UFO reports and atomic sites

By 1947, US national security concerns led to unprecedented scrutiny of airspace near US atomic sites and increased media coverage of UFO reports in US airspace.

File:Japanese fire balloon Moffett.jpg

Atomic weapons were developed by the US Military during World War Two as a part of the Manhattan Project.The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects Uranium enrichment was performed at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, while plutonium production took place at Hanford, Washington. Bomb design and construction took place at Los Alamos, New Mexico. As a result, air power had increased greatly in both lethality and range over the course of World War Two: At the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack, 350 Japanese aircraft killed 2,500 people in a sneak attack after flying a few hundred miles, but by the 1945 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, just two American bombers killed up to 250,000 people after flying a full 1,500 miles.{{cite web |title=Frequently Asked Questions about the Atomic-bomb Survivor Research Program |url=https://www.rerf.or.jp/en/faq/ |access-date=10 March 2025|publisher=Radiation Effects Research Foundation (Formerly known as the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC))}}

During the war, Japan deployed intercontinental balloon bombs that started wildfires and in one case even took out power at the Hanford plutonium production facility; a domestic censorship campaign successfully prevented Japan from learning the weapons had, in fact, reached the United States. Inspired by the Japanese balloons, the US created their own high-flying balloons in Project Mogul, an attempt to detect potential Soviet atomic tests.{{cite book |last=McAndrew |first=James |url=https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/FOID/Reading%20Room/UFOsandUAPs/RoswellReportCaseClosed.pdf?ver=2017-05-22-113519-430 |title=The Roswell Report: Case Closed |date=1997 |publisher=US Government Printing Office |isbn=978-0-16-049018-7 |location=Washington, DC}}

Meanwhile, Germany had developed rockets, jet fighters, and designs for an intercontinental bomber. Soviet and American governments both learned of Axis technical advances and employed Axis scientists in their race for technical superiority after the war.

Direct US atomic attack against Soviets had been a possibility since 1945, when the nation unveiled the first intercontinental bomber, able to reach the Soviet Union from American soil.[https://archive.org/details/1946-08-15_Biggest_Bomber "Video: Biggest Bomber, 1946/08/15."] Universal Newsreel, 1946. Retrieved: 20 February 2012. By 1946, Army officials feared a Soviet surprise attack on US atomic facilities.Peebles, p. 90 Soviet bombers had developed the range to strike Hanford and still return to base, or even to strike Los Alamos or Oak Ridge in a one-way attack. Atomic sites were among the first places in the United States to operate radar, supported by spotters for visual confirmation and squadrons of fighters to defend against potential threats.

The start of the Cold War in the summer of 1947 affected how media covered reports of unidentified things in the sky. In earlier eras, such reports were covered as religion, folklore, or tall tales, but the development of atomic weapons and intercontinental vehicles meant even a small number of adversarial overflights could have huge national security implications. Writing in 2020, Skeptical Inquirer author Eric Wojciechowski argued: "From all the available evidence, it appears that in 1947, the U.S. military was accepting anecdotal reports of flying saucers at face value. Perhaps they did so as a precaution to ensure no foreign threats were present. Missing something such as advanced enemy aircraft over one’s own territory could have been disastrous."{{cite web | url=https://skepticalinquirer.org/2020/03/general-nathan-f-twining-and-the-flying-disc-problem-of-1947/ | title=General Nathan F. Twining and the Flying Disc Problem of 1947 | Skeptical Inquirer | date=3 March 2020 }}

Since 1947, public discourse has linked some notable UFO incident and atomic sites.

