After the Department of Defense released photos and videos and other files of unidentified anomalous phenomena on Friday, the Colorado state director for a large UFO research group says there wasn’t much to see. 

“I don’t think we got a lot of real stuff,” said Seth Feinstein, the Colorado State director and the Northwest Regional director for the Mutual UFO Network. 

The nonprofit has researched about 147,000 cases worldwide and brings the scientific process to analyzing reports of unexplained phenomena, he said. 

Field investigators with the group will look into sightings of UFOs and UAPs, as well as reports from people who say they have lost time or been abducted. UAPs or Unidentified anomalous phenomena is a broader term than UFOs

Feinstein has worked on 570 cases over the last years as part of the network’s photo analysis team.

“I don’t think that it was a forthright release,” he said, noting it’s possible some of the files show everyday objects like balloons that were already identified through internal government investigations. 

“I am very disappointed,” he said.

The files went up on a dedicated site hosted by the DOD, with stylized text reminiscent of 1990s-era TV show, the “X-Files.” Some of the files date back to the 1940s, while others are more modern, such as a 2013 video that shows an object reminiscent of an eight-pointed star. Sean Kirkpatrick, a former director of the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, told The Associated Press the pattern is likely a jet engine producing a diffraction pattern in the camera. 

A congressional advocate for more disclosure in this area, Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., told cable network News Nation he expected more files would be released every two weeks. He said he thought it was likely these first tranche of files was low-hanging fruit easily found by searching for obvious search terms. 

“I believe the real information is going to lie somewhere in between this government and the private sector,” he said on News Nation. He said on social media federally funded research and development centers, such as RAND Corp. and Lincoln Labs, likely have more information. 

While the first release of files was disappointing, Feinstein said he is encouraged the Department of Defense is responding to the calls to publish material related to UAPs. 

“The world, in general, is mostly open to discovering the truth,” Feinstein said.

Mutual UFO Network field analysis typically find that only about 4%-5% of cases do not have a logical explanation, he said, and end up classified as “unknown.” They do not and cannot classify objects as coming from other worlds, he said.

But they explore all possibilities before landing on unknown as the explanation.

For example, what might seem like an unidentifiable object in a photo, will end up getting classified as a plane because a plane is flying through that area at that time and at that elevation, he explained. 

Once the field work is complete, the report is supplied to the person who reported the incident. 

The group is currently working on two local investigations, one in Colorado Springs and one in El Paso County.

Compared to decades ago, Feinstein said he has seen far more acceptance of the idea of UFOs. 

He hopes the next document release will be more valuable. 

“Change doesn’t occur real fast,” Feinstein said. “It’s good that they released something and maybe they will do better next time.”