Archive of U.S. Congressional Statements & Actions on UFOs
Compiled and edited by Justin Snead | Updated through December 2024
"They were now beginning to put on a squeeze by threatening to call a congressman — and nothing chills blood faster in the military."
--Edward J. Ruppelt, Captain, U.S. Air Force (retired), 1955
The following archive contains (almost1) every known public statement and action made by members of the U.S. Congress regarding UFOs since 2018.
We now know that Congress has been the main driver behind a movement to compel the military branches and the Intelligence Community to share more of what they know about UFOs with Congress and also with the public. Members of the U.S. House and Senate began to work in concert toward this effort around 2018, shortly after The New York Times revealed the Pentagon’s secret UFO office in December 2017.2
Jump to Timeline of U.S. Congressional Action on UFOs (2007 to Present)
The purpose of this archive is to reveal the mindset of currently serving members of Congress toward UFOs by cataloging what they have been willing to say publicly on the topic. This list will also put in context ongoing public statements they make, and it can help us interpret their next moves. Reading their statements in sequence shows that what they tell journalists about UFO transparency often ends up being written into law months later.
The Senate and House Armed Services and Intelligence committees have crafted and unanimously passed UFO-transparency laws or directives every year since 2019. The number of congresspeople speaking out about UFOs is increasing, yet the vast majority has made no UFO public statements at all. Unlike in past eras of congressional involvement in UFOs, current efforts cannot be chalked up to the eccentric views of a few politicians. This archive documents the views of many currently serving members of Congress, nearly all of whom are committed to finding answers about the unexplained phenomenon they call UAP. Their statements are deliberate and often strategic.
For the members of Congress who have gone public about UFOs, I have assigned each of them a rating that labels how far they are willing to go in expressing their thinking with the public. For lack of a better term, I call this their UFO stance. This too will be important to track, since UFO disclosure will ultimately require our political leaders to tell the public what they think UFOs are. The four stances range from an agnostic national security concern over UFOs, open skepticism of the topic, open hostility toward the topic, and open discussion of the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis. Here is a description of each rating.
UFO Agnostic | Disclosure Supportive
The congresspeople assigned this rating have taken public acts or made public statements that support the cause of UFO transparency and investigations, but have not explicitly stated what they think UFOs are. These statements follow a general pattern: UAP (their preferred term) are real objects, we don’t know what they are, but we need to find out, and the federal government is obligated to share what data it has on them. They avoid statements that would lead the public to think they adhere to the traditional narrative that UFOs are extraterrestrial spacecraft, but they do not dismiss this possibility out of hand. Most members currently fall into this category.
# in Senate: 17
# in House: 21
UFO Skeptic | Disclosure Supportive
This rating is reserved for congresspeople who have made statements indicating they believe UFOs have prosaic explanations, such as misidentifications of conventional objects, hallucinations, hoaxes, or secret technology. They call themselves skeptics of the traditional UFO narrative. They may also tap into long-standing UFO stigma tropes in order to dismiss the topic. However, they support transparency as a means of ending the speculation.
# in Senate: 4
# in House: 4
UFO Skeptic | Disclosure Hostile
This rating is reserved for congresspeople who have made statements or taken actions intended to actively curtail UFO transparency and investigative efforts, and/or to stifle the public discussion of UFOs. It should be noted that Senator Gillibrand has consistently said since 2021 that there is no significant opposition within Congress to UAP transparency, but in 2023 pushback against certain transparency measures began to emerge from certain factions within Congress. This is the most subjective rating, since no one is likely to admit being hostile to government transparency. However, hostility can be inferred by the following objective measures: consistent and strategic efforts to inject statements into the public record that discredit the traditional UFO narrative; reliable reporting that the member was involved in stripping transparency measures from relevant legislation.
# in Senate: 1
# in House: 2
Extraterrestrial Hypothesis Advocate
Ultimately, political leaders have to consider that government UFO disclosure will at some point in the future require them to explain to the public that UFOs may indicate evidence of non-human visitation. A notable minority of Congress is willing to do that now, and are trying out lines for what will be the most unusual political moment of their careers. Their statements move beyond the talking points about unknown objects in restricted airspace and national security, and into the realm of extraterrestrials and other forms of non-human intelligence. Such statements, few in number now, are the first tentative steps toward public confirmation of alien visitations of the Earth.
The congresspeople assigned to this rating have demonstrated a comfort discussing with the public the possibility that UFOs are alien spacecraft visiting the Earth from distant worlds. They have used words like aliens, extraterrestrial, non-human intelligence, other worlds, other solar systems, and light years away. Some but not all in this group have shared that it is their personal belief that the Earth is being visited by extraterrestrials. The rest seem to think that this explanation is as likely to fit the facts as any other.
# in Senate: 3
# in House: 10
The archive below is separated by House and Senate because differences in responsibilities and power between those two bodies often lead to different types of statements. The members are listed in chronological order based on when they began making public statements or actions regarding UFOs. Their UFO Stance is indicated, as is their membership on an intelligence or armed services committee. You can use the links to jump to the politician you are curious about, or read all the statements in sequence. This archive will be updated quarterly as more statements are made.
Jump to a member of Congress:
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
Gaetz, Matt (Retired)
U.S. Senate — UFO Statement Archive
Shaheen, Jeanne
New Hampshire–Democrat
Term: 2009-Present
Senate Armed Services Committee
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
April 4, 2018
New Hampshire journalists for The Sun ask Senator Shaheen about the December 2017 revelation of the Pentagon’s secret UFO office:
“You know, we have not had anything around UFOs that I have seen in either the Armed Services Committee or any other committee that I’m on.”
The Sun asked Shaheen if she would look into UFO cases since there are implications for national security.
“I have to say, I’m a little more worried about Russia than I am UFOs these days,” she said adding China. [Source: Conway Daily Sun Interview]
2019
From June through October 2019, members of the Senate Armed Services Committee received UPA briefings from the Office of Naval Intelligence and other agencies that included pictures and videos of UAP, as well as aviator testimony. The Sun asked Shaheen about these briefings:
Back in 2019, the Sun asked Shaheen if she had been briefed and she confirmed she had. “It was a classified briefing so I’m not allowed to talk about it,” said Shaheen in 2019. “But if you were to ask me personally do I believe there are UFOs, I think that there are events that have happened that have not been explained adequately.” [Source: Conway Daily Sun]
June 2, 2022
“I’ve seen some of the classified information that I can’t talk about, but I personally think there are unexplained phenomenon that we haven’t yet figured out what’s going on.” [Source: Conway Daily Sun]
February 16, 2023
Senator Shaheen co-signed a letter, drafted by Senators Gillibrand and Rubio, that was a formal request for more AARO funding and a briefing.
Inhofe, James M.
Oklahoma–Republican
Term: 1994-January 2023
Senate Armed Service Committee (Chairman 2018-2021; Ranking Member 2021-2023)
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
June 11, 2019
Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe and Ranking Member Senator Jack Reed file a classified section of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2020. It requires the Pentagon to form a UAP Task Force that will “investigate UAP activity.” The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) is to lead the investigations. This is the first known UAP language inserted into an NDAA, and was signed into law December 20, 2019.
June 22, 2020 (week of)
Senator Inhofe, as an Ex Officio member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, submitted this request for UAP information from Scott Bray of the Office of Naval Intelligence:
June 23, 2021
After receiving a classified briefing on the upcoming UAP Preliminary Report, Inhofe gave this interview to Politico:
“There are so many un-credible people in that subject matter,” Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) lamented in a brief interview.
Inhofe, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was looking forward to the release of the report, which he said was critical “for no other reason than to discredit a lot of the things that shouldn’t be credited.”
“See, I’m a lot older than anybody else here … and yet I remember, when I was a little kid — it goes way, way back,” Inhofe, 86, said of still-brewing theories about extraterrestrial life. [Source: Politico]
Warner, Mark R.
Virginia–Democrat
Term: 2009-Present
Senate Intelligence Committee (Vice Chair 2017-2021; Chairman 2021-Present)
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
Around 2018
Senator Warner receives first briefings on UAP.
June 19, 2019
Senator Mark Warner of the Senate Intelligence Committee receives a UAP briefing from the Office of Naval Intelligence that he had requested.
After the exiting the classified briefing, Warner spoke with the press:
“I think some of the press reports [about UAP] are accurate. I think people are taking this issue much more seriously. I’m not going to get into any of the contents of the briefing. It was a classified briefing. One of the key takeaways I have is the military and others are taking this issue seriously, which I think in previous generations may not have been the case.” [Source: video]
The next day, June 20, CNN published a statement from Warner’s office:
“If pilots at Oceana or elsewhere are reporting flight hazards that interfere with training or put them at risk, then Senator Warner wants answers. It doesn’t matter if it’s weather balloons, little green men, or something else entirely — we can’t ask our pilots to put their lives at risk unnecessarily,” Rachel Cohen, the spokeswoman for Democratic Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, told CNN. [Source: CNN quote]
April 14, 2021
“I say this with some trepidation. I remember as a kid being interested in UFOs, and at that point it was kind of viewed as a crank-pot theory. And I think though for a long time, the military, as people saw things, they didn’t investigate them. One of the things that has changed–I’ve received a classified briefing on this so I can only give you the topline–the military has seen enough things, where they’re actually now encouraging pilots to report. If there are objects flying over military installations, that could pose a security threat.
