In the Oval Office, where matters of national security and international relations are usually decided, accounts were heard that could change humanity's understanding of its place in the universe. In an interview with the CBS program «60 Minutes», US President Donald Trump described encounters with Air Force pilots that occurred during both his first and second terms in office. These people are not theorists or lovers of sensation. They are experienced aviators flying the most advanced fighter jets, including the F-22. It was their testimony that the president called "very strange."
The pilots spoke of encounters with objects that cannot be explained by known technologies. One of the most striking episodes: during a flight in an F-22, a round object flies past them at a speed three times that of the fighter jet itself. No traces of engines, no visible signs of jet thrust. The object simply appears, overtakes the aircraft and vanishes. Trump stressed that these witnesses are "really good, reliable people" who could not be suspected of a tendency toward conspiracy theorizing. They said plainly: "Yes, something is going on there."
In the same interview, the president touched on a deeper layer of this subject as well. He was asked about the statements of whistleblowers who claim the existence of a secret government program to study unidentified objects — a program so closed that it is allegedly hidden even from presidents. Trump replied that he was hearing of anything of the sort for the first time and had seen no evidence of its existence. These words sounded calm, but they highlighted a long-standing gap between official channels of information and the testimony that had circulated within the system for years.
Harvard theoretical physicist Avi Loeb, who heads the White House UAP science advisory board, confirmed the reliability of the pilots' reports. He himself spoke with them and characterized the observations as "credible and puzzling." The aviators use the best instruments, undergo rigorous training and are not prone to hallucinations. Nevertheless, the physics of these events remains a mystery. An object moving faster than sound and having a rounded shape ought to create a shock wave. Yet the pilots did not register one. Air friction at such speeds ought to leave noticeable traces, but there were none of those either. All of this points to principles of motion that modern science does not yet describe.
Loeb also mentioned the sworn testimony of David Grusch, as well as recent statements by Jay Stratton about material objects and entire craft that are allegedly stored inside corporations or government structures. The scientist himself had not seen direct evidence of such finds, but he stressed: if they exist, studying them in a laboratory could yield answers faster than observations in the sky. "Take me to the nearest alien ship," he said, formulating a position in which there is room neither for denial nor for blind faith.
In parallel, the process of disclosing previously closed materials continues. A significant portion of the information remains classified not so much because of the nature of the objects as because of the use of special sensors. The emergence of open data from non-classified instruments should change the situation. In Ithaca, New York, at the site of Carl Sagan's former residence, the creation of a new type of observatory is beginning. A passive radar system will scan the sky and then direct a large telescope at the object of interest. This will make it possible to obtain high-resolution images and spectra revealing the composition of matter. In the future, such systems are planned to be deployed in cooperation with the Pentagon in areas where such phenomena are most often recorded.
The pilots' testimony heard in the Oval Office, the president's words about a secret program and the scientific work unfolding around these facts come together into a single picture. What for decades remained on the periphery of official attention is gradually coming to light. Round objects capable of instantly overtaking the fastest fighter jets without visible traces of engines are no longer merely eyewitness accounts. They are becoming the subject of serious scientific and state interest. A story that began with conversations in the quiet of an office is now moving into a phase of systematic observations and open analysis.