{{main|Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting|1947 flying disc craze}}

{{Location map+|Washington|width=250|float = right|caption=Kenneth Arnold reported witnessing nine discs flying from Mount Rainier to Mount Adams at speeds he calculated to be supersonic. By July 6, 1947, national media suggested the relative proxmity to the Hanford plutonium plant might be significant.|places=

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Early in 1947, the Army and Navy independently announced plans to break the sound barrier before the end of the year. {{cite web | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-miami-news-baggsfeb21947fastert/19607187/ | title=Baggs_Feb_2_1947_Faster_Than_Sound | work=The Miami News | date=2 February 1947 | page=85 }}{{cite web | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-idaho-statesman-on-the-line/169324044/ | title=On the LIne | work=The Idaho Statesman | date=26 March 1947 | page=4 }} On June 24, Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine objects flying between Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams {{ndash}} a distance of 42 miles {{ndash}} in the span of 102 seconds. If Arnold's report were correct, the objects had been traveling at a supersonic rate of 1,200 miles per hours, nearly double the then-current airspeed record of 623 miles per hour.{{cite web | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-greenville-news-1200-miles-hour-fl/169396163/ | title=1,200-Miles Hour 'Flying Saucers' Not of This World | work=The Greenville News | date=27 June 1947 | page=8 }}

Unlike prior stories of unexplained airborne sightings, Arnold's report was covered in media nation-wide. An Army spokesman in D.C. told press that the only known object capable of those speeds was a V-2 rocket, which they argued would not be mistaken for a disc-shaped aircraft.{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1091169071/|title=Jun 26, 1947, page 1 - The Oregon Daily Journal at Newspapers.com - Newspapers.com|website=www.newspapers.com}}

The sound barrier would not actually be broken for another four months, until October 11 when American test pilot Chuck Yeager piloted the rocket-propelled Bell X-1.{{cite web | url=http://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-transcript-crashing-the-barrie/170057624/ | title=Crashing the Barrier | work=The Times-Transcript | date=23 December 1947 | page=4 }}{{cite web | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-times/43665369/ | title=Article clipped from the Daily Times | work=The Daily Times | date=22 December 1947 | page=9 }} When Aviation Magazine reported on the record-breaking flight in December 1947, the Air Force denied the claim; the Air Force would not announce the achievement until the following June.{{cite web | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-star-jet-xs-1-passes-sound-barri/170058791/ | title=Jet XS-1 Passes Sound Barrier in Level Flight | work=Evening star | date=10 June 1948 | page=1 }}

{{main|Roswell incident}}

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|alt=Map of New Mexico showing the locations of 8 air fields

|caption=Roswell was one of many Army airfields in New Mexico when debris was recovered from a ranch near Corona. Researchers at Alamogordo Air Field, less than {{convert|150|miles|km}} from Roswell, were launching classified balloons during the prior weeks.

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After debris was found on a Corona ranch in New Mexico, on July 8, press announced that Army Air Forces at Roswell had recovered a "flying disc". Press at the time noted the 509th at Roswell was the Army's atomic bomb group. {{cite web | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-herald-flying-disk-is-found-on/170059941/ | title=Flying Disk is Found on Ranch in New Mexico | work=The Daily Herald | date=8 July 1947 | page=1 }} In subsequent decades, Roswell status as only unit charged with atomic weapons delivery gave rise legends arose that the Corona debris was linked to atomic bombers at Roswell, but Corona was actually a great distance from Roswell, and two other Army Air Fields were closer to the debris site than Roswell was.

Initially dismissed as a weather balloon, by the 1970s Air Force Officers began to admit the weather balloon story had been part of a cover-up. In the 1990s, an Air Force report concluded the debris had come from a Project Mogul balloon designed to detect Soviet atomic tests. Mogul Balloons, like the Japanese Fu-Go balloons that inspired them, were top secret.

During the 1947 craze, flying discs and atomic weaponry became linked in the public consciousness.G. Arnold, Ch. 12 On July 6, headlines proclaimed "Discs Atom Products, A-Bomb Scientist Says". Articles cited an unnamed "noted scientist in nuclear physics" affiliated with CalTech who had been part of the Manhattan Project. The scientist declared "People are not 'seeing things'" and said flatly that experiments in "transmutation of atomic energy" being conducted at Muroc Lake California; White Sands, New Mexico; Portland, Oregon, and elsewhere are responsible for the "flying discs".While Portland is not typically associated with atomic research, national media stories about Hanford often carried the dateline of Portland. In [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-escanaba-daily-press-plant-in-portla/170352771/ one case], a headline misstated the location of the first atomic energy plant as being Portland, rather than Hanford. Papers observed that the "... bulk of the flying disc reports have generated in a wide circle through Idaho, Washington, and Oregon surrounding the Hanford works".{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/182928820/|title=6 Jul 1947, Page 17 - Star Tribune |website=Newspapers.com}}

Col. F. J. Clarke, commander of Hanford, denied knowledge of any connection. Harold Urey, atomic scientist in Chicago, dismissed the report as "gibberish", as did Atomic Energy Commission chair David E. Lilienthal.

