Teaching Activities for: ‘Glowing Auras and “Black Money”: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program’

Before reading the article:

Watch the video “‘Look at That Thing!’ U.S. Navy Jet Encounters Unknown Object” (above). What do the pilots say they are seeing? What does the object look like? What do you think it is?

Why do you think this footage, from 2004, was released just a few days ago?

Now, read the article, “Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program,” and answer the following questions:

1. What was the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program? When did it start? When was its funding discontinued?

2. Who is Robert Bigelow? What did he tell CBS’s “60 Minutes” in May?

3. Who is Harry Reid? How was he involved with the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program?

4. When did Pentagon officials acknowledge the existence of the program?

5. When did the Air Force begin a series of studies that investigated more than 12,000 claimed U.F.O. sightings? What was the project called? When did those studies end?

6. Why, according to Mr. Reid, were U.F.O. sightings made by pilots not often reported up the military’s chain of command?

Finally, tell us more about what you think:

The article mentions that in addition to military personnel, American scientists and media outlets are reluctant to investigate U.F.O sightings. Mr. Bigelow is quoted as saying there is a fear of being ostracized for doing so.

Now that footage of the 2004 encounter between a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet and an unknown object has been released, do you think there will be less of a stigma about discussing such unexplained phenomena? Why or why not? How do you think U.F.O. debunkers will respond after watching the footage? Explain.