Zat You, E.T.? [PHIL-OSOPHY]

Do you know what's meant by classified information? It's sensitive knowledge that's restricted by law to particular classes of people, and that means you. If you want to see it, you'll need a formal security clearance to access classified data.

The purpose of classified information is to protect American intelligence from being used to damage or cause danger to our national security.

I mention this because a group of U.S. senators, including the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, received a classified briefing this week about a series of encounters by U.S. Navy pilots with unidentified aircraft.

Politico first reported the briefing, and then Rachel Cohen, the spokeswoman for Democratic Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, told CNN, "If pilots at Oceana or elsewhere are reporting flight hazards that interfere with training or put them at risk, then Senator Warner wants answers. It doesn't matter if it's weather balloons, little green men, or something else entirely–we can't ask our pilots to put their lives at risk unnecessarily."

When ABC News asked President Trump, he confirmed that he was briefed on Navy pilots seeing UFOs, but he doesn't believe they're space aliens. The Navy also does not think aliens have been flying around U.S. airspace. But here's where it gets very interesting; in a statement, the Navy admitted there have been "a number of reports of unauthorized and/or unidentified aircraft entering various military-controlled ranges and designated air space in recent years."

So what gives here? Is you is, or is you ain't, Navy?

* Zat You, E.T.? was inspired by an interesting version of "Zat You, Santa Clause"? by St. Paul and the Broken Bones.

Phil Paleologos is the host of The Phil Paleologos Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Contact him at phil@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @PhilPaleologos. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.