Former U.S. intel official alleges UAP government cover-up

Channel: CBS News

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Nearly a month ago, the Pentagon

[0:02] released another batch of unidentified

[0:04] anomalous phenomena files, also known as

[0:06] UAPs. That release included new videos

[0:09] and dozens of documents about a military

[0:12] program that commissioned studies of

[0:14] things like warp drives and wormholes.

[0:17] Now, this is all part of the Trump

[0:19] administration's effort to declassify

[0:21] government records regarding UAPs. And

[0:25] just this week, former senior

[0:26] intelligence official Jay Stratton

[0:28] released a memoir titled Out of the

[0:30] Shadows about his long career leading

[0:32] government investigations into the

[0:34] phenomenon. In it, he alleges a

[0:36] government cover up of UFO programs and

[0:38] retrievalss. I want to go live now to

[0:40] Jay Stratton. Jay, thank you so much for

[0:42] being with us. Given your years of

[0:43] experience investigating UAPs, UFOs, and

[0:47] the challenges that come with publishing

[0:48] a book like this, in fact, it took you

[0:50] 10 months to get cleared for

[0:52] publication. Why did you want to write

[0:54] this book?

[0:56] >> Well, as the most senior US official to

[0:59] ever investigate UAP and non-human

[1:01] intelligence, intelligent life on behalf

[1:02] of the US government, I felt a

[1:04] responsibility to come forward to the

[1:06] public and tell everyone what I learned

[1:08] because this all impacts us all and the

[1:10] stakes are too high and ultimately the

[1:12] world deserves to know the truth.

[1:15] So, you talk at one point during your

[1:17] time investigating UAPs that a respected

[1:19] colleague pulled you into his office and

[1:21] told you with your work that you were

[1:23] quote poking a hornet's nest and you

[1:26] don't want to get stung. What or who do

[1:28] you feel like he was warning you about?

[1:31] Was it the government? Was it foreign

[1:33] actors? Extraterrestrial life? You say

[1:35] that he was not referring to you losing

[1:37] your job. What was he referring to?

[1:41] Well, in my investigation at the Defense

[1:43] Intelligence Agency, when I created the

[1:47] DIA's program called OAP, we uncovered a

[1:49] deeply hidden, buried program that is

[1:51] called the Legacy Program. And it's made

[1:53] up of organizations such as CIA, the Air

[1:56] Force, the Department of Energy, and

[1:58] defense contractors. And they have been

[2:01] for decades uh retrieving and reverse

[2:04] engineering uh craft of non-human

[2:07] origin. And really, as I was uncovering

[2:09] that, I think that, you know, the the

[2:10] warning is generates around the the the

[2:12] 80year monopoly on that secret and

[2:15] trying to protect it.

[2:16] >> You talk about your own experiences with

[2:18] UAPs and extraterrestrial life. There

[2:21] are people who think this is all just

[2:23] fantasy and really these aircraft and

[2:25] beings are just China or Russia maybe

[2:28] spying on us. What do you say to those

[2:30] people who think all of this is just one

[2:32] big hoax?

[2:34] Well, it was my job to know at the

[2:37] Defense Intelligence Agency, I was

[2:38] responsible for emerging and disruptive

[2:40] threats and I had insight into our most

[2:43] classified programs going out 20, 30, 40

[2:45] years and understanding our technology

[2:47] at a very classified level and I was

[2:49] also responsible for understanding the

[2:51] worldwide aerospace technologies. So, I

[2:53] was an expert on Russia, China, Iran,

[2:55] everyone, all of our potential

[2:56] adversaries and what they had. And when

[2:59] I saw uh a colleague brought me this

[3:01] video of a triangle craft flying over a

[3:03] missile silo, one of our most secure

[3:05] airspaces in the country and the way it

[3:07] was flying as an aerospace engineer, I

[3:09] could not explain how it was flying. It

[3:12] was effectively defying gravity. And

[3:14] when I went out and still even though

[3:16] I'm read into all of these programs or

[3:17] understand these programs, I went out

[3:18] and tried to confirm is this ours? No.

