Truthfully, it can be both. Never let a good crisis go to waste, etc. For example with project bluebook, UFO sightings have been discredited through ridicule

Truthfully, it can be both. Never let a good crisis go to waste, etc. For example with project bluebook, UFO sightings have been discredited through ridicule and served double duty as smokescreen for legitimate secret military development such as the U2 spy plane.