Updated November 13, 2024 at 16:40 PM ET
Is intelligent alien life darting around in space — and even in the skies above us here on Earth? Has the U.S. government been covering up unexplained phenomena, and using secret extraterrestrial discoveries to boost its own technology?
Those are among the questions members of Congress discussed Wednesday in a joint hearing by subcommittees of the House Oversight Committee. Its title: "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth."
The Pentagon issued a report in March saying that it has found no evidence of extraterrestrial spacecraft.
Four experts testified in Wednesday's public hearing. You can watch the proceeding here.
Extraordinary moments unfolded in a similar hearing last year, most notably when retired Maj. David Grusch, formerly part of the Pentagon's UAP Task Force, alleged that the U.S. government has recovered nonhuman "biologics" from crash sites and has long operated a secret reverse-engineering program to glean advances from recovered vessels.
Grusch isn't among the witnesses for the 2024 hearing. Instead, those testifying include:
Tim Gallaudet, retired rear admiral, U.S. Navy; CEO of Ocean STL Consulting, LLC
"Confirmation that UAPs are interacting with humanity came for me in January 2015," Gallaudet said in his written testimony.
He describes being part of a pre-deployment naval exercise off the U.S. East Coast that culminated in the famous "Go Fast" video, in which a Navy F/A-18 jet's sensors recorded "an unidentified object exhibiting flight and structural characteristics unlike anything in our arsenal."
He was among a group of commanders involved in the exercise who received an email containing the video, which was sent by the operations officer of Fleet Forces Command, Gallaudet said.
"The very next day, the email disappeared from my account and those of the other recipients without explanation," he said.
Luis Elizondo, author and former Department of Defense official
Elizondo's written testimony was brief and alleged that a secretive arms race is playing out on the global stage.
"Let me be clear: UAP are real," he wrote. "Advanced technologies not made by our Government — or any other government — are monitoring sensitive military installations around the globe. Furthermore, the U.S. is in possession of UAP technologies, as are some of our adversaries."
Elizondo is a former intelligence officer who later "managed a highly sensitive Special Access Program on behalf of the White House and the National Security Council," according to his official bio.
"By 2012, [Elizondo] was the senior ranking person of the DOD's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, a secretive Pentagon unit that studied unidentified anomalous phenomena," his bio states, adding that he resigned in 2017.
Michael Gold, former NASA associate administrator of space policy and partnerships; member of NASA UAP Independent Study Team
Gold's written testimony stressed the need for government agencies and academics to "overcome the pernicious stigma that continues to impede scientific dialogue and open discussions" about unexplained phenomena.
"As the saying goes, the truth is out there," Gold said, "we just need to be bold enough and brave enough to face it."
Michael Shellenberger, founder of Public, a news outlet on the Substack platform
Shellenberger's testimony ran to some 214 pages, including a lengthy timeline of UAP reports from 1947 to 2023.
Shellenberger pressed the White House and Congress to act, calling for the adoption of UAP transparency legislation and cutting funds for any related programs that aren't disclosed to lawmakers.
"UAP transparency is bi-partisan and critical to our national security," his written testimony stated.
Here are some key moments from the hearing:
U.S. accused of having UAP crash retrieval programs
An early exchange between Elizondo and Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., who led the hearing as chairwoman of the subcommittee on cybersecurity, IT and innovation, suggested that whatever UAPs are, the U.S. is intent on learning more about them — including efforts to recover any objects that might crash.
"Has the government conducted secret UAP crash retrieval programs? Yes or no?" Mace asked.
"Yes," Elizondo said.
"Ok. Were they designed to identify and reverse-engineer alien craft? Yes or no?" the lawmaker asked.
"Yes," Elizondo replied.
"Are you read into secret UAP crash retrieval programs?" Mace later asked.
"We would have to have a conversation in a closed session, ma'am," Elizondo said. "I signed documentation three years ago that restricts my ability to discuss specifically crash retrievals."