{{main|Mantell UFO incident}}

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Fighters at Fort Knox, Kentucky were tasked with providing air defense to the Oak Ridge facility. On January 7, 1948, a flight of four fighters were dispatched to pursue a UFO. One pilot, 25-year-old Captain Thomas F. Mantell, climbed to above 22,000 feet; his wingman did not follow him as neither plane was equipped with oxygen to allow flight at that altitude. Mantell crashed to his death, presumably after having lost consciousness due to lack of oxygen.{{cite book |last=Peebles |first=Curtis |author-link=Curtis Peebles |date=1994 |title=Watch the Skies! A Chronicle of the Flying Saucer Myth |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |isbn=1-56098-343-4 |chapter=Chapter 3: The Classics |at="The Death of Mantell". p. 18–21 |section-url=https://archive.org/details/watchskieschroni0000peeb_k3q2/page/18/mode/1up}} The Air Force later concluded the UFO had been a Skyhook balloon, a classified project that Mantell would have had no knowledge of.

{{Main|Green fireballs}}

{{Location map+|Washington|width=250|float = right|caption=Lincoln LaPaz reported green fireballs near the Hanford plutonium plant might be significant.|places=

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On December 5, 1948, multiple agencies met to investigate the reports by astronomer Lincoln LaPaz of green fireballs near Hanford. By 1949, orders were issued for fighters to fire on any potentially hostile aircraft over Hanford or Oak Ridge.Surpirse attack In the early days of the Korean War, pilots reported UFOs over Hanford; Hanford reports continued through 1950, later joined similar reports over Oak Ridge. Ruppelt detailed two 1952 incidents:

On July 21, a ground observer at Oak Ridge reported a UFO which was allegedly detected on radar. A similar event occurred at Hanford on December 10.Ruppelt,p43

In 1952, the Life Magazine article Have We Visitors From Space? reported that in the fall of 1949, an unnamed Air Force officer charged with "command of the radar equipment that keeps watch over a certain atomic installation" reported an unusual radar return suggesting "five apparently metallic objects" which traversed the 300-mile range of the radar scope in less than four minutes.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8h-jEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA59|title=The Myth and Mystery of UFOs|first=Thomas E.|last=Bullard|date=October 17, 2016|publisher=University Press of Kansas|via=Google Books}} Publicity surrounding the piece is believed to have contributed to the 1952 UFO flap, a subsequent wave of reports that summer.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BBg6AAAAMAAJ|title=The Man in the Thick Lead Suit|first=Daniel|last=Lang|date=March 15, 1954|publisher=Oxford University Press|via=Google Books|page=49}}{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rjwrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA123|title=Implausible Beliefs: In the Bible, Astrology, and UFOs|first=Allan|last=Mazur|date=July 5, 2017|publisher=Routledge|via=Google Books}}{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/watchskieschroni0000peeb_k3q2 |title=Watch the Skies!: A Chronicle of the Flying Saucer Myth |first=Curtis |last=Peebles |date=1994 |publisher=The Smithsonian Institution |location=Washington, DC |isbn=1-56098-343-4}}

The 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still featured a benevolent spaceman who comes to Earth with a warning about atomic weapons. The follow year, new age figure George Adamski began claiming contact with benevolent "space brothers" who were similarly concerned about atomic weapons. Peebles, p. 95