“We, working with Senator Rubio, we put into law a requirement that the Defense Department make a report. And this report on one level needs to be declassified and revealed to the American public. So if there is something out there, let’s seek it out. It probably is a foreign power. But I think the past approach that the military had, which was, the pilot saw something that, they kind of say, whatever you do, don’t report it, it’s going to look bad on your record. They’re now saying, if you’re seeing things, there is actual visual, recorded evidence, we got to sort this out.” [Source: WGHP FOX8]
June 25, 2021
Senator Warner releases a statement on the UAP Preliminary Report:
“I was first briefed on these unidentified aerial phenomena nearly three years ago. Since then, the frequency of these incidents only appears to be increasing. The United States must be able to understand and mitigate threats to our pilots, whether they’re from drones or weather balloons or adversary intelligence capabilities. Today’s rather inconclusive report only marks the beginning of efforts to understand and illuminate what is causing these risks to aviation in many areas around the country and the world.” [Source: Statement]
August 4, 2021
Senator Warner, as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, introduces the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 with the following UAP language:
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act and not less frequently than quarterly thereafter, the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, or such other entity as the Deputy Secretary of Defense may designate to be responsible for matters relating to unidentified aerial phenomena, shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress quarterly reports on the findings of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, or such other designated entity as the case may be.
All reported unidentified aerial phenomena-related events that occurred during the previous 90 days.
All reported unidentified aerial phenomena-related events that occurred during a time period other than the previous 90 days but were not included in an earlier report.
January 12, 2023
Statement of Senate Intel Chair Mark R. Warner on UAP Report, Press release
“Today’s report reflects a step forward in understanding and addressing risks to aviators. Overall, I am encouraged to see an increase in UAP reporting – a sign of decreased stigma among pilots who are aware of the potential threat that UAPs can pose. I’m proud to have passed language in the FY23 Intelligence Authorization Act that will empower the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) to rigorously investigate and bring resources to bear on this challenge. I look forward to seeing continued cooperation between the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community, and other key government partners as we work to focus resources on UAP reports that remain uncharacterized and unattributed.”
February 14, 2023
After the classified briefing on balloon shoot-downs, Senator Warner gave a press interview:
“One other thing, finally, over the last year plus, under the AARO program, there is now a sophisticated effort. So that if pilots are seeing unidentified objects there is a reporting process and a scientifically driven analysis. I can tell you, there were years of these kind of reports off the coast of Virginia, adjacent to where our fleet is based. The vast majority of those ended up being balloons. In terms of where there may also still be a gap is, there really is not, to my understanding, that formal of a process that if a university, a private institution sends off some kind of research balloon, how that is appropriately registered and how that appropriately pings the FAA or other entities and how that information is relayed to appropriate defense individuals. I think there is more to learn, I think we will have a lot more information when we see the recovery of some of these materials.”
February 15, 2023
Senator Warner Just the News interview video:
“For years, pilots were frankly discouraged from reporting things because it might then hurt your career. The military made a very smart decision four or five years ago, because things were showing up on radar, visual sightings, and whatnot. And they said, no, report. Now, in the last two and a half years, under a project called AARO, there is now a group that is funded, and we have a very serious scientist, Sean Kirkpatrick, who is going through a much more rigorous approach to examine, discover and try to clarify what these items [UAP] may be.”
February 16, 2023
Senator Warner co-signed a letter, drafted by Senators Gillibrand and Rubio, that was a formal request for more AARO funding and a briefing.
March 3, 2023
Interview with Politico:
Nation states spy on each other. I am not surprised that China is trying to observe what’s happening in America, number one. Number two, I, along with Sen. [Marco] Rubio on our committee, we’ve moved very aggressively to make sure that the United States military, Air Force and the Navy, treat seriously spotting of what’s called unidentified aerial phenomena — UAPs — and what we used to call UFOs. It didn’t get a lot of attention, but there have been lots of sightings of UAPs off the coast of Virginia for example, off of where our Navy is based out in Norfolk.
Where I was frustrated was just the amount of attention that the Chinese gained when this balloon, which was visible by cell phones, just leisurely floated across the whole mainland in the United States.
April 27, 2023
Senators Rubio and Warner submit a letter to Defense Secretary Austin, complaining about slow implementation of some AARO mandates: transferring management of AARO to the Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Principal Deputy Director National Intelligence; the appointment of an AARO deputy director; a request that Congress be informed of all of AARO’s witness interviews; a secure public-facing website to collect more witness testimony; AARO’s communication strategy for more robust public engagement.
June 13, 2023
Questioned by Matt Laslo about David Grusch’s allegations for a Wired article:
WIRED sent an inquiry to Senate Intelligence Committee chair Mark Warner; in less than a minute, the Virginia Democrat’s staff replied, “We’re a no comment on this—thank you!”
When we caught the senator in the Capitol’s marble halls, Warner kept tripping over his own thoughts. “There’s been a lot of incoming. Frankly, I just need to find out more information on this,” Warner says.
As for the accusation that the federal government has lied to Congress and hidden some SAPs for decades? “We’ve heard these accusations before,” Warner says, before stopping himself, again. “Let me get some information first.”
March 7, 2024
Sen. Warner responds to Matt Laslo about the “persistent problem of unidentified objects hovering over sensitive US military facilities.”
“I feel our airspace is safe, and I do feel like we, umm, you know — for the first time since I’ve been here they’ve taken this challenge seriously. And I continue to meet — umm — and there are some others who has told you a tendency to accept the premise [Laslo and I infer Warner is referring to the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis] — uhh — I've seen no evidence. And, you know, if further evidence comes out, I’m going to pursue it, but I think…”
July 31, 2024
Senators Mark Warner and Marco Rubio, respectively the chairman and ranking Republican on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), filed a revised version of the Fiscal Year 2025 Intelligence Authorization Act (IAA), including revised UAP-related language. (DDJ summary) - covers SAP funding and notification of congressional committees and leaders of SAPs.
September 19, 2024
Sen. Warner to Matt Laslo on Senate Armed Services’ Emerging Threats subcommittee upcoming AARO hearing: “I did not — I didn't know. I know she's [Gillibrand] very interested. I think, you know, as we've talked about this a lot of times, you know, I think more disclosure the better.”
Reed, Jack
Rhode Island–Democrat
Term: 1997-Present
Senate Armed Service Committee (Ranking Member 2015-2021; Chairman 2022-Present)
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
June 11, 2019
Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe and Ranking Member Senator Jack Reed file a classified section of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2020. It requires the Pentagon to form a UAP Task Force that will “investigate UAP activity.” The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) is to lead the investigations. This is the first known UAP language inserted into an NDAA, and was signed into law December 20, 2019.
June 28, 2021
Senator Reed issues a statement on the release of the UAP Preliminary Report.
“Unexplained aerial phenomena are a real concern that must be taken seriously. Any time we have objects operating in our airspace, some of which have been fast-moving, they need to be identified, whether they’re advanced technology drones, experimental aircraft, or some other aerospace system. It’s always important to increase our understanding when it comes to unexplained encounters with our military assets. So this is a real national security issue and something that needs to be closely examined by the U.S. military and intelligence community, and Congress must exercise proper oversight.
“As this report makes clear, at this time we simply lack the information necessary to determine what these objects are and what they are doing. So, we need to get that information. Let’s keep watching the skies, studying, and learning. If the government acquires evidence of things it can’t explain, let’s examine it from every angle and be forthright with the American people.” [Source: Statement]
Senator Reed also spoke with a Rhode Island reporter for WPRI Channel 12 news:
Reed: I thought the report was a very thoughtful first step to think about these things. It was inconclusive. They don’t have any compelling evidence that there is…uh… that there is some type of… thinking beings behind these things. However, they have listed several possibilities. One is natural phenomena. Two, it could be some type of test by a nation state of a sophisticated technology we’re not aware of. But we have to stay focused on this and try to develop the kind of analysis and detection devices that can confirm what this phenomenon is.
WPRI: Some people say this is kind of a joke, you know, aliens, UFOs or whatever. But you treat it pretty seriously in your statement over the weekend.
Reed: Well you know the observations were made by navy pilots who were fairly sophisticated in terms of what’s up in the air besides themselves, and you know they saw phenomena that that confused them that was not, it wasn’t like just the sun glinting off a metal piece in here someplace else. So they I think their evidence–and its visual as well as recollections–suggest that you know this is something we have to look into. It may turn out to be a natural phenomenon but we’ve learned something.” [Source: WPRI Interview]
Kaine, Tim
Virginia–Democrat
Term: 2013-Present
Senate Armed Services Committee
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
July 16, 2019
Senator Kaine receives a requested UAP briefing from the Office of Naval Intelligence. He attends the briefing with Representative Carson. [Source: Navy emails]
February 16, 2023
Senator Kaine co-signed a letter, drafted by Senators Gillibrand and Rubio, that was a formal request for more AARO funding and a briefing.
