In brief: The DoD said the videos have been circulating in the public domain for years. The Navy previously confirmed the videos were indeed authentic Navy footage and after a thorough review, the DoD determined the authorized release of the videos "does not reveal any sensitive capabilities or systems, and does not impinge on any subsequent investigations of military air space incursions by unidentified aerial phenomena."

The US Department of Defense this week officially released video footage of "aerial phenomena" that first went mainstream in December 2017 courtesy of To the Stars... Academy of Arts & Sciences, a company co-founded by Blink-182 guitarist Tom DeLonge, and stories from The New York Times.

The three videos, titled Gimbal, Flir and Go Fast, are all available to download from the Naval Air Systems Command FOIA Reading Room.

The department added that it is releasing the videos to clear up any misconceptions as to whether the footage was real or whether or not there is more to the videos.

The DoD said the phenomenon observed in the videos remains "unidentified."

According to The New York Times' 2017 article, the Pentagon operated a program called the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program for years that investigated reports of unidentified flying objects. A Pentagon official claimed the program was shut down in 2012 although sources say it continued in some form after that.

For what it's worth, renowned NSA leaker Edward Snowden said during an interview with Joe Rogan last year that he hadn't found any evidence of the government hiding aliens while he was snooping NSA and CIA networks.