The government released over 160 declassified UFO files last week after President Trump ordered maximum transparency on alien life and unidentified aerial phenomena. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard called it a commitment to giving “the American people maximum transparency.” Not everyone was impressed.

Dennis Anderson has been investigating UFOs for 63 years. He’s a former member of the Center for UFO Studies and someone who has spent more time thinking about this than most people have been alive. His take on the latest document dump, in his interview with the NY Post, is that it’s essentially a distraction (surprise!).

“They’re trying to cover as much as they can and still make it sound like they’re interested in giving you the information when they’re really not,” he said. “It’s all smoke and mirror stuff.”

The New UFO Files Are Out, and One Researcher Says the Government Is Playing Us Again

Anderson doesn’t think the government is releasing fake information. He thinks they’re releasing the most boring, vague, inconsequential files they have, and betting that the public will lose interest before anything meaningful comes to light. “If they show you enough of this stuff where you’re not seeing anything and they keep saying they’re going to release more, but then they really don’t,” he told the Post, “people are just going to get tired and just not pay attention anymore.” It’s the go-to move the government always loves to use. 

His theory about what’s actually being hidden is what many “believers” already know. Anderson believes the government knows something exists, but doesn’t fully understand what it is. He describes the phenomenon as a kind of cosmic constant, something that has always been present, adapting to whatever era it’s operating in. He points to the “Phantom Airships” people reported seeing in the late 1800s as an early example. “Whatever this phenomenon is, it stays one or two steps ahead of what people actually expect something to be,” he said.

As for why full disclosure will never happen, Anderson keeps it blunt. “The government will never disclose that we are dealing with an unknown phenomenon that we cannot control or defend ourselves against.” Some researchers think the public could handle that information. Anderson disagrees.

The good news, if you want to call it that, is that whatever is out there doesn’t appear to have an agenda. “It shows no care for any particular political group or race or color,” he said. “It just is, and it just does whatever it feels like whenever it wants to.”

Comforting. Truly.