March 21, 2024
Sen. Kaine responds to Laslo question about Langley drone/UAP incursion from December 2023.
Laslo: “What did you — are you satisfied with the response you got to the UAPs around Langley?”
Kaine: "Yeah, I mean in terms of full forthcoming information and a plan of action, yes. But I think there's a lot of work to be done. I think there's a lot of work to be done.”
Laslo: “In a classified setting, did they at least tell you that they know what it was or is there still a mystery?”
Kaine: “I don't think I can get into that. I think what I can say is that, you know, we have pretty clear rules of engagement if someone were to try to fly a drone against US troops overseas — we would know what to do. But when you're on domestic soil and you've got, you know, houses nearby — and it's not like you're going to shoot something down on a base near a residential neighborhood. So the thought about how to do base protection against UAS [Unmanned Aircraft Systems] threats domestically is not as developed as it is in theaters of war…”
Sanders, Bernie
Vermont–Independent
Term: 2007-Present
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
August 6, 2019
Asked on the Joe Rogan Experience: “If you got into the office and you found out something about aliens, if you found out something about UFOs, would you let us know?”
Sanders: “Well I’ll tell you my wife would demand that I let you know…. It’s just ‘Bernie, what is going on? Do you have any access to records?’ I don’t. Honestly I don’t. … All right I’ll be on the show, we’ll announce it on the show.” [Source: Episode 1330 Interview clip 1:07]
January 19, 2020
Asked at a New Hampshire journalist roundtable about revealing the truth about UFOs: “My wife would never forgive me if I did not. … Let’s not jump the gun. I’m not sure we’re on the same figure but there was some articles recently that Navy pilots I think had spotted these things. I could not explain them. And I think I think of course we have to explore that–if it is true–don’t quote me Sanders believes in…please don’t–If it is true, yeah of course I mean they presumably are coming from a rather long distance away, right, that somehow they’re able to get here.” [Source: video link]
June 13, 2023
Senator Heinrich interview by Wired about David Grusch’s allegations: “Generally, I would look skeptically at many of these reports. What I take seriously is sometimes we just have these really good, decorated pilots and navigating officers who are experiencing things that we can’t explain, so we need to collect data so that we can figure out what is going on.”
Rubio, Marco
Florida–Republican
Term: 2011-Present
Senate Intelligence Committee (Chairman 2020-2021; Vice-Chairman 2021-present)
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
Around 2011
Senator Rubio begins to be shown reports on military/UAP encounters. Rubio joined the Senate Intelligence Committee in January 2011.
September 25, 2019
What the Defense Intelligence Agency referred to as “the UAP question” is raised during a briefing with the Senate Intelligence Committee. Rubio poses several key questions. He also requests a follow up briefing that would go into more detail about the UAP issue.
June 17, 2020
Senator Rubio, who was appointed Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee in May, adds UAP mandates to the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021. The report begins:
“The Committee supports the efforts of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force at the Office of Naval Intelligence to standardize collection and reporting on unidentified aerial phenomenon, any links they have to adversarial foreign governments, and the threat they pose to U.S. military assets and installations. However, the Committee remains concerned that there is no unified, comprehensive process within the Federal Government for collecting and analyzing intelligence on unidentified aerial phenomena, despite the potential threat.”
This legislation triggers the writing of a detailed preliminary report on UAP by the UAPTF, due to Congress by the end of June 2021.
June 23, 2020
Senator Rubio, as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, formally requests a UAP briefing by the Office of Naval Intelligence and the Pentagon’s OUSD(I). Scott Bray presents the briefing. In an internal Navy email reporting on outcomes of the briefing, Rubio is classified as a “UAP Advocate.” [Source: Navy emails]
July 16, 2020
Senator Rubio makes his first public statements about UAP in this interview with Florida-based investigative reporter Jim DeFede.
DeFede: Are we alone [in the universe]?
Rubio: [chuckle] Here’s the interesting thing for me about all this, and the reason why I think this is an important topic. And that is, we have things flying over our military bases and places where we are conducting military exercises, and we don’t know what it is, and it isn’t ours. So that’s a legitimate question to ask. I would say that if it’s something from outside this planet, that might actually be better than if we’ve seen some technological leap on behalf of the Chinese or the Russians, or some other adversary that allows them to conduct themselves in this activity.
But the bottom line is there are things flying over your military bases, and you don’t know what they are, because they’re not yours, and they exhibit potentially technologies that you don’t have at your own disposal, that to me is a national security risk, and one that we should be looking into. And so that’s the premise that I begin with.
DeFede: …you’re not using the phrase Unidentified Flying Objects. You have another euphemism for it, Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon.
Rubio: I didn’t come up with that. That’s the one that the military uses internally, and ultimately that’s the one we used. The Office of Naval Intelligence–this has impacted the Navy for the most part. I’ve seen reports on this now for the better part of a decade. Other countries have seen similar reports. But our perspective is, there is someone flying in our airspace that no one else is allowed to fly in, and we don’t know who it is, and it isn’t something we have. We need to know what that is. I don’t know why we wouldn’t want to know what it is. Maybe there is a completely boring explanation for it, but we need to find out. That’s really what we’re asking about. And we’re asking them to make public, as much as possible, that information. None of that really fits into the mold of classified per se.
DeFede: So what’s your gut? Are we alone in the universe, or is there something else out there?
Rubio: I don’t have a gut feeling about it. It’s a phenomenon. It’s unexplained. I just want to know what it is. And if we can’t determine what it is, then that is a fact point we need to take into account. I wouldn’t venture to speculate beyond that. [Source: DeFede Interview]
March 22, 2021
Senator Rubio is interviewed about UFOs by TMZ.
Rubio: For me the whole thing was this, and that’s why we put that language in there, people want space aliens, for me, there’s stuff flying over military installations, and no one knows what it is, and it isn’r ours. So for me, that’s logical, you want to know what it is, that’s common sense, if stuff is flying over the top of our most sensitive installations, it’s not our and no one knows what it is, you should find out what it is and tell us.
TMZ: “Who is the bigger threat right now? People say China’s a big threat, but shouldn’t we also be worried about what’s outside in the universe?”
Rubio: “Ahh I wouldn’t… Take it one step at a time, you know what I mean. I’m not saying that’s what it’s all about. Like I told you, I don’t know. I don’t know the answer to what it is, but it’s stuff that is there. ”
TMZ: “Everyone thinks we’re the smartest out there in the Universe. Are the aliens possibly smarter than what we are right now?”
Rubio: “Uh…well, if they made it all the way here they probably are, yeah. They’re probably more advanced. If they can get here and we can’t get there, that tells you they’re more advanced. But I don’t know there are aliens, I don’t know if they’ve ever visited here, I’m not, you know. When you talk about that stuff, everybody gets, you know, gets stigmatized about it, nobody wants to sound weird. My thing is very simple: We don’t know what that stuff is that’s flying over the top of our installations. Let’s find out. Maybe it’s another country and that would be bad news, too.”
TMZ: “But let’s just say, hypothetically, if somebody comes down, there’s aliens, should Biden and should the government, should we try to be friendly with these folks? Or should we look at them as…”
Rubio: “Oh, I don’t know, man. I’m thinking, we have so many problems going on as it is, that would be one a heck of way to top the last year and half.”
March 24, 2021
Senator Rubio speaks with Fox News about the pending release of the UAP Preliminary Report:
“We have to try to know what it is,” the Florida Republican said. “Maybe there’s a logical explanation. Maybe it’s foreign adversaries who made a technological leap?”
Rubio also held up the prospect that agencies will need more time to complete the report. “I’m not sure they are going to come in on time,” he said. “I’m not sure by June 1 they have reached a hard conclusion about what they are dealing with and there may be more questions, or new questions, than full answers …”
“I can tell you it is being taken more seriously now that it ever has been.” [Source: Fox News]
May 16, 2021
“I want us to have a process to analyze the data every time it comes in … until we get some answers. Maybe it has a very simple answer. Maybe it doesn’t.” [Source: 60 Minutes]
December 9, 2021
Senator Rubio releases a statement on the passage of the UAP amendment in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act.
“It is my hope that the creation of a new joint Defense Department and Intelligence Community office focused on UAPs will provide the resources, analytics and attention needed to determine what is loitering around our military training ranges,” Rubio said. “The DoD and IC need to ensure a more uniform collection strategy is in place and that we continue to destigmatize reporting on UAPs, particularly from military aviators. Significantly, we also maintain the transparency and accountability that my provision in last year’s Intelligence Authorization Act report provided, by ensuring ongoing unclassified reporting.” [Source: Link]
May 2, 2022
In April the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services committees received the first UAP briefing required by the 2022 NDAA. Some members, including Senators Rubio and Gillibrand and Representative Burchett, used a Politico article to publicize their displeasure with the content of the briefing and the slow speed at which the new UAP office is being stood up:
“Rubio is definitely frustrated,” said one of the senator’s aides, who was not authorized to speak publicly. “They are not moving fast enough, not doing enough, not sharing enough. The administration is aware of the concerns. It is not at the level it needs to be.” [Source: Politico]
January 12, 2023
Rubio Praises Progress on UAP Reporting, Seeks More Transparency, Press Release
“We are making important progress in our ongoing efforts to understand these activities and what threat they may pose to America’s national security. The report highlights 510 UAP national security incidents reported since 2004, a significant increase from the 144 in the 2021 report. It highlights the reason for standing up the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) to lead the whole-of-government effort.
