Sen. Marco Rubio Says UFOs Should Be Taken Seriously and Studied

Sen. Marco Rubio says it's time to start talking about UFOs seriously in this country -- especially on Capitol Hill -- because he says ... frankly, they're a threat.

The legislator from Florida -- who headed up the Senate intelligence committee just last year -- spoke openly on the taboo subject ... saying despite the snickering that still goes on, he wants answers on unexplained aerial phenomena.

In Sunday's "60 Minutes" interview, Rubio said regardless of what these things may or may not be ... they pose a serious risk to our national security, seeing how they're constantly being spotted floating in and around our air space without any explanation. To Rubio, that's a problem that needs addressing.

That's exactly why the Senator demanded a report on UFOs/UAEs from the Pentagon that's expected to be published in about a month, which he says should shed light on everything the Defense Dept. knows about UFOs, making that knowledge public for the first time.

The timing seems right ... especially as Uncle Sam has slowly, but surely, confirmed different sightings and videos that have surfaced in recent years -- documenting strange, lightning-quick aircrafts that nobody seems able to identify or pin down.

"60 Minutes" also talked to a federal contractor named Luis Elizondo, who was hired to work on this exact issue for several years, and who touched on what sorta technology we're talking about that he says he's seen and studied with his own 2 eyes.

There was even a first-hand account from Naval pilots who claim they saw a UFO up close, in-person in 2004 -- alleging it was as big as their own jet, and that it disappeared before their eyes.

That seems to jibe with other videos that have leaked of late ... which seem to show UFOs darting across the screen and vanishing into plain sight, or simply descending into water.

Apparently, these sightings off the coasts of our nation have been taking place for a good long while now ... but it wasn't until recently that military members were encouraged to report them and talk about them openly.

Seems like whatever stigma may have been associated with UFOs is finally starting to fade -- because too many people have seen the same things.