UFO whistleblowers tell Congress 'we are not alone in the cosmos' (video)
"Excessive secrecy has led to grave misdeeds against loyal civil servants, military personnel and the public — all to hide the fact that we are not alone in the cosmos."
UFOs came to Washington again today.
The U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Oversight and Accountability held a hearing titled "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth" at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. at 11:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT) on Wednesday (Nov. 13). Unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) is a relatively new catch-all term that includes sightings of unexplained objects or events that take place in the air, underwater, in space, or that travel between those domains.
Like previous congressional UFO hearings, today's event featured testimony from current U.S. military personnel who claim the American government has for decades hidden evidence of advanced technologies and otherworldly visitors from the public. A multitude of anecdotes were presented about flying orbs coming out of the ocean, disc-shaped objects, and craft "exhibiting flight and structural characteristics unlike anything in our arsenal." While such claims are nothing new, what is noteworthy about today's hearing are the pedigrees of some of the whistleblowers who testified, including a former U.S. counterintelligence officer, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral and a former NASA associate administrator. All of them stressed the need for more government transparency, less stigma about the UFO topic and new policies to bring UAP data out of the "black" classified world and into the public domain.
This isn't the U.S. government's first attempt to investigate the recent wave of UFO claims that began in 2017. A similar hearing was held last year, in which a whistleblower told Congress the U.S. government is hiding evidence of 'non-human intelligence.'
The Pentagon also created the All-Doman Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) in 2022 to investigate UAP reports and government data about UFOs, but critics, including some government officials, are skeptical of the office's aims and methods.
Related: UFO whistleblower tells Congress the US government is hiding evidence of 'non-human intelligence'
"AARO is unable, or perhaps unwilling, to bring forward the truth about the government's activities concerning UAPs," Representative Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) said during the hearing's opening remarks today. "I'm disturbed that AARO itself lacks transparency; even its budget is kept from the public. So if there is no 'there' there, then why are we spending money on it? And by how much? Why the secrecy?"
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Other representatives stressed the need for transparency and data analysis today, a common theme of other recent UAP studies. "We have evidence that what we are detecting things, and we know that we don't understand them, and this is worth investigating," Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) said. "I believe we can always be more transparent. To me, this hearing and others are simply about the truth and getting to the facts of what these UAPs actually are."
Luis Elizondo, a former U.S. counterintelligence officer who has been vocal about such claims in recent years, told the assembled representatives at the hearing that "excessive secrecy has led to grave misdeeds against loyal civil servants, military personnel and the public — all to hide the fact that we are not alone in the cosmos."
We are "in the midst of a multi-decade, secretive arms race — one funded by misallocated taxpayer dollars and hidden from our elected representatives and oversight bodies," Elizondo stated during his testimony.
Elizondo, who claims to have previously investigated UFOs as part of a secret Pentagon program, suggested that the U.S. government create a "whole-of-government" approach to studying UAP, create a national UAP strategy and offer protections so that whistleblowers who are "desperate to do the right thing can come forward without fear."
During questioning, Elizondo was asked if some of the "advanced technologies" that have been seen monitoring sensitive military installations around the globe could be operated by aliens or private companies. "Maybe both," Elizondo replied.
Elizondo also stated point-blank to Rep. Mace's questioning that the U.S. government has programs to retrieve crashed UAP and reverse-engineer them, but avoided giving any specifics in an unclassified public setting such as the hearing.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) then questioned Elizondo, asking the former counterintelligence agent about a document he signed that limits him from speaking publicly about crash retrieval programs. "The document said you can't talk about crash retrieval. Well, you know, you can't talk about Fight Club if there's no Fight Club, correct?"
Like other witnesses, Elizondo stated that the alleged excessive government secrecy around UFOs harms national security. In response to questioning from Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), Elizondo stated that, if UAP sightings turned out to be technologies operated by adversarial nations, it would be "an intelligence failure eclipsing 9/11 in order of magnitude."