In 1964, a reported UFO incident that took place during a 1964 Air Force deployment to a mountaintop near Big Sur, California. Beginning in 1982, Robert Jacobs, who had overseen the mountaintop team, told of the Big Sur UFO which supposedly interfered with a missile test. Writing in 1993, Kingston George, the project engineer, argued the team had actually recorded the release of decoy warheads and chaff designed to prevent the weapon being intercepted by Soviet defenses.{{cite journal |last1=George |first1=Kingston A. |title=The Big Sur 'UFO': An Identified Fkying Object |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |date=Winter 1993 |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=180–186 |url=https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/1993/01/22165151/p77.pdf}}

{{main|Malmstrom UFO incident}}

In March 1967, UFO reports over a missile complex occurred during a routine malfunction. In the 1990s, retired Air Force personnel claimed the weapons failure was actually caused by a UFO.{{Cite web|url=https://calgaryherald.com/news/seminal-montana-ufo-events-pentagon|title=Nearly six decades after seminal Montana UFO incidents, air force vets brief Pentagon|work=calgaryherald }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ex-air-force-personnel-ufos-deactivated-nukes/|title=Ex-Air Force Personnel: UFOs Deactivated Nukes - CBS News|date=September 28, 2010|website=www.cbsnews.com}}

Astronomer J. Allen Hynek was hired by the Air Force to investigate and debunk UFO reports. On March 24, 1967, Hynek's explanation of a UFO sighting due to "swamp gas" was met with derision. In response, US congressman Gerald Ford called for a formal Congressional investigation into the sightings.Peebles, Watch the Skies "Swamp Gas" p.203-207

By March 1968, Hynek was publicly speculating that UFOs might "be the result of a completely unknown phenomenon which we don't know about nuclear energy".{{cite web | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-miami-herald-ufos-may-be-unknown-phe/169183510/ | title=UFOs May be Unknown Phenomenon from Nuclear Energy, Expert Declares | work=The Miami Herald | date=24 March 1967 | page=138 }}

The Rendlesham Forest incident was a series of reported sightings of unexplained lights near Rendlesham Forest in Suffolk, England, in December 1980, which became linked with UFO landings. The events occurred just outside RAF Woodbridge, which was used at the time by the United States Air Force (USAF). USAF personnel, including deputy base commander Lieutenant Colonel Charles I. Halt, claimed to see things they described as a UFO.{{cite news |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/ufo/10132449/UFO-files-Rendlesham-Forest-incident-remains-Britains-most-tantalising-sighting.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/ufo/10132449/UFO-files-Rendlesham-Forest-incident-remains-Britains-most-tantalising-sighting.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=UFO files: Rendlesham Forest incident remains Britain's most tantalising sighting |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=21 June 2013 |access-date=13 July 2013}}{{cbignore}} and is among the best-known reported UFO events worldwide. It has been compared to the Roswell UFO incident in the United States and is sometimes called "Britain's Roswell".{{cite news| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8202157.stm| title = Minister warned over 'UK Roswell'| access-date = 17 July 2009| date=17 August 2009| work=BBC News}}

In 2003, a legend spread that the 1945 Trinity atomic bomb test had brought down an alien spacecraft.{{Cite news |last=Tumin |first=Remy |date=2023-01-13 |title=Did Aliens Land on Earth in 1945? A Defense Bill Seeks Answers. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/13/us/ufo-new-mexico-congress.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230113195005/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/13/us/ufo-new-mexico-congress.html?smid=tw-share#selection-641.209-645.11 |archive-date=2023-01-13 |access-date=2024-01-18 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{cite book |chapter=Part One 1930-49 / 2. Second World War/Crash Landings |date=2006 |first=Timothy |last=Good |publisher=Pan Books |title=Need to know : UFOs, the Military and Intelligence}}{{cite book |date=2005 |first=Ryan Schuyler |last=Wood |pages=52–57 |publisher=Wood Enterprises |title=Majic eyes only: Earth encounters with extraterrestrial technology |isbn=978-0-9772059-0-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_p92BQAAQBAJ&dq=jose+padilla+remigio+baca&pg=PA57}}

