CNN/Department of Defense
Still from a video showing a UFO filmed near San Diego in 2004, which was released by the Department of Defense in 2017
- Three US senators received a classified briefing Wednesday about an increase in UFO sightings by Navy personnel, Politico reported.
- In April, the Pentagon said there had been an increase in reported UFO sightings, with pilots reporting seeing cylindrical shaped objects flying at hypersonic speed off the US east coast.
- The Pentagon in 2017 set up a special program to investigate the increase in UFO sightings.
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Three US Senators received a classified briefing about UFOs seen travelling at hypersonic speed by US Navy pilots, congressional and government officials told Politico.
A spokesman for Senator Mark Warner, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, confirmed to the outlet that the Virginia Democrat was among those present at the briefing.
"If naval pilots are running into unexplained interference in the air, that's a safety concern Senator Warner believes we need to get to the bottom of," his spokesperson, Rachel Cohen, said in a statement.
In April, the US Navy reported that there had been an increase in the number of sightings of UFOs by its pilots - though it said there was no reason to believe they were extraterrestrial in origin.
REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein
Sen. Mark Warner was one of those briefed on the increase in UFO sightings.
The Navy said in a statement that there had been "a number of reports of unauthorized and/or unidentified aircraft entering various military-controlled ranges and designated air space in recent years.
It said it had updated its procedures for personnel to report UFO sightings in response to the incidents.
According to the New York Times, a number of pilots have reported close encounters with unidentified objects which flew close to their aircraft. Pilots described to the Times seeing objects that were cylindrical in shape, performing impossible maneuvers at high speed off the east coast of the US.
In 2017, the Pentagon set up a program to study increased number of sightings of UFOs travelling at high speeds and performing seemingly strange maneuvers in protected military airspace.
The program was set up following a request by former Democratic Senator Harry Reid of Nevada.
President Donald Trump in a recent interview with ABC News claimed that he "doesn't particularly" believe in UFOs when asked about the recent sightings by US Navy pilots.