Retired U.S. Navy rear admiral Tim Gallaudet offered similar testimony as Elizondo. "We know from last year's UAP hearing and recent statements and publications by credible whistleblowers that UAP, NHI [non-human intelligence], and their technology of unknown origin (TUO) represent a new realization that we are not the only advanced intelligence in the universe," Gallaudet said on Wednesday, according to his published remarks.
"Unelected officials in the U.S. government do not have an exclusive right to this knowledge about the nature of reality. The American people have a right to that knowledge," Gallaudet said. The retired rear admiral also stressed the national security and airspace safety concerns related with UAP sightings, calling them "extensive."
When Rep. Garcia asked Gallaudet and other witnesses what UAP might represent, the retired rear admiral said he believes they are evidence of a "non-human higher intelligence."
Former NASA Associate Administrator for Space Policy and Partnerships Michael Gold also testified at today's hearing, and previously served on NASA's UAP study team. Gold's testimony was more grounded; for example, he stressed the need for NASA to contribute its authority and expertise toward analyzing what UAP data it might already possess and helping dispel the stigma associated with the UFO topic.
"Our best tool for unlocking the mystery of UAP is science, but we cannot conduct a proper inquiry if the stigma is so overwhelming that just daring to be part of a NASA search team elicits such a vitriolic response," Gold said during today's hearing. "Therefore, one of the most important actions that can be taken, relative to exposing the truth of UAP, is to combat the stigma, and this is where I believe that NASA can be eminently helpful."
Gold added that NASA has a massive archive of data that could possibly contain evidence of UAP, and suggested that artificial intelligence/machine learning algorithms could help sort through the agency's trove of data to help shine light on the UFO phenomenon. In addition, the former NASA associate administrator said the agency should develop specialized instruments that might be able to gather useful data about UAP.
Related: NASA UFO report finds no evidence of 'extraterrestrial origin' for UAP sightings
Journalist Michael Shellenberger also testified today, telling the representatives that there's a "growing body of evidence that the government is not being transparent about what it knows about unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), formerly called UFOs, and that elements within the military and IC [intelligence community] are in violation of their Constitutional duty to notify Congress of their operations."
Shellenberger stated that there is a secret program within the U.S. government known as "Immaculate Constellation" whose sole purpose is to collect UFO and UAP reports from military personnel and sensor data and quarantine them away from the rest of the government and military. While he noted that a Pentagon spokesperson has stated no such program exists, Shellenberger recounted prior examples in which the Department of Defense has initially denied knowledge of UAP-related information only to later change its stance and either admit the information exists or release it to the public.
"The U.S. government appears to know significantly more about UAPs than it is revealing," Shellenberger said at the hearing. "But even those who believe the U.S. government has revealed all that it knows should have no objection to Congressional demands for greater transparency."
To conclude the meeting, Rep. Mace asked each of the witnesses to define what non-human biologics or non-human intelligence mean to each of them.
"I don't think it's a stretch, when you look at the diversity of life on this planet and the size of this universe, to think that there will be more diverse, higher-order, non-human intelligence throughout the universe, and that's probably what's visiting us," Gallaudet said.
Elizondo stated he would take a scientific approach: "The definition would be the ability to react to a stimulus in a manner that requires an intellectual thought process."
Gold, meanwhile, questioned whether non-human intelligence necessarily implies life, suggesting sophisticated artificial intelligence might be responsible for some UAP encounters. Shellenberger simply stated he did not know what they might be.
Related: The search for alien life
In today's hearing, as in other UFO hearings, there was a lot of telling and not a lot of showing. One of the core tenets of these whistleblower testimonies is that much of the credible UFO data is classified and can't be revealed to the public based on the military capabilities that some of that data could reveal.
Whistleblowers have attested for years that, because advanced or classified sensors and satellites sometimes capture footage or photos of unexplained phenomena or advanced craft, those photos or videos are likewise classified by the U.S. government in order to not reveal America's full surveillance or sensing capabilities.
Such was the case in 2023 when U.S. military aircraft shot down a mysterious object off the coast of Alaska. The American government has yet to release any imagery from the event, but a Canadian freedom of information request unveiled a photograph earlier this year of a balloon-like object.
