NARRATOR: Could recent media reports
and newly-released military videos
be an indication that the wall of secrecy
concerning extraterrestrial visitors to our planet
is beginning to crack?
You’ve been briefed on unidentified flying objects.
-Are they real? -We have had people
saying that they’ve seen things.
JOHN PODESTA: We know that
there were certain incidents that were
encountered by the U.S. Navy that were unexplained.
NARRATOR: But are these recent revelations
part of a global strategy intended to prepare humanity
for the ultimate extraterrestrial encounter?
NICK POPE: All those things
we’re seeing now is the government
getting ready to tell us.
This is a completely new ball game here.
NARRATOR: Or are they the result
of an anxious public’s increasingly loud demands
to know the truth?
JEREMY CORBELL: This will come from us,
from the people.
If we ask the right questions,
we’re gonna get the right answers.
NARRATOR: There is a doorway
in the universe.
Beyond it is the promise of truth.
It demands we question everything
we have ever been taught.
The evidence is all around us.
The future is right before our eyes.
We are not alone.
We have never been alone.
NARRATOR: Osaka, Japan.
July 1, 2019.
In a televised interview, Fox News political commentator
Tucker Carlson asks President Donald Trump,
point-blank, about recent revelations concerning UFOs.
You’ve been briefed on unidentified flying objects.
-Are they... are they real? -Uh,
well, I don’t want to really get into it too much,
but personally I tend to doubt it.
But we have had people saying that they’ve seen things.
Uh, I’m not a believer,
but, you know, I guess anything’s possible.
We spoke to a government official recently who said
the U.S. government had wreckage from
a UFO in a, in a facility on an Air Force base.
-Are you familiar with that? -I haven’t heard that, no.
RICHARD DOLAN: Trump’s answer was extraordinary because
I don’t believe there’s been any other time
in, uh, recent American history
where a sitting president was asked this question
in such a serious manner and gave a serious reply.
POPE: President Trump’s interview
with Tucker Carlson about UFOs was historic.
Usually presidents, certainly sitting presidents,
do not discuss this subject at all,
and if they are ever asked about it,
they dismiss the whole thing
with a joke or an evasive answer.
Now, Ryan, if you’re out in the crowd tonight,
here’s the answer to your question.
No, as far as I know, an alien spacecraft did not crash
in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947.
CORBELL: Ten years ago,
UFOs were about laughter,
UFOs were the easiest punch line in a room.
Not so today.
Now, in the new world we live in, people are paying attention.
We have moved from a fringe topic
and brought UFOs to the forefront
of both popular culture
as well as mainstream media.
NARRATOR: On August 29, 2019,
journalist and former British Defence Ministry employee
Nick Pope traveled to Washington, D.C.
He had arranged to meet with Tucker Carlson
and get his thoughts on his extraordinary exchange
with America’s 45th president.
-Tucker, hey. -Thank you, Nick.
-Nice to meet you in person. -Great to meet you. Thank you.
-Okay. Thanks. -UFOs are real.
Tucker, you’ve taken the lead
in the mainstream media in discussing
the latest revelations about UFOs.
Why is that? Is it a personal interest?
I just believe it’s clear that there’s been deception
around this question from the U.S. government,
the Pentagon specifically.
And I think it’s important to find out more.
I mean, if there is real evidence
that this planet is being visited
from other planets
or solar systems, or even if there are aircraft
whose behavior we can’t explain,
why is that not the biggest story in news?
I agree. Now, do you have any kind of pushback
with that when you run these stories?
How do the senior executives feel,
and other media professionals?
My feeling was it’s time to rethink, like,
what you think you know,
and so we started doing UFO segments.
And basically, the first three times we did it,
people made fun of us, and after that,
no one has said a single word about it.
Well, there are these videos that...
I mean, we’ve all seen the Navy jets chasing the UFOs.
What kind of emotional reaction do you get
watching something like that?
You know pilots. My brother’s a pilot.
I’ve talked to a lot of pilots.
They’re very interested
in how things lift off the ground and move.
They’re interested in flight. They’re saying,
"This is something completely different.
I don’t even know how this works."
That’s... compelling to me.
