美国国家公共电台 NPR 'I Don't Know Where It's From': Former UFO Program Head On Navy Jet Footage

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Now let's meet a man who has spent years trying to learn about UFOs. Luis Elizondo ran a Pentagon office that investigated sightings by the United States military. It had millions of dollars in funding up until 2012. Though the funding was cut, the work continued and the office was still operating when Elizondo left the Pentagon earlier this year. He's now talking about his experiences. He says American pilots and others reported UFO sightings despite the fear that they'd be laughed at, and a sophisticated group of analysts¹ tried to understand what was being seen.

LUIS ELIZONDO: We had Ph.D.s, we had CI people, we had trained intelligence officers and human case officers - pretty much a full range of talent. Most of us tend to be, by nature, skeptical² because we are in the field of intelligence and, of course, national security. But I think once you get into the data itself and the specifics regarding what we're actually seeing, we begin to realize that there may be something here a little bit more than just, you know, what people think are drones or whatever people may chalk it up to be.

INSKEEP: So let's hear one of the videos that your office has examined. And this is taken at an undisclosed time and location, but it appears to have been taken by the gun cameras, the cameras onboard a U.S. military F-18 fighter plane. Let's listen.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: There's a whole fleet of them. Look on the (unintelligible). My gosh, they're all going against the wind. The wind's 120 miles to the west.

INSKEEP: There's some kind of object. It's above the cloud cover. It's moving in an unusual way for an aircraft. It seems to be some kind of oval, and it even starts to rotate at some point. And there's a mystery about how it could even fly. So when you receive a video like that, what did you do?

ELIZONDO: Well, first of all, we looked at it and we wanted to make sure that it was authentic³. Is this video coming from a true DOD platform? Then what we do is we apply some analytics that allow us to look at range, altitude. What was the aircraft doing that we were flying? You know, who's flying it under what conditions, see states? So there's a lot of things that play into what we're looking at. And then at that point, we try to look at what we were seeing on the video and cross reference that to anything that we may know that is currently in our inventory⁴.

So whether they be drones, commercial aircraft, military aircraft, missiles, whatever they may be, there is a great deal of effort by the department to make sure that we always can identify what is flying, whether it's in our airspace or any other airspace. So that's very important.

INSKEEP: I'm thinking about with football, if there's a controversial play, you can get the instant replay and look at it from different angles. I guess if you have a video like that from a pilot, you can ask, what did radar⁵ see? What did a satellite see? What did other forms of sensors⁶ see?

ELIZONDO: Absolutely, right. So it's really cross-referenced. There's a lot of rigor⁷ and diligence that's placed in looking at these. And there are some - I'll tell you, there's some real talent in the department and in other agencies within the U.S. government that have just an absolute incredible battery of tools to apply towards these things to make sure that we know what we're looking at. And truth be told, sometimes we do. We look and say, oh, that's X, Y, Z and the reason why it looks this way is because of A, B, C. But unfortunately, there are other incidents that can't be explained. And our job is to do is figure out - really it's very simple - what is it and how does it work?

INSKEEP: So I'm thinking that even if you apply all the science and come up with an object that is still unexplained, unidentified, it could be something other than from outer space, so to speak. It could be part of the air force of another country. It could be an atmospheric⁸ phenomenon. For all I know, it could be something done by a part of the U.S. government that's so secret, other parts of the government don't know. But then again, it could be something from another planet, from somewhere else. Do you believe that some of these objects have come from somewhere other than Earth?

ELIZONDO: Look, we can say all day long that it could be an atmosphere condition. We can say all day long that it could be an advanced aerospace⁹ test from another part of the government. But you're not just going to go ahead and test something willy-nilly in the vicinity of other major DOD muscle movements. So if you're asking my personal opinion, is it from here? OK, I've got to be honest with you. I don't know where it's from but we're pretty sure it's not here. Now, does that mean it's out there or, you know, whether or not it's Russian or Chinese inside or little green men from Mars or, frankly¹⁰, your neighbor's dog, I wanted to purposely steer¹¹ away from that because I wanted to focus on truly the raw science.

What were we seeing and did it pose a threat to national security?

INSKEEP: Luis Elizondo is the former head of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program at the Pentagon. Thank you, Sir.

ELIZONDO: Yes, Sir. Thank you.

1 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

2 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

3 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。

4 inventory   

n.详细目录，存货清单

参考例句：

• Some stores inventory their stock once a week.有些商店每周清点存货一次。
• We will need to call on our supplier to get more inventory.我们必须请供应商送来更多存货。

5 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

6 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

7 rigor   

n.严酷，严格，严厉

参考例句：

• Their analysis lacks rigor.他们的分析缺乏严谨性。||The crime will be treated with the full rigor of the law.这一罪行会严格依法审理。

8 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

9 aerospace   

adj.航空的，宇宙航行的

参考例句：

• The world's entire aerospace industry is feeling the chill winds of recession.全世界的航空航天工业都感受到了经济衰退的寒意。
• Edward Murphy was an aerospace engineer for the US Army.爱德华·墨菲是一名美军的航宇工程师。

10 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

11 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。