Retired Colonel Charles Halt, the most senior former US servicemen to go public about UFOs and Rendl

The man, who says he was a third-class petty officer at the Naval Telecommunications Center within NAS Moffett Field from February 1986 to October 1989, also claims he can shed light on the mysterious mass-UFO sighting involving military personal in 1980.

He has yet to be named, but a former British MoD UFO investigator confirmed to Express.co.uk the man is a genuine source, creatinga flurry of excitement within the UFO disclosure community.

Nick Pope, who was charged by the MoD with investigating baffling UK UFO cases, including the Rendlesham incident, said: "I've actually had some personal communication with this individual, and have no doubts about his background.

"It's clear from the language he uses and the information he has that he's a genuine insider."

But Mr Pope stopped short of encouraging the whistleblower to come outinto the open.

He added: "While my own secrecy oath means I can't encourage anyone to divulge classified information without proper authority, I'm obviously very interested in his story.

"As I conducted the MoD's cold case review of the Rendlesham Forest incident I'm particularly keen to hear about anything that would shed new light on this case."