“However, more needs to be done across the Defense Department and Intelligence Community to utilize existing sensors to collect and analyze more data on UAPs. I am committed to ensuring we get to the truth for the American people.”
February 12, 2023
Senator Rubio tweets about recent shoot-downs of balloons.
“The last 72 hours revealed to the public what has happening for years, unidentified aircraft routinely operating over restricted U.S. airspace This is why I pushed to take this seriously & created a permanent UAP task force two years ago.”
February 13, 2023
Senator Rubio tweets:
“The issue of unidentified objects over U.S. air space isn’t about [space alien face emoji]”
“It’s always been about how someone is flying something over places they aren’t allowed And they are neither new nor limited to the U.S. What has changed is that now we finally started tracking them”
February 14, 2023
Senator Rubio records a statement before classified briefing on balloon shoot-downs:
“This is pretty extraordinary. This is not just a curiosity or any weird stuff about UFOs and aliens. For the first time in 65 years the United States has shot something down over our airspace, not once but four times, and three of those four things we have no idea what they are, and people deserve to know what they are. … We need to understand why we did it, and what these things are, where they come from, who owns them, who made them, and why are they here. Perhaps the explanation is easy, and maybe not.
This is a topic I’ve been on for a long time. This is not new. It may sound new, but it really isn’t. We have been seeing objects flying over restricted airspace in the United States for a long time now. No one took it seriously because immediately it was about UFOs and flying saucers and aliens, and that’s not my concern. My concern is that some other country has developed a capability to monitor and enter our airspace and that we are not prepared to identify it because … we’re looking for airplanes, we’re looking for missiles, we’re not looking for objects that don’t fit that criteria. And strategic surprise is the way a lot of wars start and it’s they way a lot of wars and conflicts are lost.”
Senator Rubio also tweeted this link to the DNI’s 2022 UAP report:
“Last year @DoD_AARO had 171 unexplained UAP reports, many eerily similar to descriptions of the ones this past weekend & some with “unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities”
“The only thing “new” about this weekend is 3 were shot down” https://dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Unclassified-2022-Annual-Report-UAP.pdf
After the classified briefing, Senator Rubio said this in a press interview:
WE KNOW WHAT THE SPY BALLOON WAS. THE OTHER THREE INSTANCES, AS THEY ARE DESCRIBED, BOTH PUBLICLY AND IN THERE, ARE NOT NEW. WE HAVE HEARD THE EXACT SAME DESCRIPTIONS IN HUNDREDS OF CASES, SO OBSERVING UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS OVER U.S. AIRSPACE, PARTICULARLY OVER SENSITIVE AREAS OF THE COUNTRY IS NOT NEW. WHAT WE HEARD AND THEIR SOUNDS JUST LIKE THE STORIES WE HAVE HEARD REPEATEDLY. THAT IS WHY AN AGENCY WAS CREATED TO STUDY ALL OF THIS FROM A SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVE. MY CONCERN NOW IS THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE IS NOT SHARING THAT INFORMATION WITH THOSE SCIENTISTS SO THAT YOU CAN COMPARE THE DATA WE HAVE ON THESE FROM THE ONES WE HAVE RETROACTIVELY IN THE PAST. SOME OF WHICH HAVE BEEN EXPLAINED. SO THAT WE HAVE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING. I THINK THERE IS A STIGMA ASSOCIATED WITH IT, because of space aliens and all that stuff. This is now about that. THIS IS ABOUT AN ADVERSARY DEVELOPING CAPABILITIES THAT THEY KNOW WE ARE NOT LOOKING FOR. because our systems are set up to see missiles and airplanes. They are not set up to see smaller objects at lower altitudes. …
We have hundred and hundreds of these over the years. The report that was issued by the Department of National Intelligence earlier this year LISTS OVER 500 SUCH CASES, DOZENS THIS YEAR ALONE. THE QUESTION HAS TO BE, WHY ARE THEY SETTING UP A NEW TASK Force? MAKE THIS DATA AVAILABLE, SO YOU CAN CROSS-REFERENCE IT AND COMPARE IT TO THE OTHER HUNDREDS OF CASES THAT WE HAVE. THAT IS THE ONLY WAY YOU WILL BEGIN TO GET ANSWERS. I IMAGINE SOME OF THESE WILL HAVE EXPLANATIONS, OTHERS WILL BE MORE COMPLICATED. I IMAGINE SOME WILL BE CRAFTS THAT ARE LAUNCHED BY A COMPANY OR INDIVIDUAL, AND OTHERS MAY NOT BE. THEY MAY BE NATION STATES THAT HAVE DEVELOPED SOME RUDIMENTARY CAPABILITY that can COLLECT INTELLIGENCE or test aerospace defense of the United States I AM SPECULATING. THAT IS WHY WE WANT THIS TO BE HANDLED FROM A DATA AND SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVE. But it begins by using what Congress created for them, and so far it appears they’re not using that. …
WHAT BOTHERS ME THE MOST IS THAT EVERYONE IS ACTING LIKE THIS IS THE FIRST TIME we’ve ever seen these things, and so we reacted that way. NO, IT ISN’T. WE HAVE HUNDREDS OF HUNDREDS OF CASES REPORTED BY MILITARY PERSONNEL, WE HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT IT FOR years. And THERE IS A PROCESS SET UP TO ANALYZE THESE. And this data should be a part of that process immediately. Not a year from now. Not six months from now. Righty away, SO WE CAN CROSS COMPARE TO THE PREVIOUS INSTANCES AND GET SOME ANSWERS FASTER THAN WE WOULD OTHERWISE….
The alien origin? I don’t know what we could do about that. I would almost hope it is, at some point. Because if this is the Chinese or the Russians or someone’s invented a capability that we can’t monitor, that sounds like a big problem. …
I THINK WHAT THEY SHOULD BE CONCERNED ABOUT IS THAT THE GOVERNMENT has THE PROCESS IN PLACE TO ANALYZE THESE THINGS IN A WAY THAT ALLOWS US TO GET CLOSER TO UNDERSTANDING WHAT WE ARE DEALING WITH. I AM CONCERNED THAT IS NOT THE PROCESS THAT IS IN PLACE. THAT WE HAVE NOW CREATED A BRAND new process HEADED BY THE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WHEN WE ALREADY HAVE AN EXISTING PROCESS that is staffed with scientists and experts WHO HAVE ALREADY COLLECTED ON HUNDREDS OF PREVIOUS INCIDENCES almost identical to this one AND can use this data from this incident to compare to those and begin to get us closer to answers about whose flying this stuff here and what is it doing here.
February 16, 2023
Senators Rubio and Gillibrand draft a formal request for more AARO funding and a briefing:
“AARO provides the opportunity to integrate and resolve threats and hazards to the U.S., while also offering increased transparency to the American people and reducing the stigma. AARO’s success will depend on robust funding for its activities and cooperation between the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community. As such, we respectfully request your assistance in securing the necessary funding and organizational support for AARO’s success and longevity.”
“The amount outlined in the classified attachment is crucial to AARO’s scientific plan, and the lack of funding for these capabilities presents a serious impediment to AARO’s mission.”
“In addition to securing necessary funding, we request a briefing from your offices on your agencies’ plan to implement the dual reporting of AARO to the leadership of the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community. … The briefing should cover the balance between Intelligence Community and Department of Defense involvement, including how Title 10 and Title 50 authorities will be delegated to, and exercised by, the Director of AARO. We see it as essential that AARO’s activities are not viewed or managed as solely an intelligence activity.”
April 27, 2023
Senators Rubio and Warner submit a letter to Defense Secretary Austin, complaining about slow implementation of some AARO mandates: transferring management of AARO to the Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Principal Deputy Director National Intelligence; the appointment of an AARO deputy director; a request that Congress be informed of all of AARO’s witness interviews; a secure public-facing website to collect more witness testimony; AARO’s communication strategy for more robust public engagement.
June 14, 2023
Senator Rubio co-sponsors the Schumer/Rounds UAP Disclosure Act: “There is a lot we still don’t know about these UAPs and that is a big problem. We’ve taken some important steps over the last few years to increase transparency and reduce stigmas, but more needs to be done. This is yet another step in that direction, and one that I hope will spur further cooperation from the executive branch.”
June 23, 2023
Senator Rubio interviewed by Mat Laslo:
Question: “What do you think of the notion that there are SAPs hidden from Congress?”
“Those claims have been made for years, and that’s certainly something we’d be very disturbed by—and that’s what the gist of the whistleblower’s [David Grusch] claim is, that there are programs that should have been notified to Congress that were not. So we’re gonna be interested in that no matter what the topic is. We’ve heard those claims in the past. This is the first one that’s gone through this process.”
