely convinced" that aliens exist and that U.F.O.s have visited Earth.

CNN reports that they used the secret budget of the Department of Defense to hide the spending on Harry Reid's pal's hobby:

And working to keep a program that he was sure would draw scrutiny from others, Reid said he, Stevens and Inouye made sure there was never any public debate about the program on the Senate floor during budget debates.

"This was so-called black money," Reid told the Times regarding the Defense Department budget for classified programs.

Below, one video released, taken by an F/A-18 Hornet's camera, of a strange shape that looks to me like some kind of optical defect.

But your mileage -- or should I say, parsecage -- may vary.

posted by Ace at 06:18 PM

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