Original subtitles

NARRATOR: International UFO files declassified.

France released all their UFO data.

NARRATOR: Global acknowledgment of mysterious craft in our skies.

DAVID CHILDRESS: The Chinese have really stepped up

their own UFO investigations.

NARRATOR: And top government officials are

stepping forward with extraordinary claims of contact.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: Canada's Defence Minister said

that there is contact going on

between Earth and extraterrestrial factions.

NARRATOR: Despite years of dismissing UFO phenomena,

world leaders have begun acknowledging

that we may not be alone.

But why now?

LINDA MOULTON HOWE: It isn't world leaders

that were holding disclosure back.

It's the extraterrestrials who said

humans were not ready for the introduction...

yet.

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: The United States government breaks a 70-year precedent

of denying UFOs and releases

a groundbreaking report on unidentified aerial phenomena.

The nine-page unclassified document identifies

144 UAP incidents

and concludes that only

one of them can be explained.

For the first time, you actually had the U.S. government

putting out physical evidence

that any person in the United States

or around the globe could click on

and see and say, "Okay, what's that about?"

And I think you're left with the impression that

this is something extremely unusual,

highly unlikely that it's

sourced to a foreign government or to the U.S. government.

And, therefore, you're left with what?

GEORGE KNAPP: I hope that because of the recent openness

of the U.S. government,

some of our allies will take a cue from that.

These things are not an American phenomena.

They are seen all over the world.

They've been seen on every continent,

in every culture throughout human history.

The fact is, that Russia, like the U.S.,

like China, like most other world governments,

has been interested in this topic forever.

In the last few years we've seen a dramatic increase

in UFO reports in a number of countries around the world.

In South America, also in Iran

and the Philippines

and Japan and even China.

When I look at the best cases

of military pilots, commercial pilots

all over the world caught on radar...

...ground radar, ground and airborne radar,

multiple aircraft ground and airborne radar,

it's clearly a worldwide phenomenon.

NARRATOR: While the United States officially denied

investigating UAPs until 2017,

some nations had always been ahead

in their approach to the subject.

Leading the world in UAP research

is the South American country of Chile.

In 1997, the Chilean government officially

instructed air traffic control and military personnel

to create the Committee for the Study

of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena.

The committee studies all reports of UAP activity

by commercial, military, and civilian pilots.

One of the most well-publicized was

a shocking incident that occurred in 2014,

when Chilean Naval officers flying along the coast

of Santiago captured video of a UAP.

ALEJANDRO ROJAS: There was an incident in 2014

where a military helicopter

got video of a strange object. It kind of looked

like a rocket with some sort of plume behind it.

And they said they were at about 4,500 feet.

RICHARD DOLAN: They have nine minutes

of fairly clear video that exists on this.

The Chilean military studied it for two years.

And they were not able to identify this at all.

(indistinct radio chatter)

HESELTINE: Chile, like many other South American countries,

seem to be far more open

to the idea that there are objects

coming into our airspace.

I think one of the reasons why South American countries

are more open-minded about the UFO

and the extraterrestrial question

is because it is part of their cultural heritage.

In fact, Peru and Bolivia, they're treasure troves

for the ancient astronaut theory.

The whole pre-Inca culture and even the Inca culture

spoke of these beings of light that descended from the sky.

And so these countries essentially

grew up with this intrinsic knowledge

of someone up in the sky.

Brazil has had a history of really dramatic UFO encounters.

Chile, I think Uruguay maybe, as well.

But the whole world didn't pay much attention to it.

NARRATOR: In addition to South America,

now other parts of the world are also

starting to disclose information about UFOs.

Governments are openly investigating encounters

reported by both civilians and military personnel.

But many researchers believe the most noteworthy country

to join this international effort is

also one of the most skeptical.

Japan.

In 2018, the Japanese government released

an official statement denying the existence of UFOs.

For the longest time in Japan, those in charge,

those at the top of the defense departments

have denied UFOs,

showed a disinterest in UFOs,

basically a complete dismissal of the UFO topic completely.

GREG SULLIVAN: The Japanese government made a sudden

press release that said they would not recognize

any UFO encounters or extraterrestrial presence

on Earth or in the airspace of Japan.

I thought this was very strange, as we had

already interviewed two pilots, uh,

who had several incidents

and, uh, testimonies that they gave us

regarding various pilots' encounters in the air

and from the ground over the years

when they were active in the military.

NARRATOR: Mamoru Sato, a former wing commander

in the Japanese Self-Defense Force

said that he regularly heard stories from other pilots

as well as civilians about UAP sightings.

(speaking Japanese)

(translated): Some people said,

"There's something strange up there."

There were a lot of opportunities to see

inexplicable things, such as UFOs

that were monitoring the sky and training in the sky.

And it was my subjective view that we should make a report

and organize these things as correct data.

But even when this happened, it was only shared

among colleagues and not reported publicly.

(speaking Japanese)

NARRATOR: According to Sato, numerous pilots have reported

highly unusual encounters with what they described

as cigar-shaped objects.

During one such incident, a student

in his fighter pilot course

even lost control of his craft.

(speaking Japanese)

(translated): He said, "The aircraft started going crazy.

"The alarm rang to indicate that something

"was wrong with the machine.

"I saw a cigar-shaped object flying

"about 1,500 meters high from east to west.

The anomaly continued until it disappeared."

NARRATOR: For years, pilots in the Japanese military

were instructed to remain silent about such incidents.

But in September 2020, Japan's

decades-long policy of secrecy and denial

came to an end when Defense Minister Taro Kono

tasked the Japanese Self-Defense Forces

to make a visual recording

of any encounter with an unexplained craft.

Many believe this very public shift in policy

was prompted by a meeting held one month earlier

between Minister Kono and his U.S. counterpart,

Defense Secretary Mark Esper.

The Japanese after this meeting,

uh, gave a press conference.

And they said one of the topics that came up

was unidentified aerial phenomenon.

And we talked about the need to cooperate on this.

That's a major development I think,

when you have close allies like the U.S. and Japan

openly speaking about the UFO issue and agreeing to cooperate.

We've come so far in such a short amount of time.

RYAN SPRAGUE: The fact that Japan denied that there was

UFO activity happening in their country,

and now they're establishing the Japanese

Space Operation Squadron says to me that

there clearly is something going on over the skies of Japan.

NARRATOR: Does the establishment of a Space Operation Squadron

suggest the Japanese government is ready

to acknowledge the ongoing UFO activity in their airspace?

And if so, might this be in preparation

for a broader and global disclosure?

Perhaps further clues can be found

by examining intriguing statements

recently made by the country's top public figures.