In 2008, Robert Hastings authored UFOs & Nukes: Extraordinary Encounters at Nuclear Weapons Sites.{{cite web |title=UFO expert Robert Hastings to speak at Virginia Tech Nov. 16 |url=https://news.vt.edu/articles/2011/11/110211-dsa-ufoexpert.html |website=news.vt.edu |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Ex-Air Force Personnel: UFOs Deactivated Nukes - CBS News |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ex-air-force-personnel-ufos-deactivated-nukes/ |website=www.cbsnews.com |date=28 September 2010}}{{Cite magazine |last=Ackerman |first=Spencer |title=Tinfoil Tuesdays: UFOs Neutered Nukes, Officers Claim |language=en-US |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/2010/09/tinfoil-tuesdays-ufos-neutered-nukes-air-force-officers-claim/ |access-date=2023-12-05 |issn=1059-1028}} Hastings adapted his book into a documentary film in 2016.

According to former AATIP director Luis Elizondo and former U.S. Air Force personnel{{cite news |title=Ex-Air Force Personnel: UFOs Deactivated Nukes |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ex-air-force-personnel-ufos-deactivated-nukes/ |access-date=10 September 2022 |work=www.cbsnews.com}}{{cite news |title=The Pentagon Is Investigating UFOs That Possibly Turned Off Warheads |url=https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a43033115/pentagon-investigating-ufos-nuclear-warheads/ |access-date=7 April 2025 |work=Popular Mechanics |date=23 February 2023}}{{cite news |last1=Kajal |first1=Kapil |title=UFO turned off 10 nukes, sent 3-word message: Ex USAF captain |url=https://interestingengineering.com/culture/usaf-captain-recalls-ufo-encounter |access-date=7 April 2025 |work=Interesting Engineering |language=en}}{{cite web |last1=Tritten |first1=Travis |title=Air Force Veterans Who Are UFO True Believers Return to Newly Attentive Washington |url=https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/10/19/air-force-veterans-who-are-ufo-true-believers-return-newly-attentive-washington.html |website=Military.com |access-date=10 September 2022 |language=en |date=19 October 2021}}{{cite news |title=Time to talk: 'We are not alone' |url=https://www.wctrib.com/news/the-vault/time-to-talk-we-are-not-alone |access-date=7 April 2025 |work=West Central Tribune |date=12 February 2025 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Chun |first1=Frank |title=UFO believers think aliens will stop nuclear war |url=https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/space/ufo-believers-think-aliens-will-stop-nuclear-war/news-story/133ae70c82dfb22119ed79bfbb400e36 |access-date=10 September 2022}}{{cite news |last1=Jr |first1=Holman W. Jenkins |title=Opinion {{!}} Putin and the UFO Sightings |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/putin-and-the-ufo-puzzle-uap-nuclear-weapons-dni-aliens-military-drones-11657655291 |access-date=10 September 2022 |work=Wall Street Journal |date=12 July 2022 |url-access=subscription}}{{cite web |title=News Conference: The Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP) and Nuclear Weapons – Witness Testimonies |url=https://www.press.org/events/news-conferences/news-conference-unidentified-aerial-phenomenon-uap-and-nuclear-weapons |access-date=11 September 2022}} "UAPs have interfered and actually brought offline [some of the U.S.'] nuclear capabilities".{{cite news |title=Transcript: UFOs & National Security with Luis Elizondo, Former Director, Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2021/06/08/transcript-ufos-national-security-with-luis-elizondo-former-director-advanced-aerospace-threat-identification-program/ |access-date=10 September 2022 |newspaper=Washington Post}}{{cite news |title=UAPs have taken U.S. nuclear capabilities 'offline,' says former AATIP director |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/washington-post-live/wplive/uaps-have-taken-us-nuclear-capabilities-offline-says-former-aatip-director/2021/06/08/26d751bb-4116-4e48-93e7-6c89568ff30a_video.html |access-date=11 September 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}{{cite news |last1=Allen |first1=Nick |title=The Pentagon thinks UFOs may exist after all... and the evidence is growing |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/21/ufo-uap-aliens-report-sightings-us-government-encounters-barack/ |access-date=11 September 2022 |work=The Telegraph |date=21 May 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Turner |first1=Ben |title=Watch live: Pentagon UFO sightings will finally be publicly aired at today's Congressional hearing |url=https://www.livescience.com/first-ufo-hearing-in-50-years |access-date=10 September 2022 |work=livescience.com |date=16 May 2022 |language=en}}