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., asked Elizondo about the document he signed with the Defense Department.
"You specifically said the document said you can't talk about crash retrieval," Moskowitz said. "Well, you know, you can't talk about fight club if there's no fight club."
"Correct," Elizondo replied.
Mace noted that in his testimony, Elizondo stated that advanced technologies "not made by our government or any other government are monitoring sensitive military installations around the globe."
"If these technologies are not made by any government, who's making them?" Mace asked, adding later, "Are these private companies you're implying, or is this nonhuman intelligence?"
"It may be both," Elizondo replied.
Immaculate Constellation
Shellenberger's Public news site recently published a story alleging that the U.S. government is operating "an active and highly secretive 'Unacknowledged Special Access Program'" intelligence operation through the Department of Defense called Immaculate Constellation.
Shellenberger shared a document with lawmakers that he described as a whistleblower report about the program.
Shellenberger said the program uses high-quality imagery and other sophisticated tools to capture data about UAPs. Quoting from the report, he said that an F-22 plane encountered several orbital objects while on patrol in an unnamed place and at an unnamed date.
"The F-22 broke trajectory and attempted to evade but was intercepted and boxed in by approximately 3-6 UAPs," Shellenberger said in his testimony. He added that a source had warned him of tight secrecy controls around the program — a point also raised by Mace.
"Rep. [Anna Paulina] Luna [of Florida] just told me, if I say, 'Immaculate Constellation,' I'll be on some list, maybe [get] a FISA warrant," she said. "So come at me, bro, I guess."
Experts push for more transparency
Over the years, a number of unusual encounters have been found to have a reasonable explanation after they were reported, from weather balloons and atmospheric phenomena to drones, airborne trash and birds.
"I think probably the vast majority of UAP are drones, experimental aircraft, weather conditions," Gold, the former NASA administrator, said. "But there is a percentage that isn't."
Gold said agencies such as NASA should get funds to develop instruments to study UAP anomalies for potential new discoveries. As things stand, he said, researchers are relying on cellphones and fighter jets' cockpit gun cameras.
Repeatedly, Wednesday's witness panel stressed that the U.S. government — specifically, presidential administrations and the Pentagon — should be more transparent about UAP reports. And they called for ensuring that no one risks being stigmatized or intimidated for trying to report or study UAPs.
Elizondo said he believes many classified materials can be shared with Congress and the public.
When Elizondo was asked how he would characterize UAPs, he replied:
"An enigma, sir, and a frustration. We are talking about technologies that can outperform anything we have in our inventory. And if this was an adversarial technology, this would be an intelligence failure eclipsing that of 9/11 by an order of magnitude."
Reports of UFOs and UAPs are now more centralized
In 1977, President Carter asked NASA to look into resuming UFO investigations, but the agency and the Air Force believed "nothing would be gained by further investigation."
But in recent years, there have been increased efforts to compile and centralize the reporting of unexplained phenomena.
In July 2022, the U.S. government established the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO, to standardize reporting methods and data collection. It collects UAP reports from the military and from the Federal Aviation Administration including sightings reported by civilian pilots to air traffic control. The agency doesn't offer a way for the general public to file a UAP report. It does accept "reports from current or former U.S. Government employees, service members, or contractor personnel with direct knowledge of U.S. Government programs or activities related to UAP dating back to 1945."
The agency adds that potential filers should not submit "any information that is potentially CLASSIFIED, or unclassified information that is not publicly releasable (e.g. subject to export control regulations)."
Many historical records are also available
Because of intense public interest, a number of records related to UFO studies are available online, including a "case files" folder related to UAPs on the U.S. Navy's website. The FBI also has an online "vault" of records, covering the period from 1947 to 1954.
As for the famous Project Blue Book run by the U.S. Air Force from 1947 through 1969, documents related to the project are now kept by the National Archives, which holds 37 cubic feet of case files, along with at least 5 other cubic feet of records.
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