NARRATOR: December 18, 2007.

Ryuji Yamane of the Democratic Party of Japan,

under increasing pressure from his constituents,

publicly demands a response from the prime minister

and his cabinet to address the surge of UFO activity

over Japan...

totaling more than 300 reported sightings per month.

The cabinet's official statement

is that it "has not confirmed the existence

of unidentified flying objects from outer space."

But within a few hours, everything changes.

Just hours after this meeting, the Chief Cabinet Secretary

Nobutaka Machimura announced on live television

that regarding the question of extraterrestrials,

he definitely thinks they exist.

Then a week later

the Japanese Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba

revealed that he had been carefully considering

different response scenarios for an alien invasion.

And what he said is incredible.

He said, and I quote,

"There are no grounds for us to deny

"that there are unidentified flying objects

and some life-forms that controls them."

Two years later, the wife of the prime minister

came out with an extraordinary series

of statements, in which she claimed

that she had been abducted by aliens,

that she had traveled on a UFO.

For the wife of the prime minister

to come out and make a statement like that was

absolutely unprecedented.

I think the only reason this isn't on the front page

of every newspaper in the world

is that, certainly in the United States,

we do tend to be rather heavily focused

on English-speaking countries,

and, indeed, very U.S.-centric in our outlook.

If the statements being made in Japan were being made

in America, it would be on every major news network

24-7.

NARRATOR: Could these profound statements coming

from top Japanese government officials

reveal that they have knowledge of alien visitation?

Ancient astronaut theorists suggest evidence

of alien contact on these islands

dates back thousands of years,

and can be found within the teachings of Shintoism.

Shintoism is the primary religion of Japan,

with over 107 million followers...

and is designed around a set of ritual practices

that connect present-day Japan

to its ancient mystical past.

At its center are celestial beings

that according to the Japanese people

still roam their islands to this day.

The term "Shinto" translates as,

"the way of the kami," or, uh, "the way of the gods."

(gong tolls)

It's a tradition that has

a millennia-long history in Japan.

There are over eight million kamis,

according to the Shinto tradition.

And each one of them has

its own particular personality traits, if you will.

So, in that sense, they are quite different

from the notion of monotheistic god that we have

in traditions that are most widespread in the West.

The kami are these celestial beings that are

able to inhabit basically anything.

From a human being,

to an animal, and even inanimate objects.

So on the one hand, they're these multi-dimensional beings,

but then they also describe them as having

come down from their celestial palace

in the sky, which is called Takamagahara.

The celestial kami will come

into the terrestrial world, our world.

And they need a home.

So they have these major shrines

for these kami when they come into the world,

so that they can feel at home in the terrestrial world.

The Japanese archipelago is dotted with over 81,000

shrines that are devoted to the kami gods.

And it's believed that these are houses or places

where these extraterrestrial beings come

to live when they're on Earth.

The Japanese people will visit the shrines

of the kami with the belief that they are actually praying

to an extraterrestrial being who can fulfill their blessings.

NARRATOR: If what Shinto followers call

"the kami" really are otherworldly beings

that have been visiting Japan since ancient times,

are they still being encountered today

in the form of UFOs?

And might the Japanese leadership be taking steps

to disclose this extraterrestrial connection?

Ancient astronaut theorists suggest

governments throughout the world

are finally beginning to acknowledge

that there may be objects in our skies that are

not of this Earth, and they say that when it comes

to promoting investigation and transparency,

one of the biggest proponents

is also one of the most unlikely:

the royal family of Britain.

At a meeting of the House of Lords,

the second chamber of Parliament,

Minister of Defence, Baroness Annabel Goldie,

is questioned about the just-released report

on unidentified aerial phenomena issued by the United States,

and is asked if the UK plans on issuing a report of its own.

HESELTINE: Baroness Goldie answered in a way that said

that there is no threat.

She was very careful how she phrased it.

She said there has never been a proven threat.

Reading between the lines, that said

to me that unless these things are gonna

start shooting at our airplanes,

they're not considered a threat.

NARRATOR: But while the British Parliament has no plans

to release its own UAP report,

it was recently discovered that for nearly 70 years,

UFO activity was closely monitored

by some of the most prominent members of the royal family.

April 9, 2021.

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,

passes away at the age of 99.

As publications across the world

report on his incredible life,

it comes to light that the prince

had a long-held fascination with the UFO phenomenon.

When Prince Philip died

in the spring of 2021,

there was a bit of a surprise to the British public

and that was that Prince Philip had

a huge collection

of books on UFOs that went right back

to the mid-1940s.

DOLAN: He had an associate named Sir Peter Horsley

who was a former RAF pilot.

He was a good friend of Prince Philip.

And back in the mid-1950s,

was charged by the prince to do

a lot of research into this whole flying saucer situation.

POPE: The two of them over the years researched

and investigated this quietly,

kept an eye on all the developments,

secretly subscribed

to various UFO magazines and newsletters,

and even had witnesses interviewed.

But a lot of this, of course, was highly sensitive.

I mean, here you have the queen's husband,

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,

researching and investigating UFOs.

Had the news got out,

it would have caused a sensation.

NARRATOR: While those within the UFO community

had long been aware of Prince Philip's investigations

into strange phenomena,

most of the public only learned of it with his passing.

And it also came to light that another member

of the British royal family was responsible

for one of Great Britain's earliest UFO reports.

Hampshire, England, 1955.

On the morning of February 23 at 8:30 a.m.,

bricklayer Frederick Briggs is riding his bike

when he encounters a startling sight.

An enormous object in the sky above his employer's estate.

POPE: He said this thing was huge.

It was hovering a short distance above the ground.

Some sort of column descended

and a figure emerged.

Uh, a humanoid figure wearing

some sort of dark uniform, and-and perhaps

wearing a hat or a helmet.

And at one point he talks about a force

knocking him off his bicycle and holding him down.

And he talks about the UFO as having windows

around the side of it, and seeing a strange light.

It's a quite extraordinary account.

This close encounter event was

so remarkable to Fred Briggs that

he thought it was necessary to tell

the actual owner of this estate.

And that just so happened to be Lord Mountbatten,

who was the uncle of Prince Philip,

who was married to Queen Elizabeth.

NARRATOR: At the time of the sighting, Lord Louis Mountbatten,

former Governor General of India, was the First Sea Lord

of the British Royal Navy.

This is a UFO sighting at the home of one of

the most senior figures in the British establishment.

We know so much about this because

they recorded the whole thing.

They actually took a statement from the bricklayer.

Lord Mountbatten wrote up a report.

They all signed them all.

