The United States held its first public hearing on UFOs in over 50 years on Tuesday, with the House Intelligence Committee hearing testimony from military officials. The event was live-streamed on YouTube.
Congress holds hearing on UFOs, first in more than 50 years
An open hearing of the House Intelligence Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation Subcommittee on UAPs was held on Tuesday in Washington and live-streamed on YouTube.
It marked the first time in over 50 years that a public hearing was convened on the topic of UFOs, now referred to as unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP).
The hearing was chaired by Congressman André Carson (D-Ind.) and began at 9 AM ET and lasted for approximately an hour and a half. Afterward, the group recessed, and the subcommittee was scheduled to hold a closed, classified briefing on UAPs beginning at noon ET.
The majority of testimony from government officials came from The Honorable Ronald Moultrie, Under Secretary of Defense (USD) for Intelligence & Security (USDI&S), and Scott Bray, the Deputy Director of Naval intelligence.
The hearing was in progress at the press time of this article. Among the topics being discussed were steps by the military to prevent leaks of classified information, information on what kind of a threat UAPs present to the national security of the United States, and whether some of the sightings were possibly classified US craft, described as a “blue on blue” situation where we were encountering our own personnel involved in secret programs.
However, officials have previously stated that the UAP craft discussed in the June 2021 report to Congress was not US technology nor believed to be that of our adversaries.
The current goal is to identify UAP phenomena better and have a more organized and consistent reporting system.
What we did and didn’t learn
Even though the hearings were open, the Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence told Chairman Adam Schiff (R-CA) that some issues he had concerns over could be discussed in a closed hearing. Some of the answers the Representative is to remain classified.
Much of this was already known by releasing previous information and documents.
It appears many aspects of the UAP data remain classified.
In early April, responding to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) filed by The Sun, the Pentagon released 1,574 pages of previously classified documents. Those documents revealed that some UFO witnesses – including US Navy pilots – experienced radiation burns, brain damage, paralysis, amnesia, and more sinister effects.
At the time, most media outlets mistakenly reported the release as 1500 documents, but in actuality, the number reflected pages. What was released were 37 of 38 documents related to a $22 million project headed by the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) an entity that contracted with the US government, as explained in great detail by the Black Vault, removing much of the confusion that surrounds the reports and the various entities and agencies involved.
Ongoing efforts after UAP videos revealed
The government shut down the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) in 2012, a program headed by Luis Elizondo, who pushed for the release of three videos in 2017 that showed the public UAP encounters documented by the US military for the first time. But in the absence of such an agency, a major concern was that there was no one working full time on the UAP problem.
This led to a law, which was included in the pandemic relief package signed under Trump, that a report on UAPs is delivered to Congress.
On June 25, 2021, The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) released its “Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified aerial phenomena” report to the public. The report gave a preliminary assessment focusing on 144 incidents dating back to 2004. DNI was only able to explain one, the Daily Mail reported. Although the data was “largely inconclusive,” it noted that the majority of incidents definitely involved “physical objects.”
New UAP-related programs formed
Last November, two major events sought to remedy the absence of a program(s) specifically dedicated to the study of UAPs.
The Department of Defense (DoD) officially announced the establishment of the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG). It is tasked with synchronizing “efforts across the Department and the broader US government to detect, identify and attribute objects of interest in Special Use Airspace (SUA), and to assess and mitigate any associated threats to the safety of flight and national security.”
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced a proposal titled: “Establishment of Structure and Authorities to Address Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.” It outlines a detailed plan for the establishment of an Anomaly Surveillance and Resolution Office (ASRO) and its operation, The Debrief reported.
One of the main thrusts of the new office would be to form a type of “central repository” of information sharing, not only between the US government and private entities working on the UAP problem but with allies as well. The new office would assume the responsibilities of the Navy-led Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, the Washington Examiner reported.
