I go back and forth on what I think is behind the UFO phenomenon. All we have are a lot of claims but nothing I would call decisive proof. Nothing that shows beyond any doubt that NHIs are here.
I've known a handful of people that worked in Skunk Works and with other adjacent contractors later on, and while they obviously wouldn't/couldn't/shouldn't give specifics on programs, I know a couple of them were extremely interested in UFOs/UAPs. When you introduced alcohol into a situation - they would talk, and you'd hear some stories. They would remark that others around them would also talk about stuff - they made it pretty clear that people in these areas were a lot more loose-lipped than you'd think.
*To be clear, none of these people outright claimed to have been "read-in" to any programs purporting to be UAP-involved (man-made or not), or whatever, and acknowledged that there are many sub-sectors to these contractors and they most certainly don't all work even in the same fields).
Ultimately, after some time, they appeared to had all but lost interest in the phenomenon. I know two of them pretty clearly expressed that themselves and those around them felt that the industry that has developed around this phenomenon had served as a great "cover" for advanced aerospace and weapons R&D. A lot of times as an accidental feedback loop - and sometimes as malicious PsyOP shit (Richard Doty-Mirage Men type tactics). It was pretty evident they felt, and or had knowledge, that some of the stuff these contractors have prototyped would freak some people out - or at minimum would really get your imagination going, and that they "could see how someone would misidentify certain things, even pilots."
I'm increasingly more, and more, skeptical that it's NHI. Do I think something is going on? Sure, but I think it's more than likely military testing. The heavy majority of these people that come out, the ones with seemingly higher pedigrees, are generally relaying second-hand accounts that they've been told from other people. Even Grusch himself was relaying things he'd been told. It turns out that a lot of these people and groups he had been talking to, were often times the same sources referenced by the Corbell/Knapp Ufologist types. Many supposed first-hand witnesses have very questionable things about their past, or their personal track records are extremely questionable. Is this just good intelligence delegitimization tactics? Possibly.
It's such a fun topic, it's essentially become a new mythology and religion for many of these people - when you look at it through that lens, it becomes more, and more apparent how this thing could've gotten out of control. I also think this new push towards "Controlled Governmental Disclosure" reads much more like a PsyOp to receive limitless funding from an unaware Congress. A PsyOp that seems quite predictable, at that, especially if you've paid any amount of attention to political discourse in this country over the last decade.
I think people really, really underestimate Man's ability to embellish stories.
To add, if something more is truly going on, it's probably significantly darker than just ET.