I asked the president about it.
What did you make of his response?
I thought his response was odd, to be honest with you.
I thought it was odd.
-In-in what way? -He said, "You know,
"I’m not interested in that topic at all.
"I’m just... I’m not interested in that topic,
and I don’t think there’s anything there."
I didn’t believe him when he said that,
to-to be honest with you.
It was funny, because he nodded
-his head and then said no. -Yes, that’s exactly right.
The president, like probably most people
in power, is uncomfortable conceding
that... he’s got questions.
I mean, it’s much easier just to say "Nah, there’s nothing there.
It’s a weather balloon."
And because there’s a stigma attached
to asking questions.
I mean, I’ve never once said that I believe
anything in particular about UFOs, because I don’t.
I don’t know what to believe,
but I know bullshit when I see it.
Do you think he knows more than he’s letting on,
or do you think, as some people say,
even the president doesn’t know?
My impression was
that the president...
does know more than he said.
You know, you’d have to think
that, that any person of moderate curiosity,
given the power that a president has,
would, at some point, in, you know,
his first couple years in office, would call down and say,
"You know, send me all the information you have on UFOs."
Like, why wouldn’t you do that?
Do you think the public want to know
-and can handle the truth? -Well, you know the...
I mean, let’s be... I mean, let’s... let’s be honest.
The people keeping this information secret
at the Pentagon believe the information is so terrifying
to the public that it would be contrary
to the national interest to reveal it.
-Yeah. -I mean, obviously.
When we run through the theories about this,
we say, could it be some other part of the U.S. government?
Some secret black project?
Could it be Russia or China?
Or could it be extraterrestrial?
I’m starting to believe that there is...
and I-I’ve heard this from someone
who I think is knowledgeable on the subject...
that there is physical evidence
that the U.S. government is holding, um,
that, you know, would tell us a lot more
-about what these objects are. -Physical evidence.
-Uh, wreckage? -That is correct.
Who-who was that?
It’s, you know, a well-known...
someone who worked on this within the government
for many years who would know.
And I asked point-blank,
"Is there physical evidence of the existence of these objects,
these aircraft, whatever they are?"
And he said, "Yes, there is."
-Wreckage in a hangar? -Wreckage.
-He did not say in a hangar. -Well, somewhere.
He just said, "The U.S...." He said,
"The U.S. government has physical evidence."
Here we have a major mainstream news media figure
telling it how it is.
It goes beyond simply saying, "UFOs are real,
they’re extraterrestrial." There’s something more.
Something too terrible to be told.
-Are they real? -I’m not a believer, but
we have had people saying that they’ve seen things.
NARRATOR: But were President Donald Trump’s
no-nonsense answers on the question of UFOs
simply an attempt to dismiss the matter once and for all?
If so, it didn’t work.
In fact, many saw it as a sign
that the U.S. government’s policy toward all things
extraterrestrial had begun to take a more candid
and possibly more honest turn.
And they remain convinced that disclosure
is not simply imminent but that it’s already underway.
NARRATOR: In a reversal of decades of denial,
a Navy spokesman confirms
that recently circulated military footage
that was thought to show UFOs is in fact authentic.
The statement comes just four months after
Navy pilots from the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt
revealed to The New York Times
that in the summer of 2014 through March 2015,
they encountered UFOs on a near daily basis
off the East Coast of the United States.
POPE: A number of senators have confirmed that they have
received classified briefings on all this.
This is a completely new ball game here.
We are in new and uncharted territory.
NARRATOR: But do the recent military revelations
concerning UFO encounters really mean that we are moving closer
to the day of disclosure?
MAN (over radio): Oh, my gosh, dude.
NARRATOR: Or is it simply that they are equally baffled
by what they are witnessing,
and seek the help of the general public in finding answers?
It’s frightening to hear how little
our government truly knows about these unknown vehicles
of unknown origin invading our airspace with impunity
at all times upon their will.
POPE: Many people in the UFO community
talk about it in terms of it being a single event.
Disclosure with a big "D", as I call it.
In that scenario,
the president clears his schedule,
goes on television, announces to the world
that there is an alien presence.
