“Currently there is a need to clarify the population and foster a more balanced opinion of what these phenomena are,” he argued, adding that CIFA “is not based on conspiracy theories”.
Founded in July 2021 by a team of researchers who studied these phenomena in the 1980s and 1990s, CIFA is currently composed of a multidisciplinary team that includes lawyers, engineers, journalists and law enforcement officers.
The investigation of aerospace phenomena triggered by the centre is based on archives – physical and digital – as well as documents and reports from other organisations that have been collected “behind the scenes and anonymously” since 2018.
In addition to documentation, CIFA’s work is also based on information released in the Portuguese media, an “important source” on which the team will also focus its attentions, confronting it with the knowledge of other entities such as the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA).
“In Portugal, there are almost 2,000 records of extraordinary events. We have very reliable case histories, but it’s still a story. We know that narratives are narratives and we want to go further”, he stressed.