According to Elizondo, George Knapp and others, UFO reports interfered with other major powers' nuclear weapons systems – including putting Soviet ones online or taking control of their launch system.{{cite news |title=Alien encounter sparked Soviet missile crisis |url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12318039.alien-encounter-sparked-soviet-missile-crisis/ |access-date=7 April 2025 |work=The Herald |date=23 June 1997 |language=en}}{{cite news |title=UFOs once took control of Russian ICBMs, nearly caused WW3 - testimony |url=https://www.jpost.com/omg/article-753288 |access-date=7 April 2025 |work=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com |date=1 August 2023 |language=en}} In May 2022, it was reported that in the U.S. a passed National Defense Authorization Act, proposed by U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand,{{cite news |title=Defense Spending Bill Contains 'Most Significant' UFO Legislation Since 1960s |url=https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2021/12/defense-spending-bill-contains-most-significant-ufo-legislation-1960s/187440/ |access-date=11 September 2022 |work=Nextgov.com |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=von Rennenkampff |first1=Marik |title=Sen. Gillibrand's historic legislation would revolutionize study of UFOs |url=https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/580698-sen-gillibrands-historic-legislation-would-revolutionize-study-of/ |access-date=11 September 2022 |work=The Hill |date=9 November 2021}} requested more regular information on UAP incidents "associated with military nuclear assets, including strategic nuclear weapons and nuclear-powered ships and submarines."{{cite news |title='A glowing red orb': Wild UFO theories move from the shadows to Congress |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/18/ufo-theories-congress-pentagon-00033497 |access-date=11 September 2022 |work=POLITICO |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Bender |first1=Bryan |title='One of the greatest mysteries of our time': Congress to hold UFO hearing next week |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/10/congress-holding-ufo-hearing-00031367 |access-date=11 September 2022 |work=POLITICO |language=en}} Two of the former Air Force personnel who claimed to have witnessed intervention in nuclear weapons systems by UFOs – Robert L. Salas{{cite news |last1=Popowska |first1=Marta |title=Ich war beim Erich-von-Däniken-Kongress und wurde nicht von Außerirdischen entführt |url=https://www.vice.com/de/article/ich-war-auf-dem-erich-von-daeniken-kongress-und-wurde-nicht-von-ausserirdischen-entfuehrt-423/ |access-date=7 April 2025 |work=VICE |date=16 April 2015}} and, in 2020, Robert Hastings{{cite book |title=Confession: Our Hidden Alien Encounters Revealed |isbn=9781695688858}}{{cite web |title=UFO Experiences / Open Lines |url=https://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2020-02-28-show/ |website=Coast to Coast AM |access-date=7 April 2025 |language=en}} – claimed they have additionally been abducted by aliens. In June 2022, it was reported that Deputy Minister of Natural Resources, John Hannaford declared that the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission" is committed to raising the issue" of UAP "with its United States counterpart and sharing any related information going forward" due to "the shared priority for nuclear safety and security of nuclear facilities".{{cite news |title=Canada to share UFO intelligence with US 'given shared priority for nuclear safety' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/canada-us-ufo-nuclear-safety-b2108573.html |access-date=11 September 2022 |work=The Independent |date=24 June 2022 |language=en}}{{cite news |title=Canada's Going to Share UFO Info With the US, Officials Say |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/canadas-going-to-share-ufo-info-with-the-us-officials-say/ |access-date=11 September 2022 |work=Vice |language=en}}

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| footer = In a visual demonstration of surveillance bias, points are placed completely at random (white dots, top). Points are most likely to be detected (red dots, middle) if they are near a region of heighted scrutiny (yellow). The detected results (red dots, bottom) appear clustered around hotspots. According to a 2021 intelligence analysis, a disproprotionate number of UFO reports around military sites might be due to "collection bias as a result of focused attention".