Those incidents and others like it, such as a weeks-long drone incursion above Langley Air Force Base in Washington, D.C., were discussed in today's hearing. "The origin of these drones and their operators remains a mystery," Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) said. "This incident and other sightings near sensitive military installations highlights the complexity of the UAP challenge facing our intelligence, defense and homeland security committees."
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Brett is curious about emerging aerospace technologies, alternative launch concepts, military space developments and uncrewed aircraft systems. Brett's work has appeared on Scientific American, The War Zone, Popular Science, the History Channel, Science Discovery and more. Brett has English degrees from Clemson University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In his free time, Brett enjoys skywatching throughout the dark skies of the Appalachian mountains.
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COLGeek Same stuff. Different day ("testimony").Reply
Nothing new or substantial. Let the outrage begin... -
Timothy sasscer While there is some validity to following the public dollars being spent on UAP research, there is little fact or science on offer in these hearings, and indeed even that is not new, and is poorly regarded outside true believers. The issue is of extreme interest, quite fun to speculate on, and worthy of intelligent discussions. It's not impossible that aliens exist or even have made it to earth, but until there is actual incontrovertible evidence, it seems a disservice to act as though it is anything beyond a fun conversation. Sure, the excitement and wonder (and fear) is far more compelling than mundane explanations like glare, glitches or Cold War subterfuges, but as Americans especially have a difficult time with reality these days, we cannot afford to tread so lightly with information that is understood as alternative facts. The problem I have is how this hearing fits into the larger cultural denigration of institutions and expertise in favor of 'facts' that 'feel right to me'. Not clearly placing this in the 'fanciful-bordering on fictitious' category is something responsible media must redress. With a subject as compelling and potentially important to all humanity, we obviously need facts over fun, and science over sensation. Even more, we need a bigger megaphone, one that is louder than Fox/Graham Hancock, or the attention given to David Gorush. I am slightly disappointed that COL Geek anticipates negative feedback but I am not blaming Space.com in the slightest-you are part of the reality we need to uphold better.Reply -
TheTruthIsOutThere
You must feel superior to us "true believers," who only question the withholding of information. In fact, this suppression of the facts about the UFOs and the ridicule heaped on those who attempt to get at the truth, at the facts being withheld is a classic example of "disinformation," something our MIC has mastered after 70 years of practice. Never once have the naysayers have been able to explain why information is being withheld from us.Timothy sasscer said:While there is some validity to following the public dollars being spent on UAP research, there is little fact or science on offer in these hearings, and indeed even that is not new, and is poorly regarded outside true believers. The issue is of extreme interest, quite fun to speculate on, and worthy of intelligent discussions. It's not impossible that aliens exist or even have made it to earth, but until there is actual incontrovertible evidence, it seems a disservice to act as though it is anything beyond a fun conversation. Sure, the excitement and wonder (and fear) is far more compelling than mundane explanations like glare, glitches or Cold War subterfuges, but as Americans especially have a difficult time with reality these days, we cannot afford to tread so lightly with information that is understood as alternative facts. The problem I have is how this hearing fits into the larger cultural denigration of institutions and expertise in favor of 'facts' that 'feel right to me'. Not clearly placing this in the 'fanciful-bordering on fictitious' category is something responsible media must redress. With a subject as compelling and potentially important to all humanity, we obviously need facts over fun, and science over sensation. Even more, we need a bigger megaphone, one that is louder than Fox/Graham Hancock, or the attention given to David Gorush. I am slightly disappointed that COL Geek anticipates negative feedback but I am not blaming Space.com in the slightest-you are part of the reality we need to uphold better.
And then you ridicule Elizondo by calling him, COL Geek. There are a lot more heinous names that you are deserving of.
"it seems a disservice to act as though it is anything beyond a fun conversation" -- so funny, OMG. You're so smart that you know what they're hiding. Do you? You really believe the government. Have you read any of the many books written about the CIA showing that they do just as you are now.
