In response to a new report by an independent panel, NASA announced that it has appointed a director for research on UFOs (now known as unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs) and will work with other agencies to expand the network for collecting UAP data.

"For the first time, NASA is taking concrete steps to seriously study UAPs," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said today at a press briefing at NASA headquarters in Washington.

NASA initially kept the name of the UAP research director under wraps, but later in the day the agency identified him as Mark McInerney, who had previously been NASA's liaison with the Department of Defence on UAP.

Nelson downplayed the idea that aliens were behind the anomalous events recorded to date, but promised to keep an open mind.

"I think it's important that you hear this verbatim," he said. "The NASA independent study team did not find any evidence that the UAP has an extraterrestrial origin, but we don't know what this UAP is. NASA's mission is to find the unknown. I said several times in my comments here today that we work openly at NASA and we will be transparent about it."

When asked if NASA would actually share any evidence of an extraterrestrial cause, he replied, "You bet we will."

"I think it's important that you hear it verbatim," he said. "The NASA independent study team did not find any evidence that the UAP has an extraterrestrial origin, but we don't know what this UAP is. NASA's mission is to find the unknown. I said several times in my comments here today that we work openly at NASA and we will be transparent about it."

When asked if NASA would indeed share any evidence of an extraterrestrial cause, he replied, "You bet we will."

Nelson said in a news release that McInerney will work to realise the agency's vision for UAP surveys: "This includes using NASA's expertise to work with other agencies to analyse the UAP, and applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to look for anomalies in the sky."

Inter-agency co-operation and the use of artificial intelligence to make sense of UAP observations were among the leading recommendations of the independent panel's report, which followed months of fact-finding. The 16-member panel also said NASA could create new tools to collect observation reports from the public.

"The panel envisioned a framework that leverages crowdsourcing, possibly through smartphone apps, to capture a wider range of data and provide more eyes and ears on the ground," said physicist David Spergel, president of the Simons Foundation.

NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System could be used to collect civilian data on UAPs in parallel with the military reporting system being created by the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO, the panel said.

The Pentagon is taking a leading role in UAPs in part because of concerns that at least some observations - such as the Chinese spy balloon incident that drew national attention earlier this year - could lead to purely terrestrial national security concerns.

Today's report called for expanding the scope of the search for anomalous phenomena. In the future, data from telescopes including the Vera C. Rubin Observatory could be analysed for any sign of UAPs in the wider solar system, the report said. The federally funded Rubin Observatory, based in Chile, is expected to begin a wide-angle sky survey in the mid-2020s.

A satellite system observing Earth, known as Geostationary Extended Observations, or GeoXO, could provide additional data that could be relevant to UAP studies, the report said.

The report noted that many UAP reports are explainable when investigated. The report cited the example of the "GoFast" video, which recorded an encounter between a navy fighter jet and an unidentified aerial object in 2015. The object appeared to be moving at an incredible speed, but detailed analysis of the video revealed that the object was blown in high-altitude winds and its speed was misjudged due to the parallax effect.

At today's briefing, a questioner asked about recent congressional testimony by a former US intelligence officer who said he had been told about evidence of extraterrestrial artefacts and biological samples. In response, Nelson referred to the 1950s TV series "Dragnet", in which Jack Webb played a fictional Los Angeles police detective named Joe Friday.

"He used to say, 'Just the facts,'" Nelson said. "Just the facts. Show me the evidence."

Nicola Fox, deputy administrator for NASA's science mission directorate, declined to say how much NASA has budgeted specifically for UAP research. Fox also said she would not name NASA's UAP research director - a position later reversed.

Dan Evans, the NASA official who led the panel's work, said the UAP issue is still surrounded by stigma. He said the panellists received a disturbing amount of hate mail.

"Some of the things our panel members received during this study were not just simple trolling, some were real threats," he said during the briefing. "At NASA, we take the sanctity of the scientific process and the safety and security of our team extremely seriously. And yes, that's one reason why we're not releasing the name of our new director."

Hours later, NASA updated its news release to identify McInerney, an award-winning meteorologist, as UAP research director. Since 1996, McInerney has held various positions at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Hurricane Centre.

"Given the interest, I share that NASA has selected Mark McInerney as UAP research director," Fox said in a post on X/Twitter. "As we continue to digest the study team's report and findings, please treat him with respect in this very important role that will help us better understand UAP scientifically."