This post gets a thumbs-up from me. The US Government has definitely used the UFO legend for disinformation purposes. And it serves another purpose too, because (in the eyes of the general public) it discredits everyone who believes UFOs are piloted by extraterrestrials.
"Exhibit A" for the use of the UFO legend as disinformation has to be the case of Paul Bennewitz, who the USAF eventually drove into a nervous breakdown by feeding him lies about visitors from outer space.
The various UFO investigations carried out for US defence bodies -- from Project Blue Book onwards -- have all been inconclusive. Eventually, defence chiefs just stopped worrying about the phenomenon, since it didn't appear to be a threat. But they found they were able to capitalise on the widespread public fascination with things seen in the sky, and they have milked that potential for all it is worth.
Thanks. I hadn't much though about how there are a lot of people who believe in UFOs that aren't anything to do with aliens because there are still tons of UFO sightings globally that are left unexplained and forgotten. I love a good mystery and UFOs are really one of the best out there and one of the best bits about a mystery is solving it and I don't know if we ever will solve the majority of UFO mysteries and I would put a big part of that down to the government fueling alien conspiracies.