--- title: "There’s a “Secret Society” in the Pentagon Hiding UFO Secrets, Officials Say" description: "There's a minor civil war brewing amongst government officials over just how much of their UFO intelligence they should turn over to Congress." date: "2022-05-16" modified: "2022-05-16" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/ufo-gatekeepers" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "the pentagon" - "uaps" - "ufos" --- # There’s a “Secret Society” in the Pentagon Hiding UFO Secrets, Officials Say ![There's a minor civil war brewing amongst government officials over just how much of their UFO intelligence they should turn over to Congress.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* There's reportedly a minor civil war brewing amongst government officials over just how much of their UFO intelligence they should turn over to Congress and the public — and at the heart of it, an alleged cabal of powerful secret-keepers. In [interviews with *Politico*](), government officials — who, unsurprisingly, spoke on condition of anonymity — said that there are those within the Pentagon who are "protecting very interesting information" from being released to the public, even as others within and outside the Defense Department are trying to bring daylight to this subject of increasing interest. "They fetishize their secret society," one intelligence official told *Politico* in interviews ahead of tomorrow's [House Intelligence Committee hearings on unidentified aerial phenomenon]() (UAPs, which is the military's rebranding of what were previously known as UFOs), the first of its kind since 1966. "It’s kind of a Skull and Bones-type vibe. They take it seriously but they have no accountability. Zero. There is a whole group of us that know in great detail this subject, a lot of which has not been reported to Congress because of security issues." It's going to take some sort of "forcing mechanism," another Defense Department official said, to get these gatekeepers to reveal even part of their closely-guarded secrets to Congress and, in turn, the public. While it all sounds very "X-Files"-ish, there's another, much more mundane concern among some officials who spoke to *Politico.* They're more worried about the actually-unexplained sightings being grouped together with the thousands of alleged UAP sightings that turn out to be bupkis. According to one intelligence official, legit UAPs are so rare that they accounted for maybe "five things out of 5,000." This same official said their superiors seem to think UAPs are "all air trash" and, as such, [aren't taking it seriously enough](). This attitude, it seems, has led to increasing calls during the Trump and Biden administrations to reveal more about UAPs, which started with the strategic leaking of [information about these strange occurrences in late 2017]() and coalesced into the [Defense Department establishing a public-facing office to study UFOs]() in November 2021. Whether or not we'll start to get a fuller picture of what the Pentagon (and this supposed cult of gatekeepers) knows remains to be seen — but you'd best believe we'll be reading the liveblogs eagerly. **READ MORE:** [‘A Skull and Bones-type vibe’: Spy agencies grapple with how much to share at UFO hearing]() \[*Politico*\] **More on UAPs/UFOs:** [*Former Pentagon Officials Say Family of UFO Investigator Reported Creature Peering into Their House*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()