June 27, 2023
Senator Rubio’s TV Interview with News Nation [transcript]:
“I know we have spoken to him [David Grusch] and are familiar with much of his testimony… he has talked about it in quite detail. And the gist of any whistleblower testimony is that the intelligence agencies are doing something wrong. And in his case, and this has been publicly reported, the argument is that what they’re doing wrong is they are not appropriately disclosing to Congress money that has been spent on programs and the like.”
“I want to caution everybody that under the law, you have to have firsthand knowledge. That doesn’t mean the person isn’t telling the truth… so I can say that someone told me that someone did something wrong and I have good reason to believe it because I heard it from a lot of different people and they are saying the same thing. But unless you yourself have firsthand knowledge of it, sometimes you get caught in a technicality. That doesn’t mean that the things he is saying are not useful to Congress.”
“There are one of two things here that are true. Either what he is saying is partially true or entirely true, or we have some really smart, educated people with high clearances and very important positions in our government who are crazy and are leading us on a goose chase. One of these two things is true. Either what they’re telling us is true or we’ve got some people in important positions that are doing this for some reason. So either one is a problem. We’ve got to figure this out. We can’t ignore it.”
“I don’t think you go from being the commander of a naval fighting wing off an aircraft carrier to being some lunatic that’s out to mislead the government.”
“My biggest fear is that some adversary has made a technological leap that would be really bad news and that we have been caught flat footed on it.”
“This is a tough thing to dig into. There’s a stigma associated with it, right? I mean, nobody wants to be known as the UFO guy.”
“If that is accurate, what you’re basically saying is that within the government of the United States, there’s a group of people who believe that they possess something that they don’t need to share with anybody, including elected officials who they view as temporary employees of the government. And, you know, in essence, some sort of an internal military complex that’s their own government and is accountable to no one. So it would be a huge problem if it’s even partially true. …anytime agencies of the federal government are unsupervised and do whatever they want, it’s generally not a good outcome for the country.”
I will say there are people that have come forward to share information with our committee over the last couple of years. I would imagine some of them are potentially some of the same people that perhaps he’s referring to. I want to be very protective of these people. A lot of these people came to us even before these protections were in the law for whistleblowers to come forward. And a lot of them–Or have firsthand knowledge or firsthand claims of certain things. Some are public figures, you know, and you’ve heard from them in the past. Others, you know, have not shared publicly…. Some of these people still work in the government and frankly, a lot of them are very fearful, fearful of their jobs, fearful of their clearances, fearful of their career. And some, frankly, are fearful of harm coming to them. … all of them have in many cases, understandings of different elements of this firsthand. They may have heard some of the other pieces…. I think the more we know, the better we are prepared to go down the right roads or the right paths or ask the right questions. But we’re still sort of in that phase where this is new to a lot of people. And there’s still a lot of people that I think are starting to edge towards coming forward and we hear may be coming forward but are still trying to see how it plays out for the people that came forward first.”
“Well, don’t find them either not credible or credible because we have no basis. Understand, some of these claims are things that are beyond sort of the realm of what any of us has ever dealt with. What I think we owe them is just a mature understanding, listening and trying to put all these pieces together and just sort of intake the information without any prejudgment or jumping to any conclusions in one direction or another. I will say I find most of these people at some point, or maybe even currently have held very high clearances and high positions within our government. So you ask yourself, like what incentive would so many people with that kind of qualification — these are serious — have to come forward and make something up. And on the other hand, like I said, extraordinary claims, it’s something that requires a lot of work and and to back up. And so I don’t know the answer to it. I think when you’re in a fact finding mission, you’re trying not to prejudge anything. You’re trying to take in information and you’re trying not to rule anything out or jump to any conclusions because this is new to everybody, frankly.”
“And I think the gist of it is if, in fact, these claims that are out there are true, that information needs to be provided to the task force that we set up to both protect whatever national security equities are in place and at the same time gain access to all of this. Now, if the answer that comes back is no such material exists, then obviously that goes par for the course because you’ve already seen some of the public statements. But I think when it’s in the law, career people, people that are in the service of our government have to make a decision. Do I just basically ignore the law and the consequences that come with it? So I think we’re simply responding to some of the things that we’ve seen come out in the public record and ensuring that we’re doing everything we can to make sure that this entity we’ve created called AARO actually has access to information or materials, if in fact they exist. “
July 11, 2023
Senator Rubio interviewed by Sean Hannity on Fox News, “Is there any truth to any of this?”
Rubio: “We don’t know. … We have people that have very high clearances, both today and in the past, who have done really important work for our government, who have come forward with some claims about the US in the past having recovered some exotic materials, and then reverse engineered those materials to make advances in our own defenses and technology. … Either they are telling the truth, and that is something that obviously would be the biggest story in human history, or we have people in really important positions in the government who are crazy.
July 23, 2023
Senator Rubio interviewed by The Hill:
“We have a number of people including that gentleman [David Grusch] who have come forward both publicly and privately to make claims. One of two things are true. Either A, they’re telling the truth or some version of the truth or B, we have a bunch of people with high clearances and really important jobs in our government are nuts. Both are a problem.”
“Without speculating or adding to intrigue about this whole topic, there’s no doubt that in this field, generally, there’s more than what we know. We’re trying to get to a process where at least some people in Congress do know.”
“Most certainly there are elements of things, whether historic or current, that potentially Congress has not been kept fully informed of — and that would be a problem. There’s really no function of the executive that shouldn’t require congressional oversight at some level.”
August 2, 2023
Reporter scrum question on David Grusch testimony: “I don’t believe it departed much from other claims. Yeah, look, I’m familiar with what he’s put out there. … To be clear, he’s not claimed he has first hand knowledge. He’s claiming other people have told him that.
“We’re not ignoring it. We’re just trying to deal with it in a very different way. You have to bifurcate this issue. The stuff that they’re seeing over restricted airspace, which everyone admits is real and needs to be addressed. And then the stories about historic programs, I mean, I don’t know, if that’s even true that’s gonna take a long time to unpack. And I’m not ignoring that either.”
Q: Are you getting answers on this stuff?
“No. We’re getting a lot of information, Im not sure we’re getting a lot of answers yet, but these things take time.”
February 8, 2024
Sen. Rubio responds to Matt Laslo question about Sean Kirkpatrick recent statements about whistleblowers coming to AARO.
Rubio: “These are people that have clearances — high clearances — in the United States government, and it's not one. It's Navy pilots. It’s other people who have come forward. I don't know if they're telling the truth or not. I'm not going to call them a liar. I'm just saying, if people that have that level of clearance and responsibility are coming forward with stuff, we should at least sort of — it's not one person; it's multiple people.”
Laslo: “Are we gonna hear from those people within the Senate?”
Rubio: “There's a whistleblower complaint filed by one of them, and, ultimately, I mean, we haven't spent a tremendous amount of time on it lately but I was hoping that’s what AARO would do!”
April 16, 2024
Sen. Rubio responds to Matt Laslo questions about AARO:
Laslo: “Do you have any — what have you thought about that declassified report they put out? Like, what is AARO doing these days?”
Rubio: “Theoretically, they’re supposed to determine — I mean, everyone's interested in the look-back and all those other things, but the most important thing is determining a process for reporting unidentified aircraft, primarily for purposes of preventing strategic surprise. So I hope that's what they continue to focus on, because that's what they're supposed to be focused on…. Yeah, it's a very serious problem. People always want to immediately default to, y’know, aliens and extraterrestrial, but the fact of the matter is if there are things flying overhead in our country that aren't supposed to be there and they aren’t ours, that should be among our highest priorities. That's really what we're trying to address here.”
July 31, 2024
Senators Mark Warner and Marco Rubio, respectively the chairman and ranking Republican on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), filed a revised version of the Fiscal Year 2025 Intelligence Authorization Act (IAA), including revised UAP-related language. (DDJ summary) - covers SAP funding and notification of congressional committees and leaders of SAPs.
—Sen. Rubio resigns from Congress upon being appointed Secretary of State, January 20, 2025—
Klobuchar, Amy
Minnesota–Democrat
Term: 2007-Present
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
December 30, 2019
Senator Klobuchar was asked about UAP while campaigning for the 2020 Presidential primary in New Hampshire:
Daymond Steer: “Last time we met, I asked you about David Fravor, the New Hampshire man who was a pilot…”
Klobuchar: “Yes, and I’ve since looked into that.”
Steer: “You’ve looked in to it?”
Klobuchar: “Yes.” [Laughter drowns out comments.] “Yes, with the UFOs.”
Steer: “Yes. Right.”
Klobuchar: “Exactly. I’ve read some articles about it. And, you know, I think we don’t know enough. I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know what happened, not just with that sighting, but with others. And, I think one of the things a President could do is to look into what’s there; in terms of what does the science say; what does the military say? Here’s the interesting part of that answer, is that some of the stuff is really old, these sightings. So, why can’t you see if you can let some of that out for the public? So, earnest journalists like you, who are trying to get to the bottom of the truth would be able to see it?”
