Uh, hey. Your emblem has a flying saucer on it…
So I gotta admit – this one threw me for a loop. I used to be searching the web site for the National Intelligence Manager for Aviation after I seen an odd aspect of the official emblem for the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence Supervisor for Aviation (NIM-A). There may be clearly a UFO within the backside left nook, full with domed prime and window portals! Test it out under.
The weirdness
Significantly, are they trolling us? Did the location get hacked and no one seen? The file does certainly have an odd title (Seal22_png.png) which appears a bit uncharacteristic of the US military. The file date is 7/11/22 but it has a newer modification date of 9/25/22. There’s another logo on the page with a similarly odd name – web_banner_newseal.png – all of which hints at a very humorous hack.
The website of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence also exhibits some weirdness. On their Organization page, NIM-Aviation is mentioned with a link to the NIM Aviation sidebar. That link takes you to an Air Domain Intelligence link (https://airdomainintelligence.usaf.afpims.mil/) which throws a security warning and if ignored, a 403-foribidden error.
But wait. Look at the two URLs below.
https://www.dni.gov/index.php/who-we-are/organizations
and
Both would appear to be the Organization page for the DNI. But they take you to entirely different targets. The second one contains the odd link to the Air Domain Intelligence page.
The one below behaves in the exact same manner.
https://www.dni.gov/index.php/who-we-are/organizations/333-about/organization/
Goofiness such as this, however, is unfortunately, not beyond the realms of normal US government operation.
Then there’s the inconsistency in the logo. Yeah, if you look carefully, there’s a smaller version of the logo on the same page and the UFO/UAP (along with some other minor details) is rendered differently (although both versions still show it off the coast of Ecuador, of course). That probably wouldn’t happen with an “official” logo.
Then again, the times are changing. In a draft bill earlier this year, our government instructed us to rebrand UFO/UAPs as “unidentified aerospace-undersea phenomena” (UAUP). In the same bill, they acknowledged the need to investigate sightings of objects that are “not manmade”. Have we already forgotten about this document that was released a little more than a year ago?
Then there is this “official” patch showed up on social networks. So, the UFO emblem IS legit! Hey, wait, hasn’t the America plane in the logo been replaced with a Russian-made Su57?
I’m so confused.
What we do (in the shadows)
In 2015, the National Air Intelligence Integration Office (NAI2O) was appointed as the lead organization for coordinating and integrating the United States Government’s (USG) Intelligence Community (IC) perspective on Air Domain issues. The concept of the NAI2O originated in the findings of The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9/11 Commission). Their initiatives include:
- Guide intelligence collection and analysis to address current and emerging threats and vulnerabilities
- Integrate Intelligence Community (IC) and external partner efforts and capabilities to maximize the air domain enterprise’s mission effectiveness
- Advise senior leaders to ensure decision advantage and promulgate strategic guidance to secure the Air Domain
- Synchronize the Intelligence Community’s C-UAS activities to ensure unity efforts
So yeah, they have a pretty important role in the US military. According to Executive Director Major General Daniel L. Simpson, the purpose of their team is as follows:
“Our team works diligently to keep partners and stakeholders informed on key air domain intelligence efforts. We developed this site as a resource hub featuring background on NIM-Aviation and up-to-date informative unclassified intelligence and products. We particularly welcome all existing and future partners whose collaborations continue to strengthen our global air domain. As our team continues to grow, we encourage you all to visit our site frequently to learn more about our role in integrating intelligence to safeguard the global air community.”
Uh, yeah. I’m damn sure going to visit the site frequently. At least until they come back and tell us the website was hacked. Or a draft logo was accidentally uploaded to the site. Or the UFO in the logo is a weather balloon…
Update: Intelligence agency walks back UFO logo. October 3, 2022
Days after we reported the UFO in the insignia, intelligence officials walked back the change. According to sources, the change in branding for the National Intelligence Master for the Air Domain was an error that wasn’t supposed to happen. A spokesperson says that its webmasters “erroneously posted an unofficial and incorrect logo.” The logo has since been scrubbed from the multiple places it appeared on the website.
Image Credits
Office of the Director of National Intelligence National Intelligence Manager for Aviation logo – marked via National Intelligence Manager for Aviation NIM-A with usage type – Public Domain
Office of the Director of National Intelligence National Intelligence Manager for Aviation logo via National Intelligence Manager for Aviation NIM-A with usage type – Public Domain
Featured Image Credit
Office of the Director of National Intelligence National Intelligence Manager for Aviation logo via National Intelligence Manager for Aviation NIM-A with usage type – Public Domain