Published in American Thinker dot com
by Robert Arvay
Absence of evidence, is not evidence of absence, according
to the adage. AARO (All-domain Anomaly
Resolution Office) seems a little bit unclear on that.
The recent statement of the official government "UFO
Hunters," AARO, is that it has not
found any “empirical” evidence of any technology "not of this
earth." If, by evidence, one means incontrovertible, physical
proof beyond any doubt, then, yes, we have no evidence. If instead, one uses a more reasonable
definition, such as credible eye witness accounts by experts, by means of air,
ground and radar observations, all at the same time and place, then there are
massive amounts of evidence, and the reports keep coming in.
None of which are proof, but many of them are indeed
evidence.
AARO, almost from its beginning, has suffered from what
might be called, a lack of candor, when making statements to the public. It dutifully reports, and correctly so, that
the great majority of UFO accounts are readily explainable as ordinary
phenomena—but it gratuitously adds that those few which are not explained,
probably could be, if more data were available.
“Probably could be” is not a scientific statement, and does not reflect
the rigorous, disciplined analysis which
AARO claims as its mantle. Moreover, it
sounds very much as if its conclusions have already been reached beforehand.
For context, remember that AARO is dealing with a subject
matter that could potentially change the course of human history. It deserves much more intensity than a routine
procedural inquiry. If it actually does
find, and reports, that there is a significant likelihood that even one UFO
sighting, even without proof, is evidence of interplanetary spacecraft from
another planet—one cannot overstate the implications. AARO’s secondary mission, then, is to instill
confidence in the public mind that it has no hesitation in reporting all the
facts, accurately, no matter what they are, nor whose apple cart is upset.
Is it doing that?
No. From its
beginning, AARO was openly disinterested in revisiting government records of
past UFO reports, and instead stated that it would be focusing only on new
reports as they come in. In open
testimony before Congress, some officials amazingly seemed unaware of the
cumulative historical data that are available, much of it professionally
documented, which might offer clues not only as to what UFOs are, but how best
to proceed investigating them. When
pressed, they reluctantly agreed to “look into” reports that congressmen
specifically mentioned, but seemed remarkably incurious. There was no indication that they would be
turning over every stone. The attitude
seemed to be, that’s not my job, but if you really must insist, a routine
inquiry will be made; we hope that satisfies you.
At the least, knowing what mistakes have been made in the
past (such as intimidating witnesses, jumping to conclusions, and failing to
gather all available data), can be used to create effective protocols and
policies going forward. Numerous
forensic clues for which technology did not exist in the 1950s might be applied
now, to what criminologists might call, cold cases. Possibly, they could solve some of the most
spectacular UFO sightings, for example those which occurred over
the White House decades ago. Doesn’t
AARO consider that worth looking into?
Apparently not.
That lack of interest in historical context is a glaring
omission, which AARO seems, appallingly, to shrug off.
It is no wonder, then, that some potential witnesses
indicate a distrust of AARO, and therefore, will not report to it. If “the truth is out there,” then the
bureaucratic attitude might be, that’s a good place for it.
The situation is made more complicated by hordes of
hoaxsters and UFO cultists, who clutter up the files with false and misleading
reports. Unfortunately, there is a
tendency to indict honest and competent reports by association with them.
The UFO phenomenon, whatever it turns out to be, if ever we
find out what it is, may fall into the category of so-called “far out physics,”
something so unlike what we might expect, that we have nothing in our
experience to which to relate it. For
example, dark matter, dark energy, and singularities in the cosmos, are in that
category. Our best scientists have
failed to solve those mysteries.
Until we get a reliable agency, with aggressive methods of
getting at the truth, we may not know whether we are simply uninformed, perhaps
by an incompetent agency, or are being stonewalled. AARO can do much to dispel such notions, but
only by expressing more curiosity about UFOs.
In order to succeed, it needs to go where no investigation has gone
before.