Steer: “Awesome. Just so you know, Senator Shaheen got the briefing, so maybe you can find some of this out…”
Klobuchar: “I also realize she got a briefing, which I thought was. I also read that article.”
Moderator: “A little bit of back story is that Daymond asked Hillary that question…”
Klobuchar: “She didn’t tell you what came out of it. That is my point. She would have violated the rules of…”
Steer: “But she promised to look into it.”
Klobuchar: “Yes. Exactly. But what a President could do is to be able to figure out, can we release some of the information now, publicly?” [Source: Conway Daily Sun]
February 16, 2023
Senator Klobuchar co-signed a letter, drafted by Senators Gillibrand and Rubio, that was a formal request for more AARO funding and a briefing.
Bennet, Michael F.
Colorado–Republican
Term: 2009-Present
Senate Intelligence Committee
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
December 9, 2019
Senator Bennet was asked about UAP while campaigning for the 2020 Presidential primary in New Hampshire:
“Let me say it this way, I have to be extremely careful because I’m on the Intelligence Committee, so nothing I’m saying has anything to do with anything I’ve learnt on the Intelligence Committee. Our guys are seeing unidentified stuff and they don’t know what it is, and I don’t know what it is. I don’t think they are saying it is necessarily from outer space but it is unexplained stuff that’s off the southeast coast of the United States. We are trying to learn more about it and the air force is trying to learn more about it.” [Source: Conway Daily Sun]
July 25, 2021
KUNC, an NPA affiliate in Colorado, resorts on recent unexplained drone sightings in the state:
This leaves U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado “greatly concerned.”
Bennet sits on the Select Committee on Intelligence, which led efforts to get the UAP report released. It describes sightings, mainly by military pilots, that some think might be advanced technology. Though that’s different from the descriptions of the “drones” made by people in Colorado, both mysteries deserve answers, Bennet said.
“Getting to the bottom of these phenomena,” his office said in a statement to KUNC, “is a national security imperative. [Source: KUNC Interview]
February 16, 2023
Senator Bennett co-signed a letter, drafted by Senators Gillibrand and Rubio, that was a formal request for more AARO funding and a briefing.
King, Angus S., Jr.
Independent–Maine
Term: 2013-Present
Senate Armed Services Committee; Senate Intelligence Committee
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
June 23, 2020
Senator King and members of the Senate Intelligence Committee receive a UAP briefing from the Office of Naval Intelligence, presented by Scott Bray. In an internal Navy email reporting on outcomes of the briefing, King is classified as a “UAP Advocate.” [Source: Navy emails]
September 2023
Sen. King referred to his support for AARO, the Schumer/Rounds UAP Disclosure Act, and classification law reform in this constituent letter.
Risch, James E.
Idaho–Republican
Term: 2009-Present
Senate Intelligence Committee
UFO Stance: UFO Skeptic (Disclosure Hostile)
June 23, 2020
After a UAP briefing that the Office of Naval Intelligence presented to the Senate Intelligence Committee, an internal Navy email identifies Senator Risch as a “UAP Cynic” on this date. [Source: Navy emails]
The term “UAP Cynic” was coined by the Office of Naval Intelligence who made their own UAP ratings of Congress in at least one known document. We don’t know exactly what they meant by it, but we will adopt their term as synonymous with skeptic. However, Risch has made no known public actions or statements demonstrating hostility to the cause of UAP transparency.
July 19, 2023
Senator Risch When asked about UFO whistleblower David Grusch by Matt Laslo, Senator Risch laughed and answered: “Got the wrong guy. I don’t read UFO stories.”
November 20, 2024
Sen. Risch to Matt Laslo:
ML: “I was curious, I know — I don't think you were there — but they had classified UAP briefing about the incursions over Langley yesterday.”
JR: “You know I can't talk about something like that, come on.”
ML: “But hey, Wall Street Journal finally caught up with me and they started reporting on it!”
JR: “Well, then go interview the Wall Street Journal and maybe they have some information I don't have. … I don't want to do an interview on this stuff. … It's not my lane, ya know.”
Blumenthal, Richard
Connecticut–Democrat
Term: 2011-Present
Senate Armed Services (2011-Present)
UFO Stance: UFO Skeptic (Disclosure Supportive)
March 31, 2021
Asked about the upcoming Preliminary UAP report due by June 25 at the Retired Men’s Association of Greenwich, Connecticut:
“I have heard nothing that would change my views on UFO. I can’t say whether it would change yours. … I haven’t heard of anything reliable or credible that would lead me to think UFOs are a threat to our country or our world right now.” [Source: Greenwich Time]
February 16, 2023
Senator Blumenthal co-signed a letter, drafted by Senators Gillibrand and Rubio, that was a formal request for more AARO funding and a briefing.
Heinrich, Martin
New Mexico–Democrat
Term: 2013-Present
Senate Intelligence Committee; Senate Armed Services Committee
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
May 20, 2021
Senator Heinrich gave this interview when approached on the street by a TMZ reporter:
Heinrich: I think we need to get to the bottom of it. It’s pretty intriguing. I don’t know what it is, but anytime you have legitimate pilots describing something that doesn’t seem to conform to the laws of physics that govern aviation, and is in U.S. airspace, I think it’s something we need to get to the bottom of.
TMZ: Bigger thing to worry about, if it’s a foreign government, or if it’s aliens?
Heinrich: Oh, option B. Much bigger thing to worry about.
TMZ: You think the aliens would be worse?
Heinrich: I cannot imagine… If there is a foreign government that had these kinds of capabilities, I think we would see other indications of advanced technology. I cannot imagine that what has been described or shown in some of the videos belongs to any government I’m aware of. I’m not a betting man, but the way these things operate, you wouldn’t want a human being or any living creature in something that moves that fast, that changes direction that quickly. Like I said, I have no idea what it is, but I think we should figure it out. [Source: TMZ interview]
November 2021
Senator Heinrich is one of four senators to co-sponsor the UAP amendment to the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, which had been initiated by Senator Gillibrand and Representative Gallego. The final bill passed the House on December 9, the Senate on December 15, and was signed into law December 27. Heinrich told the Albuquerque Journal:
“The American people deserve transparency when it comes to UAPs – especially given the national security implications. To do that, we need to elevate this issue within our defense and intelligence agencies so they have the mandate to focus not only on what is happening in our skies, but also on relaying these findings to the American people. By creating this new office within the Department of Defense, we start taking a critical, unified approach to collecting and reporting UAP data, ending the previous cycle of sweeping these sightings under the rug.” [Source: Albuquerque Journal]
February 16, 2023
Senator Heinrich co-signed a letter, drafted by Senators Gillibrand and Rubio, that was a formal request for more AARO funding and a briefing.
June 14, 2023
Senator Heinrich co-sponsors the Schumer/Rounds UAP Disclosure Act: “The American people deserve transparency. And the federal government needs to be able to explain what is happening in our skies. This legislation will devote real resources and take a unified approach to gathering data to fully understand UAPs and better address their national security implications.”
January 11, 2024
Senator Heinrich talking with Matt Laslo:
I think what’s not dead is the bipartisan effort to just create more transparency. And even though some of that language fell out of the NDAA, it’s got enough bipartisan legs that I think it’s the direction we’re heading.”
As a whole, we’ve gone a long way towards following data, instead of having a culture of just if you see something you don’t understand, just don’t talk about it. …”
“I do credit him [Kirkpatrick] for, like, creating a situation where instead of just being a cultural issue, it's beginning to be a data issue. That's what we should all have as a goal, irrespective of whether any of these things are actually unexplainable or not. The more you chase the data, more of them will be explainable.”
August 1, 2024
Sen. Heinrich cosponsors Senator Rounds’ 2024 UAPDA.
Romney, Mitt
Utah–Republican
Term: 2019-2025
UFO Stance: Extraterrestrial Hypothesis Advocate
June 27, 2021
“Well I don’t believe they’re coming from foreign adversaries. If they were, why that would suggest that they have a technology in a whole different sphere than anything we understand, and frankly China and Russia just aren’t there. And neither are we by the way, so I’m not worried about it from a national security standpoint. If for some reason these came from another system, if you will, another alien society, which I frankly would find hard to believe, but I guess all things are possible. That would be fascinating, interesting. I know there are, they say, trillions of galaxies out there, so who knows what might have developed somewhere else. That would make me more fascinated, not fearful.” [Source: CNN]
—Sen. Romney resigns from Congress at the end of his term, January 2025—
Kelly, Mark
Arizona–Democrat
Term: 2020-Present
Senate Armed Services Committee
UFO Stance: UFO Skeptic (Disclosure Supportive)
June 3, 2021
Reporter: Any thoughts on UFOs, and any concerns you might have about them?
