Here is the caption from the video in the New York Times article:
"A video shows a 2004 encounter near San Diego between two Navy F/A-18F fighter jets and an unknown object. It was released by the Defense Department's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program. By Courtesy of U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE on Publish Date December 16, 2017. Photo by U.S Department of Defense. "
The article originated from the New York Times, the story was featured not only in the paper but also on their daily podcast. On the podcast, the NYT pentagon correspondent, a Pulitzer prize winner and co-author of the story, verifies Elizondo's identity. So, while it is possible the NYT is being hoaxed ( the involvement of Leslie Keane means that hoax is a possibility) , one would hope that Cooke and Blumenthal, the other Pulitzer Prize winner that co-authored this piece, would rule out hoax before writing the story and that the editorial staff would thoroughly vet the story prior to publication. But perhaps I'm too trusting of the quality of their process.
Aside from the practical difficulties in space travel etc, I don't believe that this is evidence that UFOs have an extraterrestrial source based on the simple fact that the DOD allowed the release of the video. However, the NYT didn't attribute the phenomena on the video to artifact, and if it isn't artifact then what might it be?
