To be fair, the last 7 years have been absolutely remarkable in terms of developments in alleged UAP disclosure.
If any of this is true, I'd much favour soft disclosure over time. A drip feed, rather than an avalanche of paradigm-busting data and evidence in a catastrophic disclosure, which could well lead to all sorts of societal, economic and psychological problems on a global scale.
To say that nothing has really changed regarding this general topic since the 1970s is a stretch too far, in my opinion.
--2017 NYT article confirming that after decades of denial, UFOs are being actively investigated within the Pentagon
--3 videos confirmed UAP are released (and still show as unresolved UAP at the time of posting this, on the AARO site)
--18th May 2022 first Congressional hearing relating to UAP
--26th July 2023 first whistleblower Congressional hearing involving key witnesses
--13th November 2024 further Congressional hearing currently scheduled
I certainly can't remember anything like this in my lifetime.
1966 - Perhaps the greatest UFO flap in history.
January - Wanaque, police officers and several other witnesses reported seeing strange lights over the Wanaque Reservoir. Witnesses claimed the lights seemed to hover over the water, move erratically, and even affect the water level of the reservoir.
March - Witnesses reported sightings of strange lights and objects over Dexter and Hillsdale, Michigan. Police officers, college students, and local citizens claimed to have seen flying saucer-like objects hovering or moving in erratic patterns.
Dr. J. Allen Hynek, an astronomer and consultant to Project Blue Book, the U.S. Air Force's official UFO investigation program, was sent to Michigan to investigate. After evaluating the reports, Hynek famously suggested that the sightings were likely caused by swamp gas, a natural phenomenon where decaying organic matter produces methane, which ignites in the air.
Hynek's swamp gas explanation was widely ridiculed, and it caused public outcry. Many believed the explanation was dismissive and failed to address the credibility of the witnesses, including police officers.
March - Michigan Congressman and future president Gerald Ford calls for congressional investigation. "The Air Force has been accused of hiding something. It is time for a full, open, and public hearing on the matter."
IBM sponsored "CBS Reports" television special hosted by Walter Cronkite. Featuring Carl Sagan, Allen Hynek, Donald Keyhoe, George Van Tassel and more. This special aired as a response to the Michigan UFO "Swamp Gas" flap of 1966.
April - Portage County, Ohio, two police officers, Dale Spaur and Wilbur "Barney" Neff, reported chasing a UFO for nearly 86 miles at high speed. The UFO was described as a large, glowing object that hovered low in the sky and changed speeds rapidly. The officers followed the craft across state lines into Pennsylvania before losing sight of it.
The Portage County incident received significant attention, and it was eventually featured in the 1977 movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
April - The U.S. House Armed Services Committee held a hearing to discuss UFOs. While the hearing did not lead to any conclusive answers about the Michigan sightings or UFOs in general, it helped to elevate the conversation about UFO phenomena in the U.S. government.
August - At Minot AFB, military personnel reported seeing multiple UFOs hovering near the base's missile silos. The sightings were captured on radar, and witnesses included both airmen and control tower personnel. This sighting is significant because it occurred at a nuclear weapons facility, which has been a common location for UFO reports, suggesting an interest in nuclear technology by the unidentified craft.
October - In Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia, multiple witnesses, including pilots and fishermen, reported seeing a large, low-flying object crash into the water. Canadian authorities, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canadian Coast Guard, investigated the event. No wreckage was found, and the event remains unexplained.
It is considered one of the most well-documented UFO crashes, often referred to as "Canada's Roswell."
October - Condon Report was commissioned. The U.S. Air Force tasked physicist Dr. Edward Condon and the University of Colorado to undertake a scientific study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). This investigation, officially known as the "Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects", was intended to review the UFO cases investigated by the Air Force's Project Blue Book and determine whether the phenomena warranted further investigation.
The study culminated in the Condon Report, published in 1968, which concluded that further UFO study was unlikely to yield scientific advancements, leading to the eventual closure of Project Blue Book.
The excitement came and went, and nothing definitive has ever happened.