Kelly: I’ve been to space four times. What I’ll say about, you know aliens–is that what we’re talking about? UFOs?–Well on the alien subject, you know I could confirm that they exist, they’re really small, they have sharp teeth, and they live under your bed. [chuckle] UFOs. So I’m interested in seeing the [UAP Preliminary] report as well. I don’t know if there’s going to be a classified version of it or not. I know there’s going to be a public version, it comes out this month, so it could be in a week. I’m very interested to see it. I’ve seen some interviews specifically with–I can’t remember the guy’s name, he was a skipper of a F-18 squad aboard an aircraft carrier–gave a very compelling account, somebody who is trained in understanding how aircraft flies, and he saw something. What he said I thought was pretty compelling, so I’m interested in seeing the report. But I have no inside information on what these unidentified objects that maybe we’ve seen more of lately, I don’t know.
Reporter: Have you ever seen one?
Have I ever seen any? No. Let me tell you something, this is pretty interesting. So on my third space shuttle flight we thought we had a piece of debris floating above the payload bay, and it was right before I was closing the payload doors and I was really concerned about what was this because it looked like it was about this big and I was concerned it may have came up come off the payload bay doors or some other equipment in the payload bay, we’re getting ready to close them, could it be something that would interrupt the successful closing? And we need these doors to close before we can re-enter. So the day we’re landing we take pictures of this and before we send the pictures to the ground… I zoom in on this object that we think is floating as far away as that door, and I zoom in on it, and I keep zooming in on it. You know what it was? It was the space station 60 miles away.
So my point is sometimes you see stuff and it looks like one thing and it’s actually another, a space station that weighed a million pounds, size of a football field 60 miles away. And I thought it was that distance and all six of us on board the space shuttle did.
Reporter: Are these UFOs a national national security concern?
Kelly: I think it depends on what it is. … We are always concerned. I am the chairman of Emerging Threats and Capabilities on Senate Armed Services, so if our adversaries have developed technology that we don’t understand and have made–sometimes countries make technological leaps that we don’t anticipate–if somebody made a technological leap, it’s important that we know. [Source: The Arizona Republic]
July 16, 2023
Response to a question by Jake Tapper if he has ever seen a UFO: “I have not, and none of my colleagues have as far as I know. We actually very rarely even speak about this. I can’t remember even one time in space that we talked about aliens. We’re focused on a mission. If it doesn’t have a negative effect on national security, I think transparency with the American people is the best option. Let me also say, Jake, that when you have extraordinary claims, you needs some extraordinary evidence, that’s what Carl Sagan said about this kind of stuff. And I think its important to get the information out there, as long as it doesn’t impact national security. “
Tapper: You sound skeptical
Kelly: “Well, a little skeptical, you know, the distances involved when you think about the physics of space flight and what it would take to get around just our galaxy. Now having said there, there’s two trillion minimum galaxies in the universe, each with hundreds of billions of stars, so when you think about the potential of life in the universe, even within our galaxy, it’s tremendous. But I have yet to see any evidence of any life form visiting us from another part of our galaxy. ” [Source: CNN State of the Union Interview]
February 16, 2023
Senator Kelly co-signed a letter, drafted by Senators Gillibrand and Rubio, that was a formal request for more AARO funding and a briefing.
April 11, 2024
Sen. Kelly talks to Matt Laslo about unauthorized drones over military instilations:
“So often we don’t know who these drones belong to. My suspicion is a lot of its hobbyists. You could do a lot with a cheap drone. We see that in Ukraine every single day. So we need to get a better system in place and also deter people from flying around military bases. So myself and Sen. [Chuck] Grassley have legislation to do that. And so we'd like to get that legislation passed that would provide penalties if you're found going into airspace above a military installation, and that would deter some of it. It's probably not going to deter our adversaries, but at least then you could bring the numbers down and you could more effectively and aggressively go after the remaining drone incursions.”
September 16, 2024
Sen. Mark Kelly responds to a UFO question from Ian Bremmer during a GZERO Media interview:
Ian Bremmer: “Let me ask a little bit of a silly question, which is I've seen a number of folks in respected media respond pretty alarmist to the UFO testimony [2023 David Grusch House hearing], and I am sure that you found that amusing. What, why, I mean you're going to see conspiracy theories of course, but why is there so much excitement about this supposed intelligence?”
Sen. Kelly: “I mean it's, you know our galaxy is a big place, you know the universe is two trillion galaxies and we've got, you know, hundreds of billions of stars and planets in our own and it's you know something people often think about, is there life out there somewhere else? What is that life like? Does that life visit you know visit here, does it visit Earth? I get these questions all the time, people think as I've been to space like maybe have this special insight or maybe I've seen something while I've you know spent time orbiting the earth. I haven't. You know I don't think we've got visitors you know from other places. Having said that, I've seen some compelling testimony you know from Navy fighter pilots you know who you know often in you know one case in a position of leadership in a squadron that's seen something very compelling. It's our obligation you know on the Armed Services Committee--”
Bremmer: “Something compelling--something that he is convinced is technologically not possible by the U.S. or adversaries?”
Sen. Kelly: “In one case that is that is true yeah.”
Bremmer: “And what do you think about that?”
Sen. Kelly: “Well I think it's our responsibility if you know to look into it, and maybe put some more resources behind studying these phenomenon. We don't call them UFOs anymore. We call them UAPs. We changed the name. It’s the same thing. It’s a UFO. It’s basically the same thing.”
Bremmer: “And is the answer we don't know at this point? We haven't devoted enough resource to be credible in response to that.”
Sen. Kelly: “I don't know if it's a resource issue it's like, but I think it's fair to say we don't know.”
Durbin, Richard J.
Illinois–Democrat
Term: 1997-Present
UFO Stance: UFO Skeptic (Disclosure Supportive)
July 21, 2021
“It seems to defy logical explanation in many respects. I think we owe it to our own national security and curiosity to ask the questions and come up with as many answers as possible. I don’t have any theory as to whether or not it’s some exaggerated report, but there’s enough evidence now to justify pursuing it.” [Source: The Center Square]
July 19, 2023
Senator Durbin responds to Matt Laslo’s questions about the Schumer/Rounds UAP Disclosure amendment.
Matt Laslo: “Have you looked into these claims of UAP whistleblower David Grusch?”
Dick Durbin: “No.”
ML: “No?”
DD: “No. I’ve funded work in the area in years gone by, but I’ve not personally looked into it.”
ML: “Have you ever talked to Schumer about it?”
DD: “Flying saucers?”
ML: “Reid?”
DD: “Reid? All the time.”
ML: “Right?”
DD: “He was very concerned about this phenomenon.”
ML: “I just saw Max Baucus upstairs, and he remembers talking to Reid about it.”
DD: “There’s this fellow named Bigelow in New Mexico who Harry used to always talk about. Mr. Bigelow has all the information.’ I never met Mr. Bigelow.”
Reporter 2: “There’s this disclosure in the bill—in the NDAA—now that says collect all the documents from the National Archives that say anything about UAPs.”
DD: “Is there a question there?”
Reporter 2: “Are we gonna learn anything new from these?”
DD: “I don’t know.”
Reporter 2: “You’re not a believer?”
DD: “Well—a skeptic.”
ML: “Have a good one.”
DD: “‘Phone home.’”
Gillibrand, Kirsten E.
New York–Democrat
Term: 2009-Present
Senate Armed Service Committee; Senate Intelligence Committee
UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
Around 2011
Senator Gillibrand receives first briefing on UAP. Gillibrand has sat on the Senate Armed Services Committee since January 2011.
February 2, 2021
Senator Gillibrand joins the Senate Intelligence Committee, one of only three Senators to sit on both Intelligence and Armed Services committees.
November 4, 2021
Senator Gillibrand adds a UAP amendment to 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, which would establish a new office to investigate UPA titled the “Anomaly Surveillance and Resolution Office” and require annual public reports on UAP activity through 2026.
According to UAP-Congress-watcher Douglas Dean Johnson’s analysis, the Gillibrand Amendment would “require the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community to create new institutional arrangements and devote substantial resources to investigating and analyzing UAP, and to draw on UAP-related expertise from outside the government.”
November 17, 2021
Senator Gillibrand makes her first public statements about UAP and her amendment in an interview with Politico, excerpted here:
“If it is technology possessed by adversaries or any other entity, we need to know,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said in her first interview about the effort. “Burying our heads in the sand is neither a strategy nor an acceptable approach.”
“We’ve not had oversight into this area for a very long time,” Gillibrand said. “I can count on one hand the number of hearings I had in 10 years on this topic. That’s fairly concerning given the experience our service members have had over the last decade.”
“Having no oversight or accountability up until now to me is unacceptable.”
