It looks like the truth really is out there; the US Navy has admitted that it has 'top secret' footage and slides from an infamous UFO sighting, however it refuses to release them due to potential 'grave damage' to national security.
The admission was a response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted by researcher Christian Lambright to the US Navy's Office of Naval Intelligence in relation to a close encounter that took place in 2004.
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Nicknamed the 'Tic Tac' encounter, the records relate to an incident that involved the USS Nimitz, which was out on a normal routine training mission over the Pacific. One of its two pilots, Commander David Fravor spotted an object 'shaped like a 40ft TicTac sweet'.
The aircraft was around 100 miles out over the sea when their fighter planes were diverted to investigate an aircraft spotted on radar from another ship - the cruiser USS Princeton.
The UFO was first seen at about 80,000ft, but it then hurtled towards the sea. It stopped at 20,000ft, hovered and then dropped out of radar.
When the plane arrived, Commander Fravor saw a white aircraft which was hovering above 50 feet above the ocean - where there was a disturbance of some sort.
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Footage of the encounter was revealed to the public in 2017, and last year a Navy spokesperson admitted: "The Navy considers the phenomena contained/depicted in those 3 videos as unidentified."
Lambright, a UFO enthusiast from Texas, wrote to the Navy saying: "Information supportive of my request comes from a former pilot and now writer who has publicly stated he was allowed to see an exhaustive classified Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) report on these events prior to an article he published in 2015.
"Other supportive information comes from a contractor/analyst who has stated that an investigation had been conducted by a 'GS-15' with the Office of Naval Intelligence."
Less than two months after he had got in touch, on 9 December, ONI FOIA/PA Coordinator Camille V'Estres replied with a 'final response', admitting the Navy had further footage but that it was classified.
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Her letter reads: "Our review of our records and systems reveal that ONI has no releasable records related to your request. ONI has searched our records for responsive documents.
"We have discovered certain briefing slides that are classified TOP SECRET. A review of these materials indicates that are currently and appropriate Marked and Classified TOP SECRET under Executive Order 13526, and the Original Classification Authority has determined that the release of these materials would cause exceptionally grave damage to the National Security of the United States.
"Specifically, under Section 1.4, the materials would trigger protections under subcategory c), the Intelligence Activities of the United States, as well as the Sources and Methods that are being used to gather information in support of the National Security of the United States.
"In addition, the materials would trigger protections under subcategory e), Scientific and Technological Matters related to the National Security of the United States. For this reason, the materials are exempt from release under the (b) (1) Exemption for Classified Matters of National Defense. As a result these records may not be released and are being withheld.
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"We have also determined that ONI possesses a video classified SECRET that ONI is not the Original Classification Authority for. ONI has forwarded your request to Naval Air Systems Command to make a determination on releasability."
Featured Image Credit: US Defense Department/Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification ProgramTopics: Science, Interesting, US News, Weird