Britain closed UFO desk after 50 years

Britain closed UFO desk after 50 years

LONDON - Agence France-Presse
Britain closed UFO desk after 50 years

The UFO desk has a hotline and an e-mail adress for sightings.

The British government finally shut down a special unit investigating UFO sightings after more than 50 years as it was a drain on resources and not a single report ever revealed “a potential threat to the United Kingdom,” newly released government files showed June 21.

The Defense Ministry closed a hotline and an e-mail address to which sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) could be reported in 2009, saying at the time that “no UFO report has revealed any evidence of a potential threat to the United Kingdom.” The newly released files show that civil servant Carl Mantell briefed then defense minister, Bob Ainsworth, that the desk was consuming increasing resource.

“The level of resources diverted to this task is increasing in response to a recent upsurge in reported sightings, diverting staff from more valuable defense-related activities,” he remarked.