Five Key Takeaways From the Congressional Hearing on UFOs

Three witnesses testified in front of Congress on Wednesday about unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), all saying that such phenomena pose a risk to national security and that no such mechanism exists for properly reporting such information to government agencies.

The House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs heard from three witnesses who have claimed to have had repeated inexplicable encounters: David Fravor, an ex-Navy commander; David Grusch, a former U.S. intelligence officer; and Ryan Graves, a former Navy fighter pilot.

Aside from concerns to the public and service personnel, two of the three witnesses—Graves and Grusch—warned of retaliatory measures to individuals like themselves who are coming forward with their testimony.

Representative Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican, has been one of the more outspoken members of Congress advocating for the public interest of this previously clandestine "top secret" information.

He acknowledged a peculiar lack of photographic evidence prior to the hearing while adding that "it was obviously some crafts that were not of this world" and not known by American allies or enemies.

"We need to tell the folks at the Pentagon they work for us, we don't work for them...We're going to uncover the cover-up," Burchett said in his opening statement.

He added that reports dating back to 1969 of the U.S. military saying that UFOs pose no threat to national security and are not worthy of further study are among "the biggest understatement of the decade."

Steven Greer, an American ufologist and founder of the Disclosure Project, which aims to get allegedly classified UFO information disclosed, applauded the hearing.

Greer told Newsweek that he has met with congressional members and senior intelligence officials regarding some of the over 700 government and military UAP witnesses debriefed by him.

"These whistleblowers have dealt directly with UAPs both man-made and of extraterrestrial origin," he said. "We are also requesting an amnesty period for very high-value people involved in illegal operations related to UAPs and federal witness protection, as well as explicit protections against retaliations in relation to pensions and personal assets."

Grusch warned members and the American people of "the U.S. government operating with secrecy—above Congressional oversight" as it pertains to UAPs. He told members that they could not publicly share many concerns related to them, due to the sensitive material and fears of retribution on behalf of the intelligence communities.

The U.S. Air Force veteran who previously worked at the National Reconnaissance Office has become a whistleblower due to what he has described as "concerning reports from multiple esteemed and credentialed current and former military and intelligence community individuals" regarding the alleged secret UFO program.

Fravor spoke of his and fellow naval pilots' experience now known as the "Tic Tac" incident from 2004, in which off the San Diego coast they observed "a white Tic Tac-shaped object with the longitudinal axis pointing north and south and moving very abruptly over the white water. There were no rotors, no rotor wash, or any visible flight control surfaces like wings."

“We’re going to uncover the cover up.”Rep. Tim Burchett makes an opening statement while thanking the witnesses for testifying.Watch live: https://t.co/qYOfXmAqjU #UFOHearings pic.twitter.com/ThEvpjGYfN

The unidentified object traveled 60 miles in less than a minute and "was far superior in performance to my brand new F/A-18F and did not operate with any of the known aerodynamic principles that we expect for objects that fly in our atmosphere."

Graves warned about UAPs in U.S. airspace that are "grossly underreported," adding in his opening comments that the government "knows more about UAP than shared publicly and excessive classification practices keep crucial information hidden."

He said when he first experienced objects off the eastern seaboard in 2014-15, anyone with updated radar systems saw them and many also had their own eye sightings. Since then, he has reached out to individuals on the military and commercial airspace side and discovered a flurry of additional incidents continuing into 2019-20 "and beyond."

Fravor, whose Tic Tac encounter was the only such incident he was personally involved with, said the aircraft's technology was better than anything he's ever seen—adding that it could "reverse engineer...and there's nothing we could do about it."

He also explained that the craft he witnessed conducted "unexplained" maneuvers in which it stopped in mid-air before turning on a dime in the opposite direction and disappearing.

"I think it's far beyond our material science that we currently possess," Fravor said.

Grusch was asked if he was aware of anybody being murdered in association with the visualization or uncovering of these UAPS or other extraterrestrial life.

"I have to be careful answering that question," he said. "I directed people with that knowledge to the appropriate authorities."

Anyone hurt or murdered, Mr. Grusch?UAP Hearing Live: https://t.co/LgZXKvKvjV#ufotwitter #ufos #uap #ufox #uaptwitter pic.twitter.com/9RDOzW6Rch

The whistleblower later claimed that the U.S. government discovered non-human intelligent life in the 1930s.

Representative Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, referenced multiple polls of the American public, in which those surveyed expressed a lack of transparency by the U.S. government and elected leaders by not releasing "mountains" of documents and evidence.

Congressional members were also reportedly denied confidential information in a secure environment ahead of the hearing, said Luna and other members.

More eligible American voters than not believe that the U.S. government is not being completely honest about its UFO knowledge with the public, according to a July 6 poll exclusively conducted for Newsweek by Redfield & Wilton Strategies.

The survey of 1,500 people found that 57 percent of respondents believed that the government has more information about UFOs and alien life than it has shared publicly. In addition, 21 percent said they didn't think the government was hiding information, while 22 percent said they did not know.

Representative Jared Moskowitz, a Florida Democrat, said there have been 171 uncharacterized reports from U.S. intelligence agencies, and the more that occur, the more the public's skepticism continues to grow.

He said the issue is not a partisan one. It has galvanized members on both sides of the partisan aisle.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has encouraged UFO- and UAP-related information to become public, spearheaded in Congress by Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as part of an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). That amendment would force the National Archives and Records Administration to create a collection of records pertaining to the phenomenon for immediate public release unless a review board deemed it necessary for a given record to be kept classified.

"It should not take the potential of nonhuman origin to bring us together," Moskowitz said.

Graves said limited options exist for UAP witnesses to report incidents, both in the private and public sectors.

"We need a system where pilots can report without fear of losing their jobs," Graves said, adding that there's no reason for why such objects would be classified.

Grusch said as long as no national security threat exists, information should be made public going back 20 years. He said he's privy to 40 witnesses who know the exact locations of UAP sightings and has provided that information to the inspector general. He also said the U.S. has UAPs.

"It's a travesty we don't have a system to correlate this and actually investigate," Fravor said.

Grusch was careful to divulge specific details due to retaliation. He said the information he has already made public, through interviews with NewsNation and otherwise, has led to a litany of abuse.

"It was very brutal and very unfortunate, some of the tactics they used to hurt me professionally and personally, to be quite frank," he said, referring to intelligence agencies and previous leadership at previous agencies he worked.

Grusch also said he was "in fear of his life" for testifying publicly.

When asked by Luna if commercial pilots are also facing the same alleged threats, Graves responded in the affirmative and said he's privy to cease-and-desist letters sent to some who have reported UAPs.

"The American public should know," he said.

Fravor said he has never been threatened, adding that his colleagues present during their ordeal in 2004 also have not been, either.

Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, a Democrat, said the subcommittee must make sure no retaliatory measures or other forms of demonization take place as a result of this hearing.

The hearing was led by subcommittee chair, Representative Glenn Grothman, and Representative Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the National Security subcommittee.

Update 7/26/23, 1:14 p.m. ET: This story was updated with a comment from Steven Greer, a ufologist and founder of the Disclosure Project.