Disclosure is simply an acknowledgment
by the established structure of power
that UFOs are real
and some don’t belong to our civilization.
POPE: Society is being prepped for this,
some believe, through the revelations
about government programs and military encounters.
But all those things we’re seeing now
is the government getting ready to tell us
so that there won’t be the huge shock
and panic when it is announced.
Because the point is, with all of this, of course,
you don’t shock people so much
if you tell them something they already believe or suspect.
NARRATOR: But whether the government’s recent revelations
about UFOs are the result of an unintended leak
or part of a strategic plan,
two things are certain:
unexplained encounters are happening
with increasing frequency in U.S. airspace,
and at the same time, the Navy revealed plans
to create a new process to make it easier
for pilots to report UFO sightings.
Even though the U.S. military
stopped collecting reports for many, many years,
they’re clearly back in the business
of at least filing them,
accepting them from their pilots and so on,
so I think it is the first real crack in the taboo.
This is not the way it used to be.
It used to be you don’t talk
about things you see in the sky if you want to fly.
So when the Navy loosens up the reporting options
for pilots, that is a huge concession
to the new reality.
GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: If these craft
that are currently being observed...
if those craft are not ours,
if they are not Russian,
and if they’re not Chinese,
we should all wonder who it is
who has that type of aviation technology.
And if it’s not someone from our planet,
well, who else is left?
DOLAN: The fact is that military pilots
for years and years have been saying
the same thing publicly.
They just haven’t gotten the attention
that these individuals have gotten.
That’s the difference.
And the real question is: why, and why now?
POPE: Now we’ve had these revelations, the Navy videos,
the fact that the Navy
have changed their policy, telling their pilots
to report, are things changing?
And where do you think we’re going with this?
I don’t think that most news organizations
will cover this persistently until some...
you know, the alien king breaks into the 6:00 news
and demands obedience.
Right? I think they’re gonna persist in ignoring it
because there’s just a-a lot of social pressure to, to scoff.
You get societal
breakdown after a while when the people in charge lie.
Because it makes it impossible
for people to accept anything, any explanation at face value.
Um, and it corrodes the bonds that,
that connect the government
to its citizens, so...
I think it’s very likely that we’re gonna learn more.
NARRATOR: There are many who believe
that the disclosure process is not new
but has simply entered a different phase.
They argue that disclosure actually started decades ago,
and was part of a strategic plan to prep the global population
by means of books, movies,
TV shows, and other forms of popular entertainment.
BASSETT: 45% of the American people right now,
when polled, say that, yeah, the ETs are already here.
They’ve been watching movies since they were five years old
about extraterrestrials.
We have been heavily indoctrinated or educated
on the concept of extraterrestrials.
We fly in spaceships in-in our CGI movies.
So the idea that suddenly we’re told there’s extraterrestrials
actually here as being some unbelievable,
had-no-idea kind of thing... no.
NARRATOR But if mankind is on a so-called
"countdown to disclosure,"
does that simply mean that our government and those
around the world are aware that intelligent life does exist
on some other, distant planet?
Or does it suggest that some form of alien intelligence
has already come here, and may, in fact,
have been living here for centuries?
NARRATOR: As far as ancient astronaut theorists
and UFO enthusiasts are concerned,
the sudden flurry of information
concerning possible alien encounters
comes as no surprise.
For them, evidence of extraterrestrial
encounters has been obvious for several decades.
What has them baffled, however,
is the fact that after decades of harsh denials,
governments all over the world are beginning
to open up their files and cooperate.
DOLAN: In fact, there’s been a disclosure movement
for about 70 years now.
Starting in the 1950s, you get
an organization known as NICAP
formed in the late ’50s with the express intent
of researching UFOs in a very meticulous way,
at the same time getting political action
on this matter in Congress.
PODESTA: I think that there’s been a history
and a perception that the government
has been hiding the ball.
And I think there’s a reason for that,
which is that most of the investigations,
uh, has been done through classified programs.
And I think that’s led to a lot of speculation
about what the government’s hiding.
And the best disinfectant is
to let the American people know what the truth is.
CORBELL: That system was a closed loop for a long time.
