This morning at 10 a.m. Eastern time in Washington, D.C., the U.S. House Committee on Oversight is scheduled to convene a public hearing on the subject of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP).
The hearing listed on the committee’s website as Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government, will be led by Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN-2), Rep. Anna Luna (R-FL-13), Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL-23) and Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO-7).
This House hearing comes after the Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced he is leading an amendment that would require the government to declassify records on UAP no later than 25 years after their creation. The amendment, the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act of 2023, to the proposed National Defense Authorization Act 2023, was presented on July 13. It is backed by Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Sen. Todd Young (R-IN).
In a press release regarding the amendment, Schumer said, “For decades, many Americans have been fascinated by objects mysterious and unexplained and it’s long past time they get some answers. The American public has a right to learn about technologies of unknown origins, nonhuman intelligence, and unexplainable phenomena. We are not only working to declassify what the government has previously learned about these phenomena but to create a pipeline for future research to be made public. I am honored to carry on the legacy of my mentor and dear friend, Harry Reid and fight for the transparency that the public has long demanded surrounding these unexplained phenomena.”
During a press conference Thursday, Burchett announced the House Oversight hearing would involve three witnesses; Ryan Graves, executive director of Americans for Safe Aerospace; Ret. Commander David Fravor, former commanding officer of Black Aces Squadron, U.S. Navy; and David Grusch, former national reconnaissance officer representative, Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Task Force, Department of Defense.
Grusch made headlines in June when he made claims that he had found evidence of a secretive U.S. government program that had recovered craft and bodies of nonhuman intelligence.
In the press conference, Burchett stated, “Next week’s hearing is about transparency. Like many Americans, I read David Grusch’s story when it first came out and watched the TV interview. I was struck by the sheer amount of detail, so I was able to contact him and hear from him in a lengthy phone call interview. And after speaking with him I was convinced that the American people deserve to hear from him directly. That’s why I asked Chairman Comer to hold this hearing, and I’m grateful that the Chairman has decided to hold the hearing so that we can ask questions and get the answers that the American people deserve.”
The group spoke of resistance they had encountered while trying to interview witnesses of UAP phenomena. Burchett added, “We’ve had witnesses that have backed out on us and have told us that they received, inquiries, I guess you could say, from the Pentagon. And so obviously we’re over the target, and they know it, and that’s why they’re firing at us. And if there isn’t anything, then why the push to cover it up?”
Moskowitz said, “We’re all leading this effort on a bipartisan basis, and ultimately it really is about getting to greater government transparency. As Tim said, when we ask these questions, if the answers are ‘There are no unidentified aerial phenomena’ then say that. But that’s not what the answers are — the answers are: ‘We can’t tell you.’ It’s finally time the U.S. government answers questions about what did they know and when did they know it.”
“I just want to be fully transparent here, myself, Representative Burchett, and Representative Gaetz had attended an Air Force base and we were blocked not only by the Pentagon, but by the Department of the Air Force, from seeing information, talking to witnesses,” Luna said. “After much arm twisting we got some of the information. But the fact is that they answer to Congress and thus to the American people. And any government entity that attempts to stonewall us is doing nothing in the vested interests of the American people. When I take the face value of the numerous roadblocks that we have been presented with, it leads me to believe that they are indeed hiding information.”
Burchett summed up the hearings in a press release that was sent out after the press briefing, stating, “The Pentagon and Washington bureaucrats have kept this information hidden for decades, and we’re finally going to shed some light on it. We’re bringing in credible witnesses who can provide public testimony because the American people deserve the truth. We’re done with the cover-ups.”
