It’s long been fodder for Hollywood and the stuff of jokes, but now the issue of strange lights in the sky has become the focus of serious inquiry by Congress. The recent release of previously classified military encounters with flying objects that defy conventional explanation has prompted the most serious official inquiry yet about the issue of UFOs (or in the current military parlance, UAPs, for “unidentified aerial phenomena”). Intelligence agencies are expected to reveal more data soon.

While the topic can fire the imagination, there are also Earth-bound concerns to consider — including the possibility that these mysterious objects aren’t alien visitors at all but rather global rivals testing daunting new weapons. Either possibility demands a robust and fully transparent investigation.

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