However, after the recent events,
the Navy has then changed
their attitude towards reporting these things.
This is big, this is real,
this is happening, and if-if you don’t understand it,
it’s time for you catch up.
NARRATOR: Many date the origin of both the first U.S. government cover-up
and the disclosure movement to July 1947...
the date of the now-famous Roswell UFO crash.
The incident began when the Air Force
issued an astounding press release
stating that the military recovered the remains
of a "flying disc" from a New Mexico ranch.
The story immediately became front-page news
in the local paper.
But within a day, officials retracted
their initial statement and dismissed the find
as simply debris from a downed weather balloon.
The first press release was the truth.
And the second one was a lie.
And I call it "the foundational lie."
Because, to the best of my knowledge,
from that day, 1947,
until 2017, the group that became
what we have called the shadow government has not told
the truth about anything of significance.
NARRATOR: Shortly after the Roswell incident,
various groups and individuals began demanding
that the U.S. military tell the truth about UFOs.
But although the government formed
a series of investigative bodies,
including Project Grudge,
Project Blue Book, and the Condon Committee,
they never produced any viable evidence.
In retrospect, many consider that such government efforts
were designed not to promote disclosure
but to stifle it.
They would investigate cases.
And the intriguing thing about all of it is,
is maybe ten percent of the cases that they looked at
were unexplainable.
They did not know what they were.
They always come out officially after and go,
"Hey, there’s some things we can’t explain here,
"but there’s nothing to see, there’s no ET,
"there’s no evidence of any kind
of extraterrestrial-controlled craft flying in the skies."
NARRATOR: When the CIA formed a scientific committee
called the Robertson Panel to review unsolved UFO cases,
the committee found that continued reporting on UFOs
might cause "hysterical mass behavior."
It issued a top secret recommendation
suggesting that the government undertake an aggressive
public relations campaign to systematically
debunk UFO sightings.
This is the-the typical government response.
Just form a panel and tell everybody that what
they think they saw is not what is the actual reality.
WHITEHEAD: I think that was the start of the propaganda machine.
It’s counterintelligence information.
So they release little bits of truth, but then
they just say, "You know what?
"It... there’s nothing to see here.
Go back to sleep."
NARRATOR: Over the decades,
and despite government denials,
a robust citizens’ movement took shape
that investigated incidents, published reports,
and held news conferences...
all in an attempt to demand disclosure.
One notable effort was the Citizens’ Hearing on Disclosure,
held in Washington in 2013,
in which multiple credible witnesses
testified about UFO incursions.
There is no doubt that the United States government
has known about the extraterrestrial
interactions with Earth
and that their policies of denial in the alleged interest
of national security are still in effect.
BASSETT: Paradigm Research Group,
my organization,
began by delivering to the entire Congress a full
30 hours of testimony, which I felt, and many do feel,
was the most important citizen disclosure event at that time.
These objects know in great detail
how our missiles operate and they can
shut down our missiles at any time.
We got a lot of media attention,
in-including some attention from Congress.
Um, and, of course, we had these ex-congressmen
sit in as we presented our case.
So this movement, disclosure movement, uh,
has been going on for some time.
What kind of defense do we have against these things?
I think we changed a lot of minds.
But then, of course, things...
changed the next day,
The-the news cycles.
NARRATOR: For years, UFO advocates have argued
that such high-profile efforts were secretly subjected
to government whisper campaigns,
each designed to discredit witnesses
and divert public attention from disclosure.
TSOUKALOS: The government did everything
in order to stop these whistleblowers
or to deny these witnesses, but guess what.
That did not stop the whistleblowers from talking
and it certainly did not stop the research.
In fact, this little flame
that began in the 1950s is now a raging fire.
And it is illuminating all of the darkness.
NARRATOR: But if the government has been conspiring
to silence UFO researchers, witnesses,
and believers since the Roswell crash... why?
Is it to avoid widespread panic?
Or was it something more strategic?
Possibly, it was designed to keep the knowledge
that was gleaned from extraterrestrial encounters
from getting into so-called enemy hands.
NARRATOR: Prominent think tank the Brookings Institution
issues a 186-page,
government-funded report that examines, in part,
the question of how humanity would react
to the discovery of extraterrestrial life.
