Decade
UAP history in the 2000s: 11 entries in date order, each with public sources. By track: Government (5), Military (2), Sightings (2), Skinwalker Ranch (1), Experiencers (1).
A Mexican Air Force surveillance plane on a drug patrol recorded up to 11 lights visible only in infrared over Campeche. The Defense Ministry gave the video to a UFO researcher, and it aired in May 2004; a later analysis argued the lights were distant oil-platform flares.
Navy F/A-18F crews from the USS Nimitz strike group, cued by the cruiser USS Princeton's radar, reported intercepting a smooth white object they could not identify. Another crew recorded the infrared video the Pentagon later released as FLIR1.
Former NIDS deputy administrator Colm Kelleher and Las Vegas reporter George Knapp published Hunt for the Skinwalker, describing incidents the authors say NIDS researchers recorded at the Utah ranch, including UFO sightings, unknown animals and cattle mutilations.
After a Freedom of Information request, Britain's Ministry of Defence released Project Condign, a Defence Intelligence Staff study of UFO reports completed in December 2000. It said sightings could be explained by natural causes such as meteors and unusual atmospheric conditions.
United Airlines employees reported a dark, disc-shaped object hovering over gate C17 at O'Hare before shooting up through the clouds. The FAA said radar showed nothing unusual and suggested a weather phenomenon. The Chicago Tribune broke the story in January 2007.
Chris Bledsoe of Hope Mills, North Carolina, says that on a fishing trip on the Cape Fear River he saw glowing orbs and lost several hours. He later self-published a book about this and later experiences; his account has not been independently verified.
Several dozen people around Stephenville, including a county constable, reported a large, quiet, low object with shifting lights, some saying jets chased it. The Air Force Reserve's 301st Fighter Wing first said none of its planes were there, then said 10 F-16s had been training in the area.
The UK Ministry of Defence began releasing its UFO files through The National Archives website, starting with sighting reports and MoD assessments dating back to the 1970s. The program ran until a tenth and final release in June 2013.
The Defense Intelligence Agency contracted Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies of Las Vegas for the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program, officially a study of future aerospace threats. It produced dozens of technical papers; funding of about $22 million ended in 2012.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wrote to Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn asking for a restricted special access program for parts of the DIA aerospace study he called AATIP, citing sensitive findings. A November 2009 DIA review found no justification for the protection.
The Ministry of Defence closed its UFO desk, hotline and email address after officials advised that no UFO report in over 50 years had shown a threat to the UK. The MoD stopped investigating sightings; files on the closure were released in 2013.
