TIM MCMILLAN: The government’s real problem with UFOs.

Given the prevailing taboos associated with UFOs, there is assuredly a wide range of conflicting views within the Pentagon and greater U.S. intelligence community on these reported sightings of mysterious aerial objects. Equally likely, these conflicting stances have caused bureaucratic battles that make GUNMAN look tame. Of course, this is just considering UAP from the vantage of national defense and intelligence. But these enigmatic incidents don’t really fit politely in the conventional national security box.

In fact, given the legal restrictions limiting the Pentagon and intelligence community’s ability to operate domestically to investigate UAP sightings effectively, it would require involvement by a host of other federal agencies. Agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, and the FBI would all need to be involved. Considering many claims of UAP sightings near nuclear assets, the Department of Energy would likewise need to join the party.

Not only does the FAA, Homeland Security, FBI, and Energy Department not fall under the Pentagon’s purview, but each represents its own separate branch of the executive government. This doesn’t even consider the other more scientifically focused agencies such as NASA, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, adding two more independent executive departments. Considering the difficulty in getting two agencies from the same organization to work together, the idea of effectively coordinating multiple independent departments to investigate a topic that already has plenty of naysayers seems like a daunting, if not impossible, task.

I found the link to this article via someone on Twitter who compared Washington to Byzantium, but really, that’s unfair to the comparatively sleek and efficient Byzantine government.