The truth is not out there: Agents who probe UFOs worry they’ll be pushed out in Trump’s FBI purge
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Agents who probe UFOs are concerned that they could be pushed out as the Trump administration moves to purge the FBI.
Some FBI agents who are part of the team investigating “unidentified anomalous phenomena” also worked on Jan 6 cases and now fear for their jobs, Politico reports.
Agents across the FBI have reportedly been told to fill out a questionnaire about their previous work on the Capitol riot. It comes as Trump officials last week set plans in motion to fire FBI agents involved in investigations into President Donald Trump.
It remains unclear how many agents will be affected by the purge, but a large number were involved in Trump-related investigations.
The fears of the alien investigation team were confirmed by former Navy pilot Ryan Graves, executive director of the nonprofit Americans for Safe Aerospace, who also revealed the existence of an FBI informal working group dedicated to tracking down the unidentified objects.
“I have spoken to several agents from the UAP Working Group who are afraid of losing their role and the investigation getting unintentionally compromised,” Graves told Politico. “I am concerned that the FBI’s UAP Working Group could be affected by transition changes, and these leaders might not be aware of the incredible work these agents are doing and how their investigation could be empowered as part of a formalized intergovernmental effort.”
Graves’s organization works with the FBI team by referring witnesses and sharing leads and intelligence to aid their investigations. He said that he was “deeply worried” that agents investigating UFOs could be ousted by the Trump administration.
The FBI would not comment on reports of the possible firings in a statement to Politico but added: “The FBI investigates Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena when there is potential for a violation of federal law — particularly unlawful acts that could adversely affect our national interests — and to gather, share, and analyze intelligence to combat security threats facing the U.S.”
There has been a bipartisan effort in Congress to push the government to investigate the mysterious objects.
Last year Democratic congressman Robert Garcia and Republican Glenn Grothman sponsored a bill that would allow commercial airline pilots to report possible UFO sightings to the federal government.
The review included hundreds of cases of misidentified balloons, birds and satellites as well as some that defy easy explanation, such as a near-miss between a commercial airliner and a mysterious object off the coast of New York.