The report speculates that if NASA were to make
such a discovery public, it could result in chaos.
BASSETT: They used the Brookings Institute
to get a report done and to talk
about the implications of this.
And it was kind of about,
"Oh, people will panic,
"uh, markets will collapse,
religion will collapse," blah, blah, blah.
HELLYER: I would be willing to accept
that the original decision
to, uh, withhold the truth
was based partly, at least, on that concern.
But that, over the years, has disappeared totally.
NARRATOR: In a 2018 study conducted
by Arizona State University,
participants were asked to review media stories
about recent discoveries
that suggest extraterrestrial life exists.
Surprisingly, researchers found that in the 2000s,
the reaction to this idea
has become almost entirely positive.
HENRY: What this suggests is that, even from a religious perspective,
people have grown more accepting
of the possibility of extraterrestrial life.
NARRATOR: If fears of creating widespread panic are outdated,
why is the U.S. military still so reluctant
to share what it has learned
about extraterrestrials and UFOs?
The fact that there might be panic in the streets,
I-I think that was more of an excuse.
I think, uh, the military aspect...
that the recovered craft
could be used to develop military weaponry...
was probably more the reason for the secrecy.
Two fighter pilots from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz
investigate an unidentified aircraft
off the coast of San Diego.
They encounter a bright white, oval-shaped craft
that resembles a massive Tic Tac...
over 40 feet long,
and it has no windshield or wings.
According to Navy pilot David Fravor,
the ship makes seemingly impossible stops
and turns over the Pacific
before accelerating away
at thousands of miles per hour.
HOWE: And this is David Fravor,
skilled pilot.
He said, "I am looking
"at speeds,
"90-degree angles,
stopping."
Any human inside of what I’m watching
could not sustain life.
MICHIO KAKU: We have these videotapes.
We can actually calculate the velocity
of these objects.
We can calculate the g-forces
on these ships.
So that’s the sea change.
It used to be that if you were a UFO believer,
the burden of proof was on you
to prove that you saw something in the sky.
Now it’s shifted.
Now the establishment has to prove
that it isn’t a visitor from another planet.
NARRATOR: For UFO researchers,
the recent videos finally provide
clear evidence not only of what the government
has been hiding for decades...
...but the potential reason for the cover-up.
The technology is the key.
If any single factor
explains UFO secrecy,
it’s the aspiration to acquire
extraterrestrial technology.
The nation that first acquires that technology
is going to be in game-changing territory.
This is truly an arms race.
Whoever figures this out first wins.
So any developed nation is looking right now to leap ahead
with a technological innovation, based upon
the reverse engineering of what we’re seeing in the skies.
What our pilots are engaging in the skies.
What Commander Fravor chased.
NARRATOR: To many, the military’s desire
to monopolize extraterrestrial technology
is reason enough to explain a cover-up.
But some believe there are additional motives
for government secrecy.
While others point to a general culture
of bureaucratic secrecy that pervades all of government.
Some disclosure advocates say that the reason why
we haven’t seen disclosure yet is because of economics.
That you have an oil-based economy, and clearly
the craft that we see in the skies are not running on oil.
They’re using advanced propulsion systems
that would completely transform
the economies of Earth if they’re ever implemented.
HELLYER: So, yes.
It would have a negative financial
impact for the wealthiest people
who own the oil in the ground.
But it’s not the whole story.
PODESTA: The government
seems to be completely unaccountable
to the American public.
They may be accountable to their superiors
in the Department of Defense or at NASA or others.
But they rarely release anything they do know.
WENDT: I think we’re afraid to find out what these phenomena are.
Governments in particular are afraid, and the reason for that,
I think, is because the contract between
governments and their people
is that governments provide security,
and that we provide loyalty to the government.
If you even raise the issue of the possibility
that UFOs are ETs,
then that raises big questions
about that contract because it’s clear that the government
cannot provide security for us from these beings.
And that would call into question, well, why should I
be loyal to the government and everything else?
It would undermine the sovereignty of the government,
the sovereignty of the state.
