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Congress held a rare public hearing Tuesday on the existence of what the government calls unidentified aerial phenomena, better known as UFOs controlled by the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies after increased surveillance by military and pilots in recent years.
Taking testimony from senior government officials, lawmakers intended to “shadow” a Defense Department organization that monitors observations, said Andre Carson (D-Ind.), Chairman of the House of Representatives’ intelligence subcommittee. terrorism, counterintelligence and counterproliferation.
On May 17, Congress held a hearing on UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena), better known as UFOs. That’s why. (Video: Monica Rodman, Sarah Hashemi / Washington Post)
This effort, unveiled in 2017, gathered eyewitness accounts, including from naval pilots, who said they had seen flying objects that seemed to lack any visible means of propulsion and opposed human understanding of aerodynamics and physics. .
The hearing was the first in more than 50 years when U.S. officials testified to the public about their UFO investigation. The Air Force closed its investigation into Project Blue Book in 1970.
“We know that our military has encountered unidentified aerial phenomena,” Ronald C. Moultrie, deputy secretary of defense for intelligence and security, told a bipartisan committee of lawmakers. “We are committed to trying to determine their origin.”
Although the hearing marked an important moment in the government’s efforts to reveal more than it knows about unexplained objects in the sky, there were few revelations. Scott W. Bray, deputy director of naval intelligence, released a short video of what he described as a “spherical object” with a reflective surface as he approached the cockpit of an American F-18 fighter jet.
“I have no explanation for what this particular site is,” Bray said.
Lawmakers asked Bray to play the video again and pause on the fast-moving object, which was difficult given its speed.
The video was recently declassified and broadcast for the first time at the hearing. Earlier footage from naval aircraft and ships shows other unexplained phenomena observed over longer periods.
One of the most famous of these observations, taken by aircraft from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in 2004, shows an object that seems to shoot into the air in many directions at great speed. UFO researchers named it Tic Tac because of its capsule-like shape.
The highly trained pilots who witnessed the site – which Bray said remained inexplicable – said publicly that they were puzzled and reluctant to discuss their experience because of the constant culture of stigmatizing UFO pilots.
Bray and Moultrie said the military wanted to change that culture. In recent years, personnel have been encouraged to report observations, and the military now has a standardized system for tracking and analyzing information.
“The message is clear: if you see something, you have to report it,” Bray said.
USS Russell and USS Omaha shot a video showing UFOs flying, circling and spraying in the ocean. (Video: Jeremy Corbel)
Observations by military personnel are particularly high, leading some to speculate that military equipment and facilities may be of particular interest to anyone behind the unidentified ship, including foreign military personnel.
But a 2021 U.S. intelligence report concludes that clustering observations around U.S. military equipment may be the result of “gathering bias” given the higher level of attention the military has paid, as well as more sophisticated sensors. in those areas that may be able to capture unidentified camera objects or detect signals emitted by them.
Read the full report: Preliminary assessment by the US government on unidentified air phenomena
Bray said the United States also has reports from non-military sources, but he did not give details.
Authorities said unidentified items could pose a threat to national security. This helped to encourage more openness on the subject. In their testimony, Pentagon officials focused largely on the potential danger that the facilities pose to military equipment and personnel, and turned away from speculation about whether the ship was an alien.
Bray noted that U.S. military pilots had “almost 11 passes” with UFOs. There were no clashes, he said. He added that the military had never tried to communicate with or fired on the targets.
Officials say they doubt that the handful of observations, for which there is no clear explanation, point to sophisticated, secret military technology that Russia, China or other US opponents have.
Last year’s intelligence report found that U.S. government investigators did not have data to indicate that the ship was “part of a foreign collection program or showing great technological progress from a potential adversary.”
The government has failed to determine whether more than 140 UFOs are atmospheric events that play tricks with sensors or ships piloted by foreign adversaries, or whether the objects are alien in origin.
Defense Department investigators have no physical evidence to suggest that visitors from other worlds have come to Earth, Bray said. But he implicitly admitted that the United States had collected material items in the course of its investigation.
“How about the remains?” asked Raja Krishnamurti (D-Ill.). “Have we encountered the remains of some kind of object that you have now studied?”
Bray replied that American investigators did not have “remains that are inexplicable, that do not correspond to the fact that they are of terrestrial origin.”
Krishnamurti asked if the military had any “underwater sensors” that may have found sunken objects. Moultrie intervened and said the issue would be better addressed in a closed, secret meeting that followed the public hearing.
How UFO sightings went from a joke to a national security concern in Washington
Officials have historically been careful in their public discussions of UFOs not to reveal much about the sensors and other technologies the military uses to track known adversaries. Moultrie said the same technology that gathers evidence of UFOs is used for routine reconnaissance operations.
“There are no separate UAP sensors,” he said, using the government’s preferred acronym for unidentified aerial phenomena. “This is not a separate UAP processing computer. This is not a separate UAP distribution chain or anything.
Although the hearing focused mainly on the known evidence of the strange ship, it was difficult to avoid the 500-pound alien in the center of the room – or perhaps hovering over it.
At the beginning of his speech, Moultrie said that, like many Americans, he has long been fascinated by the desire of people to explore space and look for evidence of life outside our planet.
But the Pentagon’s estimates, he said, are based on data and evidence and will not speculate on the origin or nature of objects that cannot be positively identified.
But nodding at the apparent fascination with aliens, Moultrie said he had been a long-time science fiction fan and attended conventions, although he wasn’t “necessarily dressed.”
“I have to break the ice somehow,” Moultrie said nervously in the hearing room.
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