NASA announced Thursday that it has created a new position to investigate UFOs following the release of a new report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena — or UAP. The announcement follows the Pentagon’s creation last year of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO.

NASA announced Thursday that it has created a new position to investigate UFOs following the release of a new report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena — or UAP, the preferred government terminology for mysterious objects seen in the sky

Speaking at a press conference in Washington, D.C., NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the U.S. space agency would be transparent as it moved forward.

“The NASA independent study team did not find any evidence that UAP have an extra terrestrial origin, but we don't know what these UAP are,” Nelson said. “That's why I'm announcing that NASA has appointed a NASA director of UAP research. They are being tasked with developing and overseeing the implementation of NASA's vision for UAP research. We will use NASA's expertise to work with other agencies to analyze UAP.”

However, the person in charge of UAP research for the agency will remain a secret due to fears that they could be harassed.

The announcement follows the Pentagon’s creation last year of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO, as the U.S. government continues to take questions over the presence of UAP seriously in public hearings.

Nelson said it was important to destigmatize the reporting of UAP in order to increase the amount of data available to investigators. In its report, the 16-person independent study group found that the “negative perception surrounding the reporting of UAP poses an obstacle to collecting data on these phenomena.”