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Increased reports of UFOs around atomic sites may be form of observational bias. An explanatory joke tells of a drunkard who has lost his keys and is looking for them under a streetlight. He admits he does not know precisely where his keys are, but he explains his decision to search under the streetlight, reasoning "that's where the light is". The streetlight effect refers to the tendency of observations to be reported where observations are most likely to occur.{{cite web | url=https://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/online/wtf-star-some-suggest-its-evidence-aliens-berkeley-seti-chief/ | title=WTF Star: Some Suggest It's Evidence of Aliens, but Berkeley SETI Chief Says No }}

Mainstream experts argue the correlation between UFO reports and atomic sites is best explained by the increased scrutiny of airspace around strategically important facilities. While reports of UFOs over US farmland might easily be ignored and forgotten, all the reports of UFOs over US atomic sites would automatically be investigated and documented.

During the 1950s, Air Force officers conducted a rudimentary spatial analysis of UFO reports.Ruppelt Ruppelt observed: "UFOs were seen more frequently around areas vital to the defense of the United States. The Los Alamos-Albuquerque area, Oak Ridge, and White Sands Proving Ground rated high." Ruppelt also detailed UFO reports at Hanford. Ruppelt wrote that UFOs "were habitually reported from areas around technically interesting places like our atomic energy installations, harbors, and critical manufacturing areas. Our studies showed that such vital military areas as Strategic Air Command and Air Defense Command bases, some A-bomb storage areas, and large military depots actually produced fewer reports than could be expected from a given area in the United States. Large population centers devoid of any major 'technically interesting' facilities also produced few reports."Ruppelt p.212

In a 2015 study, economists who conducted a study of UFO reports in France concluded that "the link between nuclear activities and [unexplained UFO reports], which has long been suspected and considered, is now for the first time measured and appears surprisingly high (p-value: 0.00013)".https://www.cnes-geipan.fr/sites/default/files/2015-09-01_Spatial_Point_Pattern_Analysis_of_the_Unidentified.pdf.{{cite arXiv |last1=Laurent |first1=Thibault |last2=Thomas-Agnan |first2=Christine |last3=Vaillant |first3=Michaël |title=Spatial Point Pattern Analysis of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in France |date=2 September 2015|class=stat.AP |eprint=1509.00571 }}

A 2021 document from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence observed: "[UFO reports] also tended to cluster around U.S. training and testing grounds, but we assess that this may result from a collection bias as a result of focused attention, greater numbers of latest-generation sensors operating in those areas, unit expectations, and guidance to report anomalies."https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Prelimary-Assessment-UAP-20210625.pdf Pentagon UFO investigator Sean M. Kirkpatrick concurred "There is a heavy, what we call, collection bias, both in altitude and in geographic location. That's where all of our sensors exist. That's where our training ranges are. That's where operational ranges are. That's where all of our platforms are."{{cite web | url=https://www.scrippsnews.com/science-and-tech/space/is-it-a-ufo-or-just-an-aircraft-an-expert-explains-on-capitol-hill | title=Is it a UFO or just an aircraft? An expert explains on Capitol Hill | date=20 April 2023 }}

In a study published in 2023, geographers examined a National UFO Reporting Center dataset of UFO reports to determine what geographic factors might be connected to UFO report frequency. Comparing report frequency to factors like light pollution, canopy cover, and proximity to airports and military installations, they found UFO reports are more frequent in areas with darker nighttime skies and "wide-open spaces". Additionally, analysis suggested that proximity to airports and military installations was linked to increased UFO reports {{ndash}} a finding the authors interpreted as suggesting man-made aircraft are a cause of UFO reports.{{cite journal | doi=10.1038/s41598-023-49527-x | title=An environmental analysis of public UAP sightings and sky view potential | date=2023 | last1=Medina | first1=R. M. | last2=Brewer | first2=S. C. | last3=Kirkpatrick | first3=S. M. | journal=Scientific Reports | volume=13 | issue=1 | page=22213 | pmid=38097762 | pmc=10721628 | bibcode=2023NatSR..1322213M }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.tristatehomepage.com/news/national-world/utah-study-reveals-the-best-place-for-ufo-sightings/|title=Utah study reveals the 'best' place for UFO sightings}}

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atomic sites

atomic sites

Category:Nuclear accidents and incidents