By Bob Price

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has just announced, to the shock and skepticism of UFO buffs the world over, that it’s been in the UFO business since the 1950’s, and is responsible for well over half of flying saucer sightings. Well, sort of.

The CIA maintains a large online database of documents, reports, and other historical data, and each year it releases a list of its most-read files. This year’s ‘Best of 2014’ compilation includes a scholarly study titled “The CIA and the U2 Program, 1954-1974”, which documents the adventures of the onetime ultra-secret and super high tech U2 spyplane.

According to the study, once the U2 began operating at altitudes above 60,000 feet in the 50’s, impossible for any other aircraft at the time, reports of UFO’s began pouring in from pilots and air traffic controllers who spotted the plane and didn’t believe anything but a flying saucer could be flying at that height. The paper claims that the sightings and the known flight patterns of U2 missions have been cross-referenced, proving conclusively that the plane was the bogey. To maintain the secrecy of the program, the agency did nothing to dissuade people from believing that they had seen something not of this world.

Some UFO enthusiasts have been skeptical of this claim, pointing out that the whole point of flying that high was to avoid being seen by both ground and air observers and radar, so how could there be so many sightings?

The Agency has declined to answer these questions, citing national security concerns.