What if the declassified UFO videos were just a cleverly orchestrated diversion?

It all (re)started with those famous black and white images that circulated in the public domain without authorization in 2007 and 2017. They show encounters between Navy pilots and unidentified objects (like the "Tic Tac" videos where the manifestations resemble one of the iconic brand's small jellybeans). Then, in December 2017, the New York Times revealed the existence of the Pentagon's secret program, the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP). The latter investigated UAPs (unidentified anomalous phenomena) from 2007 to 2012, and potentially beyond, according to some sources. The article was based on the testimonies of several people. First, Luis Elizondo, who is a former counterintelligence officer for the United States Department of Defense (DoD). Formerly the director of AATIP, he left the DoD in 2017, frustrated by the lack of transparency and action regarding UAPs. Next up was Harry Reid (1939-2021), a senator from Nevada, who implemented the program with senators Ted Stevens (1923-2010) and Daniel Inouye (1924-2012), allocating $22 million through a Pentagon "black money" budget. Finally, aside from other anonymous sources within the DoD, we have Robert Bigelow, an aerospace entrepreneur and owner of Bigelow Aerospace, who received a large portion of AATIP funding to study UAPs.

The official revelations

Elizondo also facilitated access to the videos, which were ultimately declassified by the Pentagon in 2020. The New York Times article generated massive media interest and prompted elected officials, such as Senator Harry Reid, to call for greater transparency. This pressure led to legislative initiatives, notably in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2020 and 2021, which mandated the Pentagon to produce public reports on UAPs. The June 2021 report listed 144 UAP cases, including 80 involving multiple sensors and 18 showing unexplained behavior (hypersonic speed, lack of visible propulsion). This report, while inconclusive, amplified congressional interest, leading directly to public hearings held in 2022 and 2023. The highlight was the testimony of David Grusch, a former intelligence officer, who claimed that the US government possessed devices of "non-human" origin and was running secret reverse-engineering programs. In 2022, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) was established to investigate UAPs. This was followed by the publication of reports, such as the one in November 2024, listing 757 reports between May 2023 and June 2024, including 21 cases requiring further analysis.

So I'm willing to share the prevailing optimism of the UFO community, which sees this succession of events as the milestones of a road leading us straight to the truth. But to do that, I'd have to pretend not to recognize what is more like a closed circuit. Whatever revelations are orchestrated by the military-governmental complex over time, they serve either to justify investments, or to mask other realities, or both at the same time. But they almost always have this in common: they leave the ufologist restless and therefore believing that he is making progress when in reality he is treading water like a hamster in a wheel.

Already, growing tensions with China and Russia, as well as the race for advanced technologies (drones, hypersonics, AI), have reinforced the idea that UAPs could be linked to adversary technologies. The hearings provided an opportunity to explore this hypothesis while maintaining the focus on defense investments.

Aside from this aspect of things, entire sections of ufology, such as alien abductions, artifacts recovered after landings, implants in contactees, animal mutilations, and even crop circles, are now masked by Tic Tacs. Years of research and history of ufology are being abandoned in favor of recent testimonies. From now on, we prefer Elizondo to J. Allen Hynek, David Grusch to Eddie Bullard, Robert Bigelow to John E. Mack, and Baptiste Friscourt or Michael Vaillant to Jacques Vallée.

The trap of the dominant narrative

Yet all this culture is very useful when it comes to not being taken for a ride for the umpteenth time. It avoids swallowing the Tic Tac by marking a salutary pause to allow us to distinguish the image, its opportunistic release, and the narrative that surrounds it. Without even needing to dust off our archives or hunt in a flea market to rediscover the lessons (very useful to some today) of "Revelations1" On the subject, the Pentagon report of 2025 admits that UFO rumors were intentionally fueled to mask secret military programs, as in the 1980s near Area 51 (Operation "Yankee Blue")2. This is one example among many others for which they only lack the confession of Uncle Sam to formalize the end of one of his many jokes. Recent pseudo-revelations have largely eclipsed historical UFO cases, such as the Roswell incident (1947), the Project Blue Book sightings (1947-1969, with 12,618 reports), or large-scale manifestations (for example, the waves of sightings in France in the 1950s-1970s). Current discussions focus on UAPs as technological or national security phenomena, relegating more speculative UFO stories (involving extraterrestrials) to the background. Only Newspeak was able to obscure persistent facts by hiding UFOs behind UAPs.

Because while this shadow theater focuses public opinion, alien abductions, more commonly known as alien abductions, continue in a climate where the greatest discretion competes with widespread indifference3. And UFO reports are not far behind, when we are receptive to what citizens are seeing as they look up from their screens and free themselves from their daily lives. This is how a notable spike appeared in 2020, attributed to the lockdowns linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, which encouraged people to observe the sky more often4. If this proves one thing, it is that one should proceed with great caution when venturing into statistical deductions, as they can be subject to numerous interpretation biases. Particularly if the conclusions lead some5 to think that the next wave of observations "will be in 2035", which puts them in resonance with others6 who affirm that "the Elohim have planned to return to Earth around 2035"...

Towards a new ufology

However, the rebroadcast of a series well-known to ufologists, the one that begins with an image from a military source, accompanied by thunderous revelations that ultimately occupy the gallery, but do not advance the schmilblick, must not prevent us from continuing, or even resuming, ufological research where it has floundered since this new century. And this, even if the hypotheses formulated prove to be fallacious in this singular field where the object of study is particularly elusive. It is with this in mind that I wrote my first book on the subject. This essay entitled The Forbidden Hypothesis aims to relaunch ufological research, to propose an explanation based on a multidisciplinary approach, and to realize what we are dealing with. If it embraces dystopian fashion, it is entirely unintentionally, as it is more of a call to awaken awareness. The Forbidden Hypothesis tackles the resolution of the mystery by taking stock of what we are missing once the close encounters have taken place. From this observation, I propose a detour into the past, a time when UFOs were less elusive, accompanying you in a rereading of history, mythology, and archaeology in an attempt to interpret the present. The sacrificial aspect of abductions and the entomological approach to their instigators give a new perspective to the visitors' project. Based on several fields of expertise and official studies, this work supported by more than 290 sources gives the extraterrestrial project a disturbing dimension for the future of humanity. Abductions are documented by those who experience them and by many mental health specialists who have examined the subject, such as John E. Mack. The study I conducted accumulates evidence that places abductions within a millennia-old project. As such, they should mobilize public opinion more than flying Tic Tacs that harm no one, and we should do everything possible to oppose them before it is too late. It is time to take back the reins of ufology, building on its legacy to ask the right questions while muting the Tic Tac of distraction, even diversion.

This article is a continuation of the reflections developed on conspiration.org, and The Forbidden Hypothesis proposes to go further by exploring these questions from a new angle. The paperback version of The Forbidden Hypothesis is scheduled for release on August 23, 2025. But pre-orders for the Kindle versions in French and English are already available on Amazon. Since access to the book varies depending on the country, type "The Forbidden Hypothesis" or "L'hypothesis interdite" into the search bar of your usual Amazon site.

Article posted online on July 18, 2025 for the French version, September 21, 2025 for the English translation.