DOLAN: This apparently was a very credible account,

according to Lord Mountbatten.

And he talked extensively

to Prince Philip about this.

I mean, you have to assume this whole thing went

through the entire royal household.

You have to assume Queen Elizabeth knew all about this.

HOWE: Lord Mountbatten would have access as friends

and colleagues to the people in the MOD who were keeping

the secret information about UFOs and ETs.

And that is my guess is the fuel that kept Prince Philip

so interested because they were telling each other

this is real, this is true.

NARRATOR: While the royal family was secretly investigating UFOs

in the 1950s, so too was the British government.

In 1988, researchers unearthed a five-page report from 1951,

buried in the National Archive, detailing the findings

of a group called "The Flying Saucer Working Party."

One of the British government's first forays

into the whole UFO mystery was the Flying Saucer Working Party.

It examined a range of UFO sightings,

mainly reported by military witnesses.

HESELTINE: The Flying Saucer Working Party met briefly for about 12 months.

It comprised of five scientists,

and it originally met in October

of 1950, and by June of 1951 had produced a report.

And the report basically said, we're gonna debunk it,

following America's lead.

I've always interpreted this report as orders from above.

You know, someone said, "Look, we don't need the lower levels

to start getting worked up over these UFO reports."

NARRATOR: The Flying Saucer Working Party was shut down following

the 1951 report, but it inspired interest

from prominent figures within the British government,

and led to further investigations.

POPE: In 1952, Winston Churchill,

back as Prime Minister in the UK,

said to the Air Ministry and to his Chief Scientific Adviser,

"What does all this stuff about flying saucers mean?"

Just the year after Churchill wrote that memo,

the Ministry of Defence actually set up

the UFO program where I worked in later years.

The government's official position was:

there's nothing here to suggest a reality to the phenomenon.

I think the reality behind closed doors

was very different.

And there have always been those of us who felt this

was an extremely serious defense

and national security issue.

NARRATOR: Why is it that after decades of denial,

the UK is now disclosing information

about its leadership's true fascination

with the alien question?

Whatever the reason may be,

ancient astronaut theorists believe the British government's

level of interest goes far beyond mere curiosity.

Recently declassified documents suggest elite

special agents were assigned to covertly investigate

the country's infamous "UFO files."

NARRATOR: The British Ministry of Defence, or MOD,

makes a startling announcement.

They are releasing the entirety of their UFO files

to the National Archives of England.

ANDREW RUSSELL: My belief is that the MOD's motive was

to have people stop asking them questions.

They could get away from all these difficult

Freedom of Information Act requests

that people were making.

And they framed it in a way that it was

all about cost cutting.

But in reality, it was almost as if they just

didn't want anything to do with the subject anymore.

I still believe they take a very active interest in the subject,

but they don't want to be seen publicly to take that interest.

NARRATOR: After a rollout that took more than a decade,

it came to light that the Ministry of Defence

had accumulated over 60,000 documents pertaining to

UFO encounters.

But researchers sorting through the archives were able

to determine that 18 key files were missing.

RUSSELL: There were a number of very famous cases

where people had taken some really good photos,

some really good film imagery, that the MOD can't now find.

Large parts of their files were seemingly destroyed.

And it seems they have a very good history

on losing really important bits of information.

NARRATOR: After a request was submitted,

Ministry of Defence officials located the missing files.

Each file, by the way, contains upward of maybe

100, 200 documents.

So we're talking thousands of documents.

They sent those files to the National Archives,

and everyone was expecting an imminent release.

But in an unprecedented move,

the Ministry of Defence then recalled the files.

Now, I've never heard of this happening before.

To date, these 18 files remain under lock and key.

So something very mysterious is going on.

NARRATOR: Why would the British Ministry of Defence

send UFO files to the National Archives,

and then suddenly recall them without explanation?

Some government insiders have suggested

that the files were moved for safekeeping, while another

even more secure facility was being prepared.

When the National Archives

returned the files to the British government,

they were spirited away to an undisclosed location.

There are those who believe that location

is a former Royal Air Force base

in the southwest county of Wiltshire called Rudloe Manor.

A site that the Ministry of Defence used to perform

UFO investigations dating back to the 1940s.

On the surface, it appears to be nothing more than a quaint

English manor house.

But deep beneath this structure lie an astounding

2.2 million square feet of vast caverns

divided into many smaller chambers.

These underground quarries were excavated in the 19th century

to mine Bath stone, a type of limestone used to build

the nearby city of Bath and several other English cities.

One century later, in 1939,

England was drawn into World War II,

and the British Royal Air Force took over the depleted quarries,

transforming them into an underground aircraft factory.

At the end of the war, many such facilities were

returned to civilian control,

but Rudloe Manor and its over two million square feet

of secret tunnels and chambers were never surrendered.

For years it was home to a group called

the Provost and Security Services.

They're kind of like the James Bonds

of the British Royal Air Force.

They do espionage investigations,

counterintelligence programs,

things like that.

Even terrorism investigations.

But back in the 1990s, and certainly going back

to the 1950s, the Provost and Security Services

were heavily involved in UFO investigations.

Now, for years, the Air Force and the Ministry of Defence

denied that any UFO investigations

were going on at Rudloe Manor.

Then a document got released, and it showed that,

actually, yes, UFO investigations

had been done from Rudloe Manor.

And the staff there had been working hand in glove

with those of us in the headquarters building

in London.

NARRATOR: Shortly before the Ministry of Defence released

their UFO files in 2007,

they announced that Rudloe Manor

was no longer in use by the military.

But if that's true, why are the grounds surrounded

by chain link fences, monitored by security cameras,

and even protected by guard dogs?

To find the answers, in January of 2017,

ancient astronaut theorist Giorgio Tsoukalos traveled to

the protected boundaries of Rudloe Manor.

POPE: There it is.

NARRATOR: Joining him in his search

for the truth was Nick Pope, who in the early 1990s

worked for the Ministry of Defence investigating UFOs.

TSOUKALOS: We're here.

During your time at the MOD,

what did you learn about this place?

Or any type of UFO cases that may have happened

around this area?

Well, this whole area is rich in UFO sightings.

Rudloe Manor was the headquarters of a unit

known as Provost and Security Services.

Now, this is all tied up with Air Force

security and intelligence.

UFO sightings were investigated by staff

based here at Rudloe Manor, but for years, we denied it.

We told Parliament, the media and the public

that these things were of no interest,

that Rudloe Manor had no involvement in this.

And yet when the files were declassified,

it turned out that people were right.

- Right here? - Right here.

And so, this building really was at the heart

of Britain's secret UFO research,

and particularly the underground facilities below us.

