A team of former spies and spooks came out of the shadows Wednesday to talk about UFOs. The men formerly worked in national security positions within the Pentagon or intelligence agencies, which is where they were first exposed to classified information about UFO encounters. Now, they've signed on with rock star Tom DeLonge in his quest to build a public company that could study and harness exotic technology. The fact that these high-level government operatives would appear on the same stage with a rock star turned UFO hunter ... shows that serious people think it's time for secrecy to end and public involvement to begin. Part of what was learned in Wednesday's announcement involves a stunning UFO encounter with one of the most powerful warships in the world. On a sunny day in 2004 off the coast of San Diego, the USS Nimitz battle group encountered a technology beyond anything known on earth. It was a mystery aircraft shaped like a 46-foot long Tic Tac that hovered and maneuvered for hours and defied the F-18's sent to intercept. In a series of discreet tumbling maneuvers that appear to defy the laws of physics, the object takes a position directly behind the approaching F-18. The pilots capture gun camera footage and infrared imagery of the object but are outmatched by a technology they have never seen," said Chris Mellon, former Defense Department intelligence official. An investigation by the navy was hushed up. The only public mention was in a little known aviation magazine read by pilots.