The truth is out there and you're just another person trying to hide it. Your attempt to do so reveals everything we need to know about you. -
COLGeek
I think he was referring to me. Regardless, the results of the "testimony" is no different than past "testimony".TheTruthIsOutThere said:And then you ridicule Elizondo by calling him, COL Geek. There are a lot more heinous names that you are deserving of.
Too many assume a conspiracy to hide the "truth". Do you think, for one minute, that a secret of such magnitude could be kept secret? Really? -
TheTruthIsOutThere
They have kept the truth about the JFK assassination secret all these years, haven't they? Have you ever witnessed a UFO? I have, twice, once a very dramatic experience, which I later checked with the local SAC base about activity at the time I witnessed it, as well as an astronomer about possible celestial manifestations. And I've seen videos of similar sightings of what I saw. There is something out there, and I do believe the crash at Roswell happened. Too many people witnessed it and had no reason to lie. In fact, some didn't tell the truth until they were on their deathbed because of being sworn to secrecy. Stop the nonsense, stop trying to protect the secret.COLGeek said:I think he was referring to me. Regardless, the results of the "testimony" is no different than past "testimony".
Too many assume a conspiracy to hide the "truth". Do you think, for one minute, that a secret of such magnitude could be kept secret? Really? -
TheTruthIsOutThere
Results -- for one, Ellzondo is adhering to his oath. He's not telling everything he knows because he fears retribution. Why would men like him and Grusch expose themselves to ridicule and humiliation if they weren't telling the truth. Can you explain that? Oh, I know, they're mentally ill, is that what you're going to say next? Look at what happened to Galileo when he said the earth revolved around the sun -- he was silenced by the threat of being burned at the stake like Girodano Bruno. Yes, it is amazing that a secret like this has been withheld.COLGeek said:I think he was referring to me. Regardless, the results of the "testimony" is no different than past "testimony".
Too many assume a conspiracy to hide the "truth". Do you think, for one minute, that a secret of such magnitude could be kept secret? Really?
People will believe anything if it's in their interests to believe it, and it certainly would freak out a lot of people if there was the certainty that we are being visited by superior beings who could potentially take control of us. Why do you think they formed Majestic 12 after Roswell? -
COLGeek
I'm not protecting anything, as there is nothing to protect.TheTruthIsOutThere said:They have kept the truth about the JFK assassination secret all these years, haven't they? Have you ever witnessed a UFO? I have, twice, once a very dramatic experience, which I later checked with the local SAC base about activity at the time I witnessed it, as well as an astronomer about possible celestial manifestations. And I've seen videos of similar sightings of what I saw. There is something out there, and I do believe the crash at Roswell happened. Too many people witnessed it and had no reason to lie. In fact, some didn't tell the truth until they were on their deathbed because of being sworn to secrecy. Stop the nonsense, stop trying to protect the secret.
Seeing something unidentified does not mean aliens or some otherworldly thing. It just means unknown.
Good luck with your endeavors. -
TheTruthIsOutThere Results -- for one, Ellzondo is adhering to his oath. He's not telling everything he knows because he fears retribution. Why would men like him and Grusch expose themselves to ridicule and humiliation if they weren't telling the truth. Can you explain that? Oh, I know, they're mentally ill, is that what you're going to say next? Look at what happened to Galileo when he said the earth revolved around the sun -- he was silenced by the threat of being burned at the stake like Girodano Bruno. Yes, it is amazing that a secret like this has been withheld. People will believe anything if it's in their interests to believe it, and it certainly would freak out a lot of people if there was the certainty that we are being visited by superior beings who could potentially take control of us. Why do you think they formed Majestic 12 after Roswell?Reply -
billslugg There is one thing that would instantly convert the harshest skeptic. An isotopic analysis of an alien fingernail clipping or cigarette butt. Such data is conclusive and cannot be faked. It is absurdly easy to obtain but for some strange reason no one has ever come forward with the data.Reply -
COLGeek
.. or a clear verifiable picture for that matter.billslugg said:There is one thing that would instantly convert the harshest skeptic. An isotopic analysis of an alien fingernail clipping or cigarette butt. Such data is conclusive and cannot be faked. It is absurdly easy to obtain but for some strange reason no one has ever come forward with the data.