All sorts of secrets and research and investigation

projects went on from this particular facility.

NARRATOR: While the manor house was the face of Rudloe Manor

and the headquarters for Britain's UFO investigations,

access to the underground facilities

is found two miles away

at the equally secretive installation known as the C.C.C.

POPE: It's close to where we are.

It's all part of the underground facility,

so there are tunnels which start right

underneath the manor house here, and go to the C.C.C.

No one knows exactly how many people work

down there, but it's thousands.

Nobody knows exactly what they do.

And I worked for the government, for the Ministry of Defence,

for 21 years, and I don't know.

- And even if I did, I wouldn't be able to tell you. - Of course!

NARRATOR: Are the UFO files withheld by the Ministry of Defence

being kept at Rudloe Manor,

as ancient astronaut theorists believe?

And could even greater secrets be hidden

at the mysterious site known as the C.C.C.?

POPE: Officially, it's called the Corsham Computer Centre.

And you can't get in there. It's absolutely off-limits.

Whatever's going on down there, it's big.

NARRATOR: Despite the fact that it is not open to the public,

Giorgio asked Nick to take him to the C.C.C.

- for a firsthand look at the installation. - TSOUKALOS: All right.

- Good luck. - Thank you very much.

NARRATOR: As a former employee of the Ministry of Defence,

Nick did not feel it was appropriate for him

to approach the facility himself without clearance.

I'll see you later, Nick.

- Yes. - Take care.

TSOUKALOS: Here we are. The C.C.C.

The lights are on.

And just like Nick explained,

it's got barbed wire, it is fenced down, impenetrable.

NARRATOR: According to the British Ministry of Defence,

the C.C.C. is simply a data processing center

for the Royal Navy.

But if true, why is it so heavily guarded?

Clearly, it's an access to what seems to be

an underground system. And if the stories that

Nick told me are true, then underneath our feet is

a vast system of tunnels and underground facilities.

(siren blaring)

NARRATOR: Within minutes of Giorgio's arrival at the security gate,

the crew is met by a military police unit.

TSOUKALOS: Can you tell me anything about this place?

NARRATOR: Unfortunately, the situation ends

with filming being halted.

TSOUKALOS: Well, we're only trying to find out the truth.

NARRATOR: But why?

What is it that's so top secret that Giorgio

and his camera crew are not even allowed to

film the entrance from public property?

So it was exactly how you said.

Fortification, barbed wire fence.

I had about five minutes,

and then a police car showed up.

He said, "Well, I think it's time for you to leave."

So I think you did exactly the right thing

to get out there while you could.

But you know that, A-- it is operational

and B-- it's obviously important.

They sent the security people out.

I-I guarantee you they had eyes on you

from the moment you started.

NARRATOR: Could this seemingly innocuous building,

and the underground facilities it leads to

be continuing the extraterrestrial investigations

that were previously carried out at Rudloe Manor?

While the British government

continues to be less than forthcoming

regarding its UFO investigations,

perhaps the world's best model of transparency

has emerged just across the English Channel.

In France, collaborative efforts by space,

military, and government agencies

have recently uncovered more than 400 encounters

that remain entirely unexplained.

NARRATOR: The National Center for Space Studies establishes

an organization to record eyewitness accounts

of abnormal phenomena observed in the sky.

Known today as "GEIPAN,"

which translated stands for "The Group for Studies

and Information on Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena."

The unit has amassed

more than 100,000 pages worth of UAP reports.

And in 2007, the group did something unprecedented.

It shared all of its files with the public.

France is quite unorthodox

when it comes to how governments are dealing with UFOs.

They released all their UFO data.

And they said, "Here's where we're at.

"As we get new information,

we're just gonna release it to you, the public."

They did something that no one had ever done before.

It was the first time it had ever happened.

JEREMY CORBELL: France is one of these countries

that both culturally, and also governmentally,

have made a point to be in front of the UFO issue.

This is a rarity because of the national

security implications, but it shows us an opportunity

where the public can be informed alongside the government

with the fundamental reality that UFOs are real,

that the presence on planet Earth has been durational.

It has been here a long time.

And there is a mystery that we need to look at.

It is our right to know, and our duty to find out.

NARRATOR: GEIPAN posted information on their website

on over 1,600 cases, and concluded that 28% of them

cannot be explained by conventional events.

And a number of these unexplained sightings

were reported by multiple witnesses.

One of the most sensational encounters took place

more than 45 years ago, on a clear, cloudless night

at a combat flight school to the southwest of Paris.

There was an incident on March 3, 1976,

when French fighter pilots were engaged in a training mission.

Every five minutes T-33 planes

were taking off from the airbase near Tours.

NARRATOR: Flying solo at an altitude of 20,000 feet,

each student pilot had to navigate

a route of several hundred miles.

One of these pilots was flying

with several other flights just behind him.

He suddenly saw this huge green fireball...

coming straight at him.

And in fact, he thought that it was going to

hit his plane, and he covered his eyes

and braced for impact.

And just then, this green fireball

went off to one side and clipped

the wing of his jet fighter.

He was amazed that he had actually survived this,

and had no idea what happened,

but two pilots behind him had seen the same thing.

HENRY: Nothing was recorded on the radar on the ground,

but the fact remains is that highly trained

military pilots saw this object.

They couldn't explain what they actually saw.

NARRATOR: Commercial airline pilots were also involved

in an extraordinary incident

that occurred over the French capital.

This time, the reported UFO encounter

took place in broad daylight.

On January 28, 1994, Air France Flight 3532

was flying from Nice, France, to London, England.

They were just over Paris when all of a sudden

the pilots reported seeing an orangish-reddish disc

about 30 miles away.

It was changing its form.

HOWE: It transforms into a bell.

From a bell into a lens,

from a lens back into a bell.

And they kept watching this transformation,

which today we know-- this is one of the key

signatures in the UFO phenomenon.

CHILDRESS: Later, when they made their report,

they found out that radar had also tracked

this disc, and they had no explanation for it at all.

HENRY: These are just two examples of the 400 incidents

that could not be explained.

NARRATOR: France's decision to share its data

with the public is unprecedented.

Then again, their entire approach to UAPs stands in stark

contrast to the way the rest of world operates.

POPE: If you look at the history of government UFO programs,

most nations that have had one embed those programs

in either the Air Force or the Department of Defense.

The French have a different model.

Their UFO program is embedded

in their National Space Agency.

GREENSTREET: And they're provided with data from the military.

And so, it's this trilateral commission, almost,

of space, public, military, and government working together

to release to the public current information on UFOs.

