The Pentagon is opening a new office to investigate UFOs – but not everyone is convinced by the idea.
US officials signed off on the crack team of UFO specialists late last year, with the goal to uncover and identify UFOs, some of which may be considered threats to national security.
The dedicated unit is called the Anomaly Surveillance and Resolution Office, The Sun reports.
It will probe whether or not the strange craft that have been reportedly buzzing the US military are unknown technology from Russia or China or potentially something more alien.
But some think the new Pentagon UFO office won't change anything.
Critics have warned that the government will simply conceal any major findings – and that UFO investigations have been ongoing for years anyway.
Mutual UFO Network spokesperson Ron James warned that the public is unlikely to find out about any evidence of alien interference.
James, speaking to NBC, said: "This is a subject with a provable history of secrecy.
"And anything that lacks a new openness about the information is subject to more, possibly inappropriate control."
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James added: "We don't see that this means new resources will be dedicated to the matter. We believe considerable resources have always been dedicated to the matter at some level inside deep government and industry."
US Congressman Tim Burchett tweeted in reply to the news with stark criticism.
The Tennessee lawmaker said: "We should never trust the Pentagon.
"They will never tell us the full story on the UFO issue."
Others, like Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, have hailed the legislation.
The senator said: "Our national security efforts rely on aerial supremacy and these phenomena present a challenge to our dominance.
"The United States needs a coordinated effort to take control and understand whether these aerial phenomena belong to a foreign government or something else altogether."
The office will be set up jointly between the Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI).
UFOs have stepped from an issue that was dismissed as fringe and the realm of conspiracy theorists into a genuine national security debate over the past few years.
ARSO will seek to investigate "the technical and operational characteristics, origins and intentions" of UFOs.
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The UFO office will have the power to send out X-Files-esque teams to allow for "rapid response" and "field investigations" of UFOs.
It will also provide briefings on "any efforts to capture or exploit" the phenomena and also assess "health-related effects" for those who have encountered the objects.
Further detail on these attempts to "capture or exploit" UFOs is absent – and its unclear exactly what this refers to as it lists the phrase in what will be included in its annual report to Congress.
The office will also compile connections between UFOs and nuclear weapons – something suspected to be a key flashpoint for whatever is in the skies.
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