NARRATOR: But even with a growing number of more open-minded policies
concerning both UFO reporting
and disclosure, there are many
who doubt that the U.S. military’s penchant for secrecy
will ever really allow full disclosure.
They insist that America is far too afraid
that extraterrestrial knowledge could fall into the hands
of its territorial enemies
to ever admit that aliens do exist.
NARRATOR: Santiago, Chile.
November 11, 2014.
A Chilean Navy helicopter
is on a routine daytime patrol mission
flying north along the coast, west of Santiago.
While filming the terrain,
a technician observes a strange object
flying to the left, over the ocean.
He aims his camera and records the encounter.
The Navy immediately turns over the footage to the CEFAA...
the Chilean government agency that investigates UFOs.
And they release it.
We have the Chilean government also releasing all kinds of
fighter footage from their own military jets.
So the government and the-the military
has been studying this for over 70 years.
And they must have so much evidence,
in-including video footage, that they are keeping secret from us
that would boggle your mind.
NARRATOR: Over the past ten years,
there has been a movement among many governments
to declassify some of their UFO investigations
and release them to the public.
PODESTA: I think that people
around the world, in Belgium and Chile and in,
in, uh, the U.K. and other countries have said,
"You know, we ought to, we ought to really take a look
at what’s going on."
DOLAN: But the fact is,
the U.S. intelligence infrastructure
is often deeply imbedded in the infrastructures
of those countries.
So, in other words, they can’t say boo
without the U.S. and NSA, particularly, knowing about it.
NARRATOR: If allies of the United States
are reluctant to disclose the facts
about UFOs and possible extraterrestrial visitation
without American permission,
what about America’s adversaries?
Hangzhou, China.
July 7, 2010.
Chinese officials shut down Xiaoshan International Airport
for nearly an hour
after an unidentified aircraft is seen in the vicinity.
The incident marks one of the very few times
the Chinese ever publicly admit
that UFO sightings happen in their country.
POPE: I can’t see any circumstances where disclosure
of an alien presence would do anything other than loosen
the hold of the party on the people.
It’s not in China’s interest to disclose.
NARRATOR: In Russia,
details about any recent UFO incidents
are even harder to come by,
as all media outlets are currently controlled by one man,
Vladimir Putin.
Announcing the existence of aliens is not in any way
going to strengthen Putin’s hold on power.
Why would he? What’s, what’s the benefit to him?
What would he get out of it?
Putting one over on the Americans? Well, maybe.
But the downside, in terms of the one thing
that Putin can’t afford... instability...
the downside is too big to gamble with.
NARRATOR: But if China and Russia
are unwilling to disclose what they know
about possible extraterrestrial contact,
and no other countries will do so
without the blessing of the United States,
then why are we beginning to see a gradually more open attitude
concerning disclosure on the part of the U.S. military?
What has changed in recent years?
Ancient astronaut theorists believe the answer can be found
by taking a closer look
at recent activities involving America’s space program.
Boca Chica, Texas.
August 27, 2019.
SpaceX, a private aerospace company
run by billionaire Elon Musk,
announces the successful fourth and final test flight
of their starship prototype Starhopper.
The craft is an early conceptual model
that Musk hopes will bring the company closer
to its ultimate goal: creating a 100-person starship
capable of transporting humans to Mars.
PODESTA: I think in the private sector, oddly, there’s the potential
to have at least more public disclosure,
given the fact that the Air Force have been so unwilling
to try to seriously review and release what they do know.
NARRATOR: As far as many ancient astronaut theorists are concerned,
the ongoing efforts to privatize space exploration,
by everyone from Elon Musk
and Amazon.com billionaire Jeff Bezos
to Robert Bigelow and Virgin Atlantic’s Richard Branson,
will soon make secrecy about UFOs
and possible alien visitations a thing of the past.
TSOUKALOS: Sooner or later, there will be space tourists,
so what if they walk on the surface of Mars
or the surface of-of the Moon and will walk by an artifact?
Well, am I allowed to take a-a selfie?
Am I allowed to take a photo?
Or do I have to go through NASA first?
You’re not going to ask NASA for permission first.
The fact that we are now entering this new era
in space exploration illustrates to me
that the doors are open.