POPE: What you get is a less secretive

and threat-oriented approach,

and a more open scientific inquiry.

If you embed a UFO program in the military,

their first question is, "Is this a threat?"

If you embed it in the scientific community,

their question is,

"What is the true nature of this phenomenon?

And can we do any scientific experiments to validate this?"

So, if you look at the way things are done in France,

that might be a model for the future here in the U.S.

NARRATOR: Ancient astronaut theorists hope

that France's collaborative approach

to UAP investigations becomes the norm around the world.

But even as more nations seem willing

to share information about UAPs,

China, the Western world's most secretive adversary,

remains mostly silent.

Recent developments, however, suggest they know more

than they are letting on.

NARRATOR: Air Traffic at Xiaoshan International Airport,

one of the busiest in the entire nation, grinds to a halt

when pilots spot a UFO hovering over the runway.

DOLAN: You have Chinese pilots coming into the airport there,

and they actually are reporting

unusual-shaped object, unusual object maneuvering,

to the extent

that it prompted the airport to

essentially shut down for an hour.

I think there were 18 flights

that were diverted away from the airport

during that hour.

There was a lot of speculation as to what this thing was.

And we don't really have an answer to this day.

NARRATOR: Neither civilian nor military authorities

were able to identify the object,

and the Chinese government

made no official comment on the situation.

But behind the scenes,

the incident and its implications

worried Chinese officials,

and an investigation was launched.

CHILDRESS: That incident really shocked the Chinese.

And at that point, they thought,

"Okay, we've got to see what's going on here."

NARRATOR: For decades,

investigators around the world suspected

China had a deep interest in unidentified aerial phenomena.

But the Chinese government is historically secretive,

and members of the UFO community have had difficulty

obtaining information on their methods of UAP research.

POPE: It's very difficult

to extract reliable information about what countries like China

are doing in relation to UFOs.

About the only thing we know for sure is

that there are government programs looking at this.

The Chinese government is notoriously closed and secretive

on a range of issues, so it doesn't surprise me

that it's the case on UFOs, as well.

NARRATOR: But in the 21st century,

secrets have become harder and harder to keep.

The UFO sighting at Xiaoshan Airport was only one

of over 3,000 reported in China over the past two decades.

And in the years that followed the sightings at Hangzhou,

China has undergone a significant change

in its approach to UAPs.

China's Early Warning Academy,

a division of the People's Liberation Army Airforce,

issues a government report acknowledging an increase

in what they refer to as "Unidentified Air Conditions."

MICHAEL DENNIN: So, in China,

what we call "unidentified aerial phenomena," they call

"unidentified air conditions,"

and they've set up a new task force to look at this.

DOLAN: China's getting a lot of UFO reports,

and one interesting thing about what China does

to collect UFO reports is that they work very closely

with all of these independent Chinese UFO groups

that are around the country.

KNAPP: Their public has UFO clubs

that have a million or more members.

They have multiple clubs

that are so much bigger than our little,

tiny UFO groups-- MUFON and things like that--

which are very valuable.

But compared to these Chinese groups,

oh, my gosh, it's gigantic.

DOLAN: There's no problem in China

for you to start up your own UFO group,

but you are absolutely

going to be in communication with Chinese authorities.

And they actively monitor every one of those groups.

NARRATOR: In 2019, in the same report

that revealed China's UAP program,

Air Force Early Warning Academy researcher Chen Li also stated

that the country would become the first in the world

to use AI, or artificial intelligence,

to analyze all information related to UAPs.

POPE: It seems that they are looking

for patterns in the data

to see, historically, whether examination

of past reports can throw up any patterns

that human analysists might have missed.

And this is a very important aspect

for the future, as the technology improves.

One of the things in the recent report to the U.S. Congress was

that the United States needs to start doing this.

We don't want a situation

where the Chinese government gets ahead of the game,

so there's a gap to be closed there.

(indistinct, overlapping shouting)

DOLAN: I can easily see the benefit

from having a very, very excellent program

to analyze these patterns.

'Cause that's what you're looking for is,

you're looking for anomalous patterns.

And so the fact that China is announcing

that they're doing it, was quite significant.

CHILDRESS: The Chinese have really stepped up

their own official UFO investigations,

and it's the People's Liberation Army itself

that's spearheading this.

NARRATOR: Could it be that China is becoming more transparent

in its quest for answers about UFOs?

But even so,

might their leadership be keeping the full extent

of their knowledge regarding extraterrestrials

hidden from their own people?

Perhaps further insight can be gleaned

from the astonishing whistleblower claims

of a former Chinese government official.

NARRATOR: Sun Shili,

a former Chinese foreign ministry official,

who worked directly with Mao Tse-tung,

comes forward with a shocking revelation

that is reported in The Canadian newspaper.

The Chinese government is aware

of extraterrestrials visiting Earth.

(translated): The government held an objective

and practical attitude,

and allowed us to do abundant research,

reports and discussions on the topic.

They pay great attention to this topic,

especially the military, the Air Force

and civil aviation departments,

which encounter UFO cases frequently.

POPE: Sun Shili said

that not only were the Chinese government aware

that extraterrestrials were visiting the Earth,

but also, that some aliens were actually living among us,

disguised in human form.

His revelations are an absolute bombshell.

I mean, clearly, this shines a new light

on what may have been going on in relation to this subject

in one of the most secret societies

on the face of this planet.

NARRATOR: Shili claimed

to have discovered sensitive information

about government knowledge of extraterrestrials

while serving Chairman Mao,

and he also had his own close encounter.

(translated): In 1972, I was in the central government.

I was working in the foreign affairs department.

We were on evening duty

when we saw a shiny UFO in the sky,

like a small moon.

It was smaller than the moon, but was very bright.

It moved up and down.

It disappeared after about ten minutes or so.

NARRATOR: Initially, Shili regarded the spectacle

as a type of Cold War intelligence monitoring device.

But years later, after working

within elevated levels of the Chinese government,

he was certain he had witnessed an alien spacecraft.

(indistinct chatter)

POPE: I met Dr. Sun Shili

in 2013 in Washington, D.C.

We were both speakers

at the Citizen Hearing on Disclosure.

I had a chance to meet with Sun Shili,

and discuss some of this with him firsthand.

He's entirely sincere about this.

NARRATOR: Could Sun Shili, a man who worked closely

with one of the most powerful world leaders in history,

really have inside knowledge

about extraterrestrials visiting Earth?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and suggest

that China-- a historically isolationist country--

may have secretly been in contact

with extraterrestrials for decades and possibly longer.

JONATHAN YOUNG: China has always been insular.

