Ex-Pentagon Official: US Has Recovered Nonhuman Material

Former Pentagon official Luis Elizondo says the U.S. has a spacecraft crash retrieval program and has recovered nonhuman material, The Hill reported.

"The United States has been involved in the recovery of objects, vehicles of unknown origin that are neither from our country or any other foreign country that we’re aware of," Elizondo said in a NewsNation special set to air Friday.

"We as a nation have been interested in not only the vehicles themselves but the occupants of these vehicles; to include biological specimens. … We’re not alone. We are not alone in this universe, and it is a simple fact. The U.S. government has been aware of that fact for decades," he added.

The Department of Defense on Thursday rebuked Elizondo’s comments in a statement to NewsNation, denying the existence of any "credible evidence of extraterrestrial activity."

"As we have stated previously, Luis Elizondo had no assigned responsibilities for the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) while assigned to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security," Sue Gough, Department of Defense spokesperson told NewsNation.

"The department is fully committed to openness and accountability to Congress and the American people, which it must balance with its obligation to protect sensitive information, sources, and methods. … To date we have not found any credible evidence of extraterrestrial activity.

"To date, AARO has not discovered any verifiable information to substantiate claims that any programs regarding the possession or reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial materials have existed in the past or exist currently."

The Defense Department recently has released more information on UFOs, thanks largely to Elizondo and his colleagues.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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