"On 16 December 2017, The New York Times beganpublishing a series of investigative reports confirming what conspiracy theorists had long believed. There was a 'secret programme' hidden within the US Department of Defense that had investigated unidentified flying objects. From offices on the fifth floor of the Pentagon, the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) had uncovered remarkable evidence of what it called unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), including videos of craft resembling Tic Tac mints that moved with seemingly impossible speed and agility."
"But what's odd about all this isn't just the evidence. It's our collective response. More than half of Americans, not to mention millions or even billions of people around the world, believe that UFOs probably confirm the existence of intelligent alien life. Yet, most of us probably don't think much about secret Pentagon programmes or impossible craft. Isn't that strange?"
In December 2017 investigative reporting revealed a secret Department of Defense program, the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), that investigated unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). AATIP collected videos and other evidence, including craft resembling Tic Tac mints that displayed seemingly impossible speed and agility. Military officers later claimed that secret programs had reverse-engineered alleged extraterrestrial technology and recovered alien bodies. By the early 2020s hundreds of images and videos emerged, many unexplained. In 2025 further footage showed a Tic Tac-shaped object apparently resisting a Hellfire missile. High-ranking officers have covertly discussed UAP, sometimes as covers for classified weapons programs.
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