There's always been a sense

that the rest of the world was unimportant,

that China was for China

and for the Chinese, and they were very careful

about any secrets that came out.

POPE: China is a notoriously closed and secretive society.

Is this in relation to UFOs because they know something?

Could it be that they found something?

PAUL STONEHILL: The Chinese government

does not feel obligated

to explain their views on UFOs,

or their research.

I am sure they are concerned that those who study UFOs

sometimes see military tests in the skies of China.

They are a self-immersed civilization,

and they don't feel, perhaps,

that they need to share all their historical knowledge

with the others.

NARRATOR: China is one of the world's most populous countries,

with a unique blend of ancient and modern civilization.

Westerners have long held a fascination

with this distant land, in part

because it seems to hold so many secrets.

From the construction of the 13,000-mile-long

Great Wall of China, erected thousands of years ago,

to the so-called digital Great Firewall,

restricting the Internet today--

China has taken extraordinary measures

that have prevented both people and information

from entering or leaving its domain.

But why?

According to ancient astronaut theorists,

the answer may be found

by looking back 5,000 years

to China's beginnings,

and the reign of their very first ruler--

the Yellow Emperor.

STEAVU: The Yellow Emperor is understood

to be a human figure, but,

originally, in his earlier incarnation,

he was actually a divine celestial figure.

He was a god associated with thunder,

and lightning, more specifically.

And he was thought to reside in the sky.

The reign of the Yellow Emperor,

which purportedly lasted 100 years,

was thought to be a high point of Chinese culture

and of civilization.

So he's associated with a number of technological developments,

spanning from the calendar,

advances in mathematics, astronomy,

agricultural techniques, writing, as well.

NARRATOR: According to ancient accounts,

the Yellow Emperor possessed knowledge

of advanced technology,

and invented many mechanical devices,

including a cauldron that was oriented

towards the Syuan Yuan star--

the star from which he is said to have descended.

It was written

that the cauldron could make a dragon appear from the sky.

STEAVU: When the time was right,

he crafted the cauldron,

and in it, he threw in some alchemical ingredients,

elixir ingredients.

And immediately, the heavens opened, and a dragon emerged.

TSOUKALOS: So, a flying dragon,

sometimes described with metallic skin.

One has to wonder,

do we have descriptions of nuts-and-bolts machines?

Could these be nothing else

but descriptions of misunderstood technology?

SUN SHILI (translated): Based on our research,

the Yellow Emperor arrived in the wonderful land of China

through an aircraft.

We Chinese people consider ourselves

the descendants of the dragon.

In UFO research, a dragon is the symbol of aircraft,

that is, the symbol of a UFO.

NARRATOR: Is it possible the Yellow Emperor

was an extraterrestrial that was responsible

for starting Chinese civilization

over 5,000 years ago?

And if so, might subsequent emperors--

who all claimed to be descendants of Huangdi--

have been at least part alien, as well?

In China's ancient history,

it was often forbidden to look upon the emperor.

And from 1420 to 1912,

emperors were actually walled off from the public

within a massive citadel in Beijing,

known as "the Forbidden City."

The design of the Forbidden City was meticulously planned

to shield the emperor from the outside world,

as well as symbolize Chinese philosophy and religion.

The Forbidden City was considered

to be an earthly counterpart to an extraterrestrial city.

A monk received the plan for the city in a vision,

and it was built of stones, some of them weighing over 300 tons.

The full name of the Forbidden City

is actually, "the Purple Forbidden City,"

and this refers to a constellation,

which is known as the "Purple Enclosure," in the skies.

This constellation is said to house the celestial emperor

and his immediate entourage.

So, the forbidden city in Beijing is considered

to be an earthly, or terrestrial, counterpart

of this celestial palace up in the stars.

CHILDRESS: So you have to wonder,

might these Chinese emperors have been aliens,

living both among people of the Earth and in the sky?

NARRATOR: Was the practice

of hiding Chinese emperors implemented

to conceal flesh-and-blood extraterrestrials?

And, if so, might there still be aliens living among,

and, in fact, ruling the Chinese people,

just as former Chinese official

Sun Shili claims there are today?

Perhaps further clues can be found

by examining curious, off-the-record remarks

made by the former prime minister of Russia.

NARRATOR: The leaders of over 50 nations gather

for the Nuclear Security Summit--

a two-day conference to discuss issues

regarding the proliferation and safekeeping of nuclear weapons.

During a photo op between

American President Barack Obama

and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev--

who was soon to be replaced

by then Prime Minister Vladimir Putin--

the two leaders have an off-the-record conversation

that raises more than a few eyebrows.

NARRATOR: But even more intriguing were recorded--

but not filmed-- comments

in which President Obama told Medvedev...

And to which Medvedev replied...

POPE: The revelation was extraordinary.

President Obama's quote was,

"It's important for him to give me space."

What does that mean?

Some people think it simply means breathing space,

space to operate, room to maneuver politically.

But there is an interpretation

that suggests he meant literally.

"It's important for him to give me space."

Outer space.

MIKE BARA: Any time you hear governments talk about space,

you hear them talk about space exploration,

trust me, the underlying,

implied, unspoken reality behind that is the alien presence.

POPE: It is possible that Russia and America,

in some aspects of the space question,

and maybe the extraterrestrial question,

maybe they are working together after all.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that even between two

of the world's most powerful political rivals,

there is a secret understanding?

One based on America and Russia's past

and future roles in outer space?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes,

and they also believe that this secret understanding extends

to numerous experiences

involving extraterrestrial contact.

As evidence, they point to an occasion

that took place just a few months

after Medvedev's now famous exchange with Barak Obama.

On December 7, 2012,

after giving a primetime network interview in Moscow,

Medvedev made remarks offstage which seemed

to openly acknowledge the existence of extraterrestrials,

and the Russian government's efforts

to keep that existence a secret.

NARRATOR: Although most of the journalists in the room

believed the Russian president's remarks

to have been made in jest,

there were others who were not so certain.

DOLAN: This is one of the most dramatic statements

that emanates out of Russia, and so it's fascinating.

Dmitry Medvedev said, "When you become president of Russia,

"you're given information on aliens in our country,

and the human groups that are monitoring them."

He was totally with a straight face during all of this.

SALLA: Here he is, on film,

saying that there is a secret

governmental cooperation occurring in the background

that has the highest levels of classification

to really monitor extraterrestrials

that are visiting our planet.

Forget all the differences.

Forget ideologies.

At the highest level, the two nations work together.

After World War II,

there was a number of UFO encounters,

very important encounters,

and this gave impetus

to joint cooperation between our nations.

