[drewem]

I think the Wall Street Journal had the best lede on this:

“U.S. intelligence officials have examined more than a dozen sightings of unexplained aerial objects that displayed no visible propulsion or that used technology beyond the known capabilities of the U.S. or its adversaries, according to a senior U.S. official describing a new report.“

[chiefalchemist]

Not to get too far off topic but the intelligence community isn't exactly a benchmark for truth and transparency. Within its arsenal is misinformation, and it's not afraid to use it.

Also, the recent reports I've watched and read all eventually mentioned "national security." Such mentions are euphemisms for more funding, more DOD budget, etc.

Granted, it could be aliens. Nonetheless there are plenty of earthlings who benefit from a misinfomation based narratives. Some of those benefitees are the source of the narrative.

Let's not lose track of the context. It matters.

[gameswithgo]

people are also just wrong, and crazy, all the time.

[BitwiseFool]

Intelligence Agencies are designed to deceive. That's their primary function. It is completely within the realm of possibility that this is some psyop, ploy for funding, or tool designed to throw off some foreign adversary about our technical capabilities.

[dragonwriter]

> Intelligence Agencies are designed to deceive.

No, their primary function is to acquire information useful to decisions makers, including info others want to keep secret. Counterintelligence agencies, which are sometimes conjoined to intelligence agencies and sometimes separate have a primary function of preventing information that decisionmakers want to remain secret from being discovered. Deception is frequently an important technique in both intelligence and counterintelligence, and if understood broadly enough is integral to the purpose of counterintelligence.

[chiefalchemist]

Yes. But the USA doesn't have designated counterintelligence agencies. They're consistently referred to strictly as intelligence agencies. So it's important to clarify that the counterintelligence role is there even if it's not directly identified.

And, no their primary function is not to acquire information. Their primary funtion is to push and pull "information" to acheive the goals of The Republic. It's chess, not checkers.

[wahern]

Maybe not agencies as you mean, but it does have:

* Marine Corps Counterintelligence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Corps_Intelligence#Mari...

* United States Army Counterintelligence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Counterinte...

* Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Counterintelligence_an...

* National Counterintelligence and Security Center: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Counterintelligence_a...

Found via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_counterintelligence_or...

AFAICT the NCSC is independent from the CIA, though both do fall under the DNI. And the DCSA does have "agency" in its name. ;)

The hierarchy became more complex and confusing after the 9/11 reorganization, and apparently has continued to do so.

[dragonwriter]

You left out the FBI, which doesn't have “counterintelligence” in the name but is nevertheless the primary civilian counterintelligence agency.