The department hopes to track the unidentified flying objects and protect citizens from a potential threat.
The Department of Defense announced Tuesday that it created a new task force to boldly go where they have not gone before and track UFOs, in an effort learn more about the potential phenomena as well as protect citizens from a potential threat, CBS News reported.
Defense and intelligence officials will oversee the new task force.
The task force, called Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG), was announced Tuesday to "synchronize" Washington's efforts to "detect, identify and attribute objects of interests in Special Use Airspace," and "assess and mitigate any associated threats to safety of flight and national security,” the department said in a statement.
In their statement, the Defense Department said that the AOIMSG was also created to trace potential security risks.
“Incursions by any airborne object into our SUA pose safety of flight and operations security concerns, and may pose national security challenges. DOD takes reports of incursions – by any airborne object, identified or unidentified – very seriously, and investigates each one,” they said.
The task force comes after the office of the U.S. Director of National Intelligence made public for the first time this summer the report examining "unidentified aerial phenomena," telling Congress that it could not draw "firm conclusions" on more than 140 instances.
"In a limited number of incidents, UAP reportedly appeared to exhibit unusual flight characteristics. These observations could be the result of sensor errors, spoofing, or observer misperception and require additional rigorous analysis," the report reads.
United States intelligence officials have said that there is no evidence that unexplained aerial objects observed in recent years belong to aliens, but they are still seeking answers to 120 other incidents witnessed over the years which have since puzzled scientists and officials, according to senior authorities.
"This report is an important first step in cataloging these incidents, but it is just a first step. The Defense Department and Intelligence Community have a lot of work to do before we can actually understand whether these aerial threats present a serious national security concern," Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the ranking member and former chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement following the release of the report.
An official familiar with the report told CBS in June there is no evidence that the objects are extraterrestrial, but also acknowledged that there are still dozens of cases that haven't been explained.
Strange objects, including one that was spinning and rotating, appeared in the skies from summer 2014 to March 2015 over the East Coast, according to previous reports.
Related Stories