NARRATOR: Joint cooperation?

Even during the tension-filled decades of the Cold War?

Ancient astronaut theorists believe

that not only did such a secret relationship exist,

but that it began several decades ago

as a consequence of what they believe to be

the Soviet Union's first documented UFO encounter.

An event they commonly refer to

as "The Russian Roswell."

Southern Russia.

June 19, 1948.

At a remote Soviet military installation

known as Kapustin Yar,

an unidentified flying object

is detected over the base.

POPE: Strange blips were seen on radar.

Something was tracked

performing extraordinary speeds and maneuvers.

And a Russian fighter jet was sent to intercept it.

The pilot saw a silver cigar-shaped object

and was told, "Shoot this thing down.

It's in restricted military airspace."

The UFO fired some sort of directed energy weapon,

a death ray.

But before the Russian jet was downed,

it managed to launch a missile

and shoot down the UFO.

Some people have speculated this was the time

that the Russians found out about extraterrestrials.

BARA: According to the myths and legends,

at Kapustin Yar, they actually recovered bodies,

they recovered the spacecraft itself,

and it was kept there for study and reverse engineering.

PETER ROBBINS: We are told that there is

a underground facility under Kapustin Yar,

similar probably to facilities here in the States,

where a full examination could be performed

on the pilots of these craft.

NARRATOR: To ancient astronaut theorists and researchers,

what makes the Kapustin Yar story all the more significant

is that it occurred within a year of

the now-infamous Roswell incident,

in which a UFO reportedly crashed

in the New Mexico desert

sometime in June of 1947.

That took place near the only active

military unit in the world that had nuclear weapons.

That was the Roswell 509th Bombing Unit,

and they had nukes.

Similarly, over at the Soviet Union

at places like Kapustin Yar,

we've got significant UFO activity being reported,

military engagements,

just like in the United States.

And I personally believe

that extraterrestrials had a strong interest

in the nuclear technologies that were then developing

on planet Earth,

which is exactly why they were there.

NARRATOR: Could it be that both the Kapustin Yar

and Roswell incidents were attempts by extraterrestrials

to make contact because of mankind's

recent development of nuclear weapons?

But, if such contact did occur,

did it signal an era of secret cooperation

between the world's two great superpowers,

or did it only trigger

a greater degree of rivalry and competition?

In Roswell, you had the crash.

You had the recovered alien bodies,

but the aliens were dead. There was no way

to communicate with them

because they had been killed.

So, we had the technology,

but probably no really good idea

on how to start reverse engineering it.

Whereas at Kapustin Yar, as the story goes,

they not only got the spacecraft itself,

but, apparently, there was at least

one survivor of the incident.

So, what could the Russians possibly have learned

from that alien extraterrestrial biological entity

that we were not able to learn from our Roswell incident?

Why were the Russians first into space?

Why did they manage to do Sputnik 1

and then send Yuri Gagarin up into orbit

and leave the Americans standing?

Because, on paper, you'd think that the U.S. government

should have won that race, but they didn't.

If the Russians got live aliens,

maybe they found out something

from what happened at Kapustin Yar

that gave them the edge in the space race.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the Soviet Union gained

a strategic advantage in the so-called "Space Race"

because of help it received from an extraterrestrial visitor?

And if so, did the United States

have knowledge of this secret?

Ancient astronaut theorists suggest

evidence of a mutual interest can be found

by examining the unprecedented partnership

between the two nations

when it comes to outer space.

(translated): I am now concluding my activity

as president of the USSR.

NARRATOR: In one of the most significant events of the 20th century,

Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev

announces his resignation.

Just five days short of its 69th anniversary,

the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

is officially dissolved.

The Soviet Union collapsed 1989, 1990, 1991,

and split up into its constituent republics.

Russia at that time in the 1990s was a hellhole.

Ethnic conflicts were brewing

all around the borders of the Russian Federation.

Incredibly high levels of crime.

The birth of the Russian Mafia.

NARRATOR: But of all the problems that now plague the former Soviet Union,

their space program was not one of them.

Their Mir orbiting space station was considered a huge success,

which often stood in stark contrast

to the United States' tragedy-plagued Shuttle program.

This contrast was so stark, in fact,

that when the Shuttle program quietly ended in 2011,

the United States suspended its own manned space program

in favor of sending its astronauts

up to the International Space Station as little more than

passengers aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

POPE: It seems that the U.S.

ceded control of space to the Russians.

Certainly in relation to manned missions.

But it is bizarre.

For whatever reason, the Russians,

despite all their problems,

seemed to be ahead of the U.S. in some respects

when you talk about space.

A couple of examples of

where the U.S. seem to have ceded control,

or certainly ceded the leadership position

in space to the Russians,

are the International Space Station,

where now, American astronauts can't even get there

without even going up in Russian rockets.

NARRATOR: For ancient astronaut theorists,

the partnership between the two rival space programs

was simply an admission

of what had already been taking place in secret

for decades.

It also proved that both the U.S. and Russian space programs

were going to continue working together

in the interest of furthering the goal

of extraterrestrial contact.

But this time there was a difference.

Russia was now largely controlled

by deep-pocketed oligarchs,

and run by tight-gripped autocrats like Vladimir Putin.

They were free of the kind of public scrutiny

that would force full disclosure

about just what they were doing in outer space.

If there are alien/human encounters taking place

in space or in low-Earth orbit,

the Russians could bring back the information

and share it with us.

STONEHILL: There is a certain level of secrecy

that is very different in Russia

than it is in the United States.

So it could be that most sensitive information

is being handled by the Russian side

so to make sure that it doesn't get released

and doesn't, uh, spook

the populations in different nations.

NARRATOR: But while information coming out of Russia

is now under tight control,

the same could not be said

for the period when the Soviet Union was imploding.

And it was during this brief period

that Russia's extensive history of extraterrestrial encounters

became all but fully exposed.

In the waning days of the Soviet Union,

a lot of interesting documents

pertaining to UFOs were declassified.

For example, the KGB so-called Blue File,

124 pages of information about UFO cases

that came within to the KGB.

It was declassified.

We know that most of the documents

pertaining to the SETKA program,

which was the official Soviet top secret

UFO program which existed for 13 years,

from '78 to 1991,

most of those cases are not available,

but the cases that we know about, that I've studied,

are enough to make you amazed to know

and of what they have discovered

and what may be in store.

NARRATOR: Could recent UFO disclosures in Russia,

China, the United Kingdom

and other nations worldwide

indicate that there is

a global mandate to now share information

about unidentified aerial phenomena?