[3:21] Is this someone else's? No. And I was

[3:24] left with this intelligence problem of

[3:25] who's is it? And that led me to look

[3:28] across the government for the UFO

[3:30] program. Could not find one. And that

[3:32] ultimately led to me creating one at the

[3:34] Defense Intelligence Agency.

[3:36] >> You say the stakes are too high for the

[3:38] public to not know the truth. So bottom

[3:41] line, what is the truth and why do you

[3:43] believe it's being covered up?

[3:45] >> Well, we're not the only intelligent

[3:46] life in the universe. More importantly,

[3:49] we don't know the intent of the nonhuman

[3:51] intelligent life that's here.

[3:53] We have ongoing UAP activity over

[3:55] sensitive military and nuclear sites and

[3:57] on top of that UAP poses a significant

[4:00] safety of flight concern for military

[4:01] and civilian aviation.

[4:04] The government has slowly crept into

[4:08] reality on this and as you know the

[4:10] president uh released a directive in

[4:12] February of 2026 this year directing the

[4:14] US government to release and declassify

[4:17] all information on UAPs and non-human

[4:19] intelligent life. the president is

[4:21] working hard to bring the truth and

[4:23] reality to the uh to the American people

[4:25] and the system is blocking him. So

[4:28] please uh everyone watching, you know,

[4:30] reach out to your representatives and

[4:31] and push uh the government uh to to

[4:34] release this information. The the proof

[4:36] is there. We just got to get it out

[4:37] there.

[4:38] >> Do you have your own pieces of evidence

[4:40] that prove what you're saying is true?

[4:43] >> The government has the proof. Uh the

[4:45] government owns the proof. So we've got

[4:47] to push for that for that reality and

[4:48] that information to get out. the what's

[4:50] coming out now through the White House

[4:51] through through the program the pursuit

[4:54] uh is just the wave tops. It's it's the

[4:56] the the

[4:57] you know the bare minimum of things that

[5:00] that I have seen and more and more is

[5:02] going to come out and and and a lot

[5:04] better stuff will come out and we'll get

[5:05] and and better fidelity on this.

[5:07] >> Why do you think it's taken so long and

[5:08] and why the resistance to not inform the

[5:11] public about this though?

[5:13] >> The uh there's a lot there and they're

[5:16] taking a careful approach. Uh they've

[5:18] put out some stuff that that were I'll

[5:20] say like I said wave tops, you know,

[5:22] easy to find, easy to put out there. Uh

[5:24] but they're doing a conscious effort to

[5:25] make sure as they review these things

[5:26] that we're not compromising national

[5:28] security because it's a balance. You you

[5:30] got to look at what's there, but also

[5:31] those sensors and capabilities that

[5:33] collected it and make sure that we can

[5:35] put the information out safely and share

[5:37] with the American public what we know.

[5:38] >> What's the fear though that you believe?

[5:40] Do you fear that it it's going to create

[5:42] mass panic? What do you think? What

[5:44] could what's the worst that could happen

[5:46] from releasing this stuff?

[5:48] >> Yeah. So, the the reality is we've got

[5:51] to be careful. Uh in in 2003, for

[5:54] example, then President Bush

[5:56] commissioned a study where they brought

[5:57] in experts in all kinds of fields,

[5:59] religion, economics, um physics, uh

[6:02] aerospace engineering or just

[6:03] engineering in general. Anyway, they

[6:04] they brought those folks in to look at

[6:06] disclosure. Is America ready? Can they

[6:09] handle it? And at that point uh they

[6:12] made the decision that it's not quite

[6:14] because of the religious aspects, the

[6:16] economics and the things that it could

[6:18] affect the ripple effects of that. But

[6:20] we've come a long way since then and I

[6:22] and I feel that the American people can

[6:24] handle the truth and are ready for it.

[6:26] >> Jay Stratton, thank you so much.

[6:29] Thank