When the U.S. government released a much-anticipated report on UFOs a year ago, many were perplexed that it couldn't explain 143 of the 144 sightings it examined. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which released the study, provided no details about who had investigated the cases. Last week, however, a former Department of Defense (DOD) astrophysicist and reality TV personality named Travis Taylor asserted that he was the 'chief scientist' for the congressionally mandated study. The revelation shocked UFO skeptics in the science community. They note that Taylor has made extraordinary claims during TV appearances, including to have "seen more UFOs than I can count," and that he's been tracked by supernatural entities that caused his car and appliances to malfunction. In fact, Taylor did serve in a lead role with the government's Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Task Force, which produced 2021's fuzzy UFO report, Pentagon spokesperson Susan Gough confirmed. In recent statements to George Knapp, a TV journalist in Las Vegas, Taylor said he was asked to be the government's lead scientist on UFOs in 2019 by Jay Stratton, whom he counts as a long-time DOD colleague and friend. At the time, Taylor was with the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, where he was employed from 2007 until retiring 2 months ago. Stratton was based at the Office of Naval Intelligence before retiring recently. Both men now work for Radiance Technologies.
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