While it may appear

that governments around the world

are becoming more transparent,

shocking statements recently made

by a pioneer of space exploration

may indicate that much bigger secrets

with far greater implications

continue to be closely guarded.

NARRATOR: General Haim Eshed, the former head

of Israel's defense ministry's space directorate,

sits for an interview with the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

What he reveals is highly unexpected.

General Eshed is quoted as saying...

He then proceeds to divulge

even more shocking revelations.

CHILDRESS: Haim Eshed said that

the Americans and the Israelis

and-and other Western nations

are part of a federation

with extraterrestrials.

And what he described

was something similar to what's in Star Trek,

a galactic federation

of extraterrestrials,

and they're wanting Earth

to join this federation.

Eshed was the head of

Israel's defense ministry space programs

for 30 years.

And so, this is an extremely credible

person with this information.

KNAPP: I can't imagine someone more credible in Israel

than Haim Eshed to make those statements.

He was the head of space security,

he was a general, he was a professor,

an engineer. Uh, he knows his stuff.

He knows what's ours and what isn't flying around out there.

HOWE: Haim Eshed is one of the most fascinating

humans on this planet.

He was personally responsible

for the overseeing and the launch

of 20 critical satellites in Israel.

He's saying it, we are not alone,

and then comes the other twist.

It isn't humans that are holding it back.

It's the extraterrestrial biological entities

who said humans are not ready

for the introduction yet.

It is obvious now

that we have to harness

the advanced technologies

to join forces

and create this world, a better world.

When someone like that comes out with a story like this,

everyone should sit up and take notice.

And yet, for a lot of people, they're not either aware of this

or just write this off because it just sounds too crazy.

And yet it comes from someone

who has operated at

the heart of the establishment.

NARRATOR: Despite General Eshed's high status

as the father of the Israeli space program,

government officials around the world

remained largely silent

about his sensational claims.

But did they refrain from commenting

because they found his claims to be outlandish

or because they were protecting the same secret?

It cannot be dismissed offhand

because there were others.

One of them is Canada's Defense Minister

Paul Hellyer who has said that

there is extraterrestrial contact

going on between Earth and extraterrestrial factions.

NARRATOR: On December 30, 2013,

in an international television news broadcast,

former Canadian Minister of

National Defense, Paul Hellyer,

made the astonishing statement

that he has knowledge of extraterrestrials

visiting Earth.

Why do you say that UFOs are as real

as the airplanes flying over our heads?

Well, because I know that they are.

And they've been visiting this planet for thousands of years.

And there is what is called a federation

of these people, and they have rules.

When I first went public,

I said that UFOs are as real

as the airplanes going overhead,

and got the dubious distinction of being

the first person of cabinet rank to say it categorically.

The elected people have been kept in the dark.

I would say both the president

and the Congress.

There have been presidents who've wanted to know

what was going on, so, yes, the situation, I think,

is not well understood,

and this has been going on for decades.

So, that is, uh, is a matter of concern,

and I think should continue to be a matter of concern,

especially for Americans, but also for

the people of the world.

CHILDRESS: So, here we have two senior military personnel,

one from Israel, one from Canada,

who are basically saying

yes, extraterrestrials are here,

UFO activity is real,

and certain governments of planet Earth

are in contact with these extraterrestrials.

What's going on?

Are these people almost like

trying to disclose themselves?

Or are they part of a wider strategy

involving many different nations all around the world

working to try and find a way to get this out?

It's a difficult one because you can't ignore the backstory.

If it was just a question of saying

UFOs are extraterrestrial, it's all true,

then fair enough.

But the backstory

is that we've been lying to you about this

for nearly 80 years.

So, you got to find a way to get it out there

in a way that exonerates governments

all around the world from complicity

in this decades-long cover-up and conspiracy.

How to do that?

Well, maybe use these people who have retired.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the extraordinary claims

of former high-ranking government officials

like Haim Eshed and Paul Hellyer are true?

Are there world leaders

who are not only aware of extraterrestrials,

but in contact with them?

Perhaps further clues can be found

by examining a recent agreement

that details how NATO nations

will protect each other's interests beyond Earth.

President of the United States Joe Biden

attends the 31st NATO summit

along with 30 other world leaders and dignitaries.

Among the items on the agenda

is an agreement between members

to expand the Collective Defense Clause,

also known as Article 5.

In addition to land, sea, air and cyberspace,

NATO nations will now protect one another's safety

and national interests in space.

What's particularly significant about this

is it was the first NATO summit

that President Biden attended.

So here we have an incoming president

who makes this a key part of his initial business.

There's no getting away from the fact that

space will be a key battlefield

in any future conflict.

The only question arises, conflict with who or what?

Some people say the real forces

that they're concerned about are extraterrestrial.

NARRATOR: NATO leaders claim the expansion of Article 5

was made to address their concerns about

increasingly aggressive behavior in space by China and Russia.

But could this actually be the first collective agreement

between nations preparing for the possibility

of a threat from an alien civilization?

And is it one more step towards greater government transparency?

HOWE: We are, at 2021, headed toward 2050

when Elon Musk says he will have

a million humans on Mars.

Are we now, in the next decade,

going to be introduced to

revelation after revelation,

country by country,

treaty by treaty,

until the entire planet

has finally stepped up to the plate

on all political and military secrets?

Could it happen that way?

POPE: After nearly 80 years of denying

and debunking and downplaying,

now is the time for governments

to step forward and own this.

Time and time again, we see this concept,

that cooperation is key.

It's only when nations collaborate

that we will be able

to fully understand

and respond to the UFO phenomenon.

Mr. Secretary General,

honored guests and distinguished delegates...

TSOUKALOS: In one of his speeches

in 1987, President Reagan

made the suggestion

that if Earth would receive a threat from outer space,

that this would unify

world cultures from around the planet.

Can we and all nations not live in peace?

I occasionally think how quickly

our differences worldwide

would vanish if we were facing an alien threat,

from outside this world.

TSOUKALOS: I don't look at the extraterrestrial question

as a threat, but rather

an extension of who we are

or how we even got here long ago.

What if you have all the nations around the world pull together

their resources and research

the extraterrestrial question?

And guess what? There is an incredible chest,

a war chest of indications from the past,

all the way to the present,

that what we see today is not new.

NARRATOR: Are world leaders beginning to seriously consider

the possibility that unidentified aerial phenomena

are, in fact, of extraterrestrial origin?

And could the profound implications

of an alien presence on Earth

lead to greater collaboration between nations,

uniting to prepare for an incredible new reality?

Perhaps the visitors in our skies

have been watching us all along,

and only when the world

comes together will it finally be revealed

that we are not alone.

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