Civilian pilots outnumber military pilots. I've not heard any report where the pilot was not treated seriously if they believed there was a threat to their air

Civilian pilots outnumber military pilots. I've not heard any report where the pilot was not treated seriously if they believed there was a threat to their aircraft, passengers or the airspace they were travelling in. Often the phenomenon they describe can be attributed to meteorological conditions. This is a training opportunity for all concerned, and witness testimony can be useful. The reason why this material is being leaked is not to encourage people to come forward, but to say "hey, this is weird, we don't know what this is". If we were to accept a non-ET origin, this footage could be helpful in signalling to foreign countries "you've got tech we don't recognise" to tempt them into being more brazen about it, thereby increasing the chances of capture. Occam's razor says they genuinely don't know, and given the context of multiple interesting incidents over the last 70 years (often focusing on nuclear capabilities/facilities), it's reasonable that there are teams of people trying to work out what's actually going on.