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"The DoD isn’t known for their public relations"

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/43168/top-gun-2s-exten...

The DoD got Tom Cruise to pay them to make a 2hr 10m ad, and then audiences paid $1.5bn at the box office to watch it.

The DoD is amazing at PR.

Stargate was a commercial for the Air Force in episodic form.

They literally had the Air Force chief of staff play himself in an episode:

https://rdanderson.com/stargate/lexicon/entries/jumper.htm

Seems like they are amazing at getting a good deal, which is not the same as being amazing at PR.

Considering there is not another US Navy to lend them some jets for filming, I'd suggest the DoD had a pretty strong hand.

Well normally if someone wants to make money off you they need to give you a cut. Thats not savyness from the DoD. Thats par for the course. They would be wildly incompetent if they let the film makers use the Navy for free.

Operating an aircraft carrier is extremely expensive. Wikipedia says 6.5m PER DAY

> In 2013, the life-cycle cost per operating day of a carrier strike group (including aircraft) was estimated at $6.5 million by the Center for New American Security.

A much more reality based explaination:

   This is just sad. I'll lay this on you, yes there is a classified crash 
   retrieval program, it's a SAP. It is about retrieving crashed UAVs from 
   adversarial countries and has nothing to do with aliens. Don't be a sucker 
   folks.

https://twitter.com/JackMurphyRGR/status/1665884263865110529

Both things could be true though. There are tons of SAPs out there that cover a multitude of very specific things. Most aren't aware of the others either, by nature of the SAP.

Sure, but there is ample evidence of human made flying aircraft, and those being shot down, and really none of the other.

But who is the messaging intended for? Foreign military intelligence agencies can draw the same conclusions, that this is some kind of misdirection, and that it's more likely a cover for US or Chinese weapons tech, they're not dumb.

You make a very good point, I’m going to stick with the grifter/liar/mentally ill thesis instead.

His actions would have seriously bad consequences for him if he was lying.

Several reputable people have gone on record testifying for his (mental) integrity. Even some scientists actually.

The whole premise of that guy being easily discredited is absurd. Its lazy thinking plain and simple. Go read the actual article and corroborating information on 'The Debrief'.

His actions would have far worse consequence if he was telling the truth.

If he is lying there is no conspirators to give a shit.

Neither of these point to whether or not hes lying though. Just saying.

Given the choice between ‘a guy is lying/mistaken and so are a few others’ and ‘a worldwide conspiracy has existed for 80 years to cover up the existence of alien visits to Earth’, I’m going to apply Occam’s Razor and go with lying.

It's unclear what the distances involved are. It might just be a few years or months of travel time, say for a loitering Von Neumann probe from the Kuiper belt.

> I believe intelligent life may exist elsewhere in the universe, but that we’ve never been visited and will never be visited due to the distances involved.

I suspect that at least one and perhaps many alien intelligences have been here on Earth for a very long time and are observing us, but they're very good at staying hidden so probably we have never observed them and never will.

In the unlikely event that they ever did accidentally reveal themselves, probably they would cover it up to the extent possible while continuing to remain hidden.

Since these aliens will never interact with us in any significant manner, for practical purposes it doesn't matter whether they exist or not, and therefore I don't care very much whether they exist or not. Nevertheless, if, hypothetically, I had to make a bet with equal odds, I'd bet they do exist.

> There must be a reason behind the UFO media blitz

They already told us exactly why. Because there are unexplained phenomena which may pose a risk to national security, and they want to know more. Their intent is to reduce the stigma so that pilots and others are less afraid to report unusual sightings for proper investigation.

You don't have to believe in aliens to see the sense in this.