Are aliens real? Congress wants to find out

HUNT VALLEY, Md. (TND) — There’s an issue bringing Democrats and Republicans together next week: aliens.

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is holding a hearing Wednesday on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), otherwise known as UFOs. They said it will mostly be centered on the government’s transparency about the subject, whether aliens and their UAPs are real or not.

“Last year, the House Intelligence Committee held a hearing on UAPs,” said Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., who led efforts to coordinate this hearing next week. “They brought in some Pentagon bureaucrats who only had two answers to the questions they were asked: ‘I don’t know’ or ‘That’s classified.’

“This hearing is going to be different. We’re going to have witnesses who can speak frankly to the public about their experiences. We’ve had a heck of a lot of pushback about this hearing.”

Held by the House Oversight Committee, the hearing will feature testimony from three men: Air Force veteran David Grusch, a former member of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency; former Navy commander David Fravor; and former Navy pilot Ryan Graves.

Fravor leaked the video two years ago allegedly showing a UFO flying in California and suddenly descending into the ocean. The Department of Defense confirmed the video was recorded by the Navy and said its UAP Task Force would review it. This sparked the “60 Minutes” special where several former Navy pilots detailed encounters with UAPs.

Graves reported multiple UAP encounters during regular training flights as well, and he wanted to attend last year’s House Intelligence hearing, but wasn’t allowed inside until someone gave him press credentials.

Lawmakers said they’ve encountered incidents of the government “stonewalling” their efforts to learn more information about UAP sightings, when they just want to determine if the objects are a national security threat.

“With claims coming forward, as technology is getting better, people are capturing things on their phones now,” said Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla. “Are they domestic? Are they foreign? Are they something else? Or do they not exist? The government needs to have straight answers.”

Burchett, along with Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., claimed they went to a Florida Air Force base to meet with pilots and commanders about their UAP sightings, but they were prevented from hearing their testimony at the last minute. Luna said they were “briefed” by Pentagon officials, but not about UAP sightings, and the officials refused to show sensitive information they promised to the lawmakers.

“If the Department of the Air Force, if the Pentagon thinks they’re above Congress, they have something else coming to them,” Luna said.

Moskowitz and Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., argued it’s a matter of honoring the taxpayers, who they said are paying for programs “keeping this information a secret.” Burlison said conspiracy theories and rumors tend to flourish in places where the government is silent or not transparent.

“The American people deserve to know what their tax dollars are funding and what the government knows,” Burlison said. “That’s just plain and simple.”

This group isn’t the only members of Congress searching for answers.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., recently teamed up with Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., to introduce an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act requiring government records related to UAPs be declassified and disclosed.

Burchett claimed he introduced an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act that would have required the agency to report UAP sightings by commercial pilots to Congress, but it was shut down by the intelligence community and the House Intelligence Committee.

“This is ridiculous, folks,” he said. “They either do exist or they don't exist. [Government officials keep] telling us they don't exist but they block every opportunity for us to get ahold of the information to prove that they do exist. And we're gonna get to the bottom of it, dang gum it, whatever the truth may be.”

The scientist and military intelligence officer leading the Pentagon’s UAP Task Force told ABC News last month in an exclusive that “intelligent or extraterrestrial technical supremacy” remains a top concern. Investigators there are examining more than 800 cases of mysterious sightings reported by U.S. Military personnel over past decades.

Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick said most of those cases end up being balloons, drones, debris or large birds. Roughly 2 to 5% of the cases are unexplained, including Fravor’s incident caught on camera.

But, regarding intelligent life beyond earth or proof of contact, Kirkpatrick said, “I can’t rule it out, but I don’t have any evidence.”

A July 2021 Gallup poll found 41% of Americans think some of these spotted UAPs are alien spacecraft. Three-fourths of Americans believe there’s some form of life on other planets, and 68% think the government is withholding information about it.

At next week’s hearing, lawmakers hope to clear up any confusion on whether or not the government is concealing anything.

“The idea that the human brain can’t tolerate that there might be life somewhere else, I just don’t accept that,” Moskowitz said. “At the end of the day, I think the hearing is really about real-life accounts from reliable people, and as our technology is getting better, we're now capturing these things on our hand held devices.

“Why is the military and the government not just being honest with us? Why are they over classifying it? Why aren’t they being transparent?”

The hearing is set for Wednesday, July 26 at 10 a.m. ET.

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