NARRATOR: In a world that includes 24-hour news, WikiLeaks,
and a growing number of corporate space entrepreneurs,
is discovering the truth about aliens simply inevitable?
Throughout history, governments have never been able
to keep a secret.
Look at all the so-called secrets
that are being exposed almost on a daily basis.
Governments are furious that some lowly clerk
is simply leaking all this evidence into the public domain,
and so I think it’s gonna happen anyway.
But at that point, what do we do?
POPE: I think there is huge
public interest in this...
-Yes. -...and everyone wants to know what’s going on.
Why will the government not tell us?
Well, whose government is it?
Does it belong to some GS-13, some bureaucrat?
Of course not. We pay for it.
We own it. This is a democracy.
The default setting in D.C. is secrecy.
There are still documents from the First World War,
which was 102 years ago, that are classified.
So, there’s a lot of information in Washington
that ought to be public but that is not.
If you want to fix that, what you need is just political will.
You need someone to stand up and say I’m not gonna be quiet.
Look me in the eye, speak slowly so I can understand.
Why are we not sharing this with the public?
I want to make this stuff public.
Scientists, academics and researchers
gather at the Royal Society for a conference titled
"The detection of extra-terrestrial life
and the consequences for science and society."
Although their stated goal is to create protocols for the world
in the event of an extraterrestrial visitation,
they are unable to come up with a cohesive plan.
In fact, thus far, no official protocol
for a post-disclosure world has been offered
by the United Nations, the U.S. government,
or any other global superpower.
HENRY: We have military plans,
economic plans,
we’ve got health care plans for people.
But no plan for the single most important event
in human history?
How can that be, or why is that?
POPE: In government, you call it a low probability,
high-impact scenario.
Even if you think something is unlikely to happen,
if the societal consequences of it happening are big enough,
you sure as heck need a plan.
There isn’t one for extraterrestrials.
There should be.
We have to prep the population.
Prep humanity for what this means.
And that’s not something that could be done in a week or two.
That’s gonna require a long, long discussion...
ethical discussion, political discussion...
about humanity and our place in the universe and so on.
That’s a long process.
NARRATOR: As far as ancient astronaut theorists are concerned,
whether the truth about alien encounters
is revealed by world powers, renegade journalists,
whistleblowers, or the extraterrestrials themselves,
disclosure is inevitable.
TSOUKALOS: We are in the midst
of finding out about our true cosmic origin on planet Earth,
and right now it is one of the most exciting times to be alive.
And what I hope for after full disclosure
is that we finally come together
as one human species and understanding
that we are on this blue marble together.
I think it would change humanity’s consciousness.
COMMAND: Okay, Neil, we can see you coming down the ladder now.
PODESTA: Perhaps, much like when the astronauts
first took photos of the Earth from space,
and you began to see the fragility and the beauty
of the Earth when shot from the Moon.
That, I think, changed the way people related
to the natural world, to our place in the universe.
And I think it could have the same kind of effect.
CORBELL: This will come from us,
not from a big daddy government.
This is gonna come from the people.
Disclosure is up to individuals in this world
asking the right questions.
Because questions are weapons,
and if we ask the right questions,
we’re gonna get the right answers.
POPE: I think the next time
you’re with the president on Air Force One,
you should give him a couple of beers and, uh,
get the conversation going and say, "Come on,"
you know, "What-What’s going on?"
You know, the funny thing is, I was on Air Force One.
I had dinner with him alone and I should have asked him that.
-Thank you guys for coming. -Yeah, no, thanks.
-It was so nice to meet you in person. -Yeah.
Nice to meet you in person.
NARRATOR: If mankind really is
on the verge of discovering that extraterrestrials
not only exist but that they’ve been right here on Earth
throughout human history, will it really come as a shock?
Or will it merely be a confirmation of a truth
that somehow we’ve always known deep within ourselves?
It is for this reason that ancient astronaut theorists
believe disclosure isn’t an event that others must trigger
in order for it to happen.
It’s happening every day.
And it’s not because information we are receiving has changed.
What’s changed is the way we interpret it
and our willingness to accept the simple fact
that we are not alone.