A congressional committee heard testimony about unidentified aerial phenomena, also known as UAPs on Wednesday.
UAP is the official term the U.S. government uses instead of UFOs or unidentified flying objects.
Lawmakers on the House Oversight Subcommittee heard from three whistleblowers who shared their experiences with UAPs and how the government handled those reports. Both Democrats and Republicans in recent years have pushed for more research as a national security matter due to concerns that sightings observed by pilots may be tied to U.S. adversaries.
One whistleblower, a former Air Force intelligence officer, testified to Congress that the U.S. military is concealing a longstanding program that retrieves and reverse engineers unidentified flying objects.
Retired Maj. David Grusch testified he was asked in 2019 by the head of a government task force on UAPs to identify all highly classified programs relating to the task force’s mission. At the time, Grusch was detailed to the National Reconnaissance Office, the agency that operates U.S. spy satellites.
“I was informed in the course of my official duties of a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse engineering program to which I was denied access,” he said.
Grusch answered questions from Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) regarding a shocking discovery.
“If you believe we have crashed craft, do you believe we have the bodies of the pilots of the crashed craft?” Mace asked.
“Biologics came with some of these recoveries, yeah,” Grusch answered.
“Where they human or non-human biologics?” Mace continued.
“Non-human,” Grusch replied. “That was the assessment of people with direct knowledge of the program I talked to that are still on the program.” Grusch stopped at that point, saying he would reveal more to the committee in a closed-door setting.
.@RepNancyMace asks about extraterrestrials: “If you believe we have crashed craft…do we have the bodies of the pilots…?”
David Grusch: “As I’ve stated…biologics came with some of these recoveries.”
Mace: “Were they Human or non-human?”
Grusch: “Non-human.” pic.twitter.com/TJVbIRp4jw
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 26, 2023
The Pentagon has denied Grusch’s claims of a cover-up. In a statement, Defense Department spokeswoman Sue Gough said investigators have not discovered “any verifiable information to substantiate claims that any programs regarding the possession or reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial materials have existed in the past or exist currently.”
The statement did not address UFOs that are not suspected of being extraterrestrial objects.
In the image above from a video provided by the Department of Defense labeled Gimbal, from 2015, an unexplained object is seen at the center as it is tracked as it soars high along the clouds, traveling against the wind. “There’s a whole fleet of them,” one naval aviator tells another, though only one indistinct object is shown. “It’s rotating.” (Department of Defense via AP)
Meanwhile, another witness testified the sightings of UAPs are widespread in U.S. airspace.
“UAP are in our airspace, but they are grossly underreported. These sightings are not rare or isolated. They are routine,” former U.S. Navy Lt. Ryan Graves told the committee. “Military, aircrew and commercial pilots — trained observers — whose lives depend on accurate identification are frequently witnessing these phenomena.”
“The stigma attached to UAP is real and powerful and challenges national security,” Graves added.
The goal of the hearing was to continue building momentum for greater transparency about the strange encounters documented by hundreds of pilots.
Following the hearing, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) told The Wall Street Journal they would seek a closed-door hearing with Grusch.
Meanwhile, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has previously posted that he didn’t see evidence of extraterrestrials in U.S. databases, saying it’s all just a ploy to redirect attention away from other serious issues.
He tweeted, “it’s not aliens. i wish it were aliens, but it’s not aliens. it’s just the ol’ engineered panic, an attractive nuisance ensuring natsec reporters get assigned to investigate balloon b******* rather than budgets or bombings (à la nordstream).”
Legal analyst and investigative reporter Jeffrey Scott Shapiro has previously theorized that UFOs “may be earthly — and dangerous,” created using laser-plasma technology.
WHAT IS GOING ON? Investigative Reporter Explains Why UFOs Could Be Top-Secret Laser Tech Designed to Confuse Our Military
As CBN News reported in May of 2022, Congress held its first hearing in 50 years on unidentified flying objects. Testifying before a House Intelligence subcommittee, Pentagon officials did not disclose additional information from their ongoing investigation of hundreds of unexplained sightings in the sky.
The number of UAP sightings significantly has reportedly increased to approximately 400 from the 144 sightings reported between 2004 – 2021.
“We’ve seen an increasing number of unauthorized and or unidentified aircraft or objects in military control training areas and training ranges and other designated airspace,” Scott Bray, the deputy director of Naval Intelligence, told a House committee at the time. “Reports of sightings are frequent and continuous.”
As CBN News reported in the summer of 2021, the release of a U.S. government report analyzing Unidentified Flying Objects or UFO activity stirred up more questions than answers. The report did not contain the words “alien” or “extraterrestrial.”
Last week, the U.S. Senate passed bipartisan legislation requiring government agencies to release all UAP-related records to a panel empowered to declassify them.
NASA is also investigating UAPs and is expected to release its report later this summer.
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