“I don’t see opposition to this on any level.” [Source: Politico]
November 23, 2021
As a response to the Gillibrand Amendment, the Pentagon announces that the UAP Task Force will become the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group. The Debrief reached out to Senator Gillibrand’s office for comment:
“While we appreciate DoD’s attention to the issue, the AOIMSG doesn’t go nearly far enough to help us better understand the data we are gathering on UAPs,” Lizzie Landau, Press Secretary at the Office of Senator Gillibrand, told The Debrief last November. [Source: The Debrief]
May 2, 2022
In April the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services committees received the first UAP briefing required by the 2022 NDAA. Senator Gillibrand and other members used a Politico article to publicize their displeasure with the content of the briefing and the slow speed at which the new UAP office is being stood up:
“Senator Gillibrand believes that the DoD needs to take this issue much more seriously and get in motion,” said one of her aides, who requested anonymity in order to discuss private conversations. “They have had ample time to implement these important provisions, and they need to show us that they are prepared to address this issue in the long-term.” [Source: Politico]
August 25, 2022
Senator GillIbrand was approached by Osvaldo Franco of The Disclosure Revolution at a town hall meeting in New York City. She gave this response on camera:
“I’m supposed to get a report in the next month or two [the legally mandated UAP report due to Congress by October 31, 2022]. They briefed our staff. It wasn’t very significant, not a lot of information. They’re building the office right now, and they understand what the mission is. So I met the guy who is in charge of the office [Sean Kirkpatrick] he understands he’s supposed to work with the private sector and all the people who have all the data and information. He’s also asked to go back and look at all the archival data. He has not been able to get access to it. As you can imagine it’s probably siloed in all sorts of places. And so his job is to try to get access to all of it. And if he can’t, I said just go forward. If you can’t get what’s in the historic stuff, get what’s in the private sector data, get the FAA data, correlate it, investigate all the other things that are current, and just create a stood-up office. And he’s committed. And they’re taking it seriously, they’re not going to hide it. Because there is so many of us now in the intel committee, and armed services, that we’re going to stand by the service members who’ve documented this. They have video, they have radar, they have heat sensors, they have everything. [Franco: “Material”]. They have it. I’m not going to let it go. I’m one hundred percent committed.” [Source: Franco video]
December 21, 2022
Response to a listener question about the Pentagon’s late UAP report that was due on October 31, on The Brian Lehrer Show, WNYC:
I appreciate your call. Thank you. I met with the head Dr. Fitzpatrick [Sean Kirkpatrick, All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office] about a week and a half ago to find out where it is, and he says it’s soon to be made public. It’s being put through its final review by the Secretary of Defense, the Director of National Intelligence, and so he thought it could be within the next few weeks or days, so it is late, which of course made me slightly concerned, but he said it was not intentional. It’s just the first public report, so they wanted to make sure it was well written, and it should be out soon.
That’ll be step one. I’ve obviously cared deeply about this issue from a national security perspective, but also from a personnel perspective. We want to make sure service members and other members of the military that when they come forward with data and information and videos that they can actually give this information without having their careers suffer and being dismissed or disregarded in some way. It’s essential that we know what types of Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon exist, and then we could do the rigorous scientific review to identify it.
Some may well be weather balloons. Some may well be drones. Some well may be adversaries like China or Russia. Some may truly be unknown, but we need to know the entire collective group of what have we seen, what are the concerns, what technology is it, and can it be identified. That work is being done by Dr. Fitzpatrick and his team. He’s extremely serious and very focused. I’m optimistic that it will be a thorough and thoughtful approach and one that will have a public lens.” [Source: interview transcript]
December 2022
Christopher Mellon published an article on his blog, December 24, in which he stated: I recently had the opportunity to ask Senator Gillibrand, a leading sponsor of the legislation, whether she would support revealing the existence of alien technology if the whistleblower process confirms these sensational allegations. Without missing a beat, she replied: “Of course! Why not?” [Source: blog]
January 8, 2023
Washington Post interview for science video This just in: We don’t know what UFOs are:
“This is a national security issue. Putting your head in the sand and saying it doesn’t exist is not an appropriate solution or approach.”
“Under all circumstances, you need to know what it is. Because if it is an adversary–let’s say it’s Russia or China–you better know what technology they have. And if it’s ‘Other’ then you also need to know that. Like, you really need to know the answer, and use as much scientific capability that as we have to make those determinations. And if we don’t have enough scientific capability, then increase the scientific capability.”
February 7, 2023
Senator Gillibrand tweets a link about the Chinese spy balloon: This is why I’ve fought so hard to increase interagency cooperation and to reduce stigma around reporting UAPs. When we treat our service members with respect and take their reports seriously, our nation is safer and better prepared.
February 12, 2023
Senator Gillibrand tweets a link about the Chinese spy balloon: This is exactly why we need to be studying Unidentified Aerial Phenomena — and why I fought to increase interagency cooperation and reduce stigma for reporting sightings. Because we’re collecting and studying the data, we’re able to detect these incursions and protect our skies.
February 15, 2023
Senator Gilibrand gives CNN interview:
“I’m very concerned about not assessing unidentified aerial phenomenon, which is why two years ago I worked with republicans and Democrats to create a new part of the Pentagon that just focuses on all reports of unidentified aerial phenomenon and assess them scientifically with as much publicly available data, and intelligence data, as well as data from aircraft of military personnel, and assess what it is. And in the last two years they’ve assessed over three hundred unidentified aerial phenomena, about half of them were determined to be balloons or balloon-like devices, a couple dozen were determined to be drones, some were just birds or bags in the air and other debris. There are still about 170 that are still not determined.
“There are spy satellites everywhere. There is a certain area that we don’t have a protocol for, which is above commercial airspace to space. And we’ve not made a determination as a government what we’re going to do in that space. And that’s what Congress should focus on, what should be the protocols in that space.”
“It’s all the service members who have reported this for years and been dismissed, derided, disregarded. Their careers have been harmed. Those of the heroes of this moment, because men and women have been reporting these sightings, certainly for our military, for decades, and they have been met with derision. What we made clear in this law is that there could be no stigma associated with reporting, and that reporting is now mandatory, and that if there is retaliation that that will be prosecuted. So that’s the nature of the law that we passed. And so AARO, the department we created, has some of the smartest minds in our country working on analyzing this data, these videos, and radar detections, as scientifically and thoroughly as possible to make assessments.
“And as I said there are still many that are not assessed yet, it takes time and resources. So one of the things that I will be working on this week is to make sure this is fully funded this year, and to make sure that this is a priority for the Department of Defense. Because regardless of how they looked at these things in the past, and I understand these are not threats from a military perspective, but we need to understand what is in our airspace, we need to understand who is spying on us and how, and we need to know what technologies they’re using, whether it’s Russia, whether it’s China, whether it’s Iran, whether it is any other entity known or unknown, we need to know. And no one should be derided for giving reports on it.”
February 13, 2023
Senator Gilibrand tweets about recent shoot-downs of balloons:
What are Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, and why are we hearing more about them? I passed legislation requiring more reporting and analysis of unidentified sightings. Now we have much more data about balloons, drones, and other aerial phenomena so we can better protect our skies.
This congressionally-mandated report released last month highlights why it’s so important to reduce stigma for reporting unidentified sightings, and why AARO, the office I helped create, is protecting our safety by rigorously investigating those reports. https://dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Unclassified-2022-Annual-Report-UAP.pdf…
February 16, 2023
Senators Gillibrand and Rubio draft a formal request for more AARO funding and a briefing: [press release]:
“AARO provides the opportunity to integrate and resolve threats and hazards to the U.S., while also offering increased transparency to the American people and reducing the stigma. AARO’s success will depend on robust funding for its activities and cooperation between the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community. As such, we respectfully request your assistance in securing the necessary funding and organizational support for AARO’s success and longevity.”
“The amount outlined in the classified attachment is crucial to AARO’s scientific plan, and the lack of funding for these capabilities presents a serious impediment to AARO’s mission.”
“In addition to securing necessary funding, we request a briefing from your offices on your agencies’ plan to implement the dual reporting of AARO to the leadership of the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community. … The briefing should cover the balance between Intelligence Community and Department of Defense involvement, including how Title 10 and Title 50 authorities will be delegated to, and exercised by, the Director of AARO. We see it as essential that AARO’s activities are not viewed or managed as solely an intelligence activity.”
March 8, 2023
CLIP OF U.S. INTELLIGENCE DIRECTORS TESTIFY ON GLOBAL THREATS
Senator Gillibrand askes DNI Director Avril Haines:
Senator Gillibrand: “DO I HAVE A COMMITMENT FROM YOU, AND EACH OF OUR WITNESSES, that YOU WILL WORK TO REDUCE STIGMA, SHARE INTELLIGENCE BETWEEN AGENCIES AND, AS WE’RE ABLE WITH THE PUBLIC, TO ENSURE WE HAVE AN UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT HAPPENS IN OUR SKIES AND seas?”
Haines: “YES, SENATOR. ABSOLUTELY. I AGREE WITH, YOU THIS IS AN ISSUE, SOMETHING WE HAVE TRIED TO WORK THROUGH, BOTH BY SENDING THE MESSAGE FROM LEADERSHIP THAT THIS IS IMPORTANT, AND ALSO CREATING MECHANISMS WHICH ALLOW FOR PEOPLE TO DO THIS MORE EASILY, WITH LESS SORT OF STIGMA ASSOCIATED WITH IT.”
Gillibrand: “AND IS THE ARROW OFFICE FULLY FUNDED IN YOUR BUDGET? Can you MAKE SURE? IT WAS LEFT OFF LAST YEAR, FOR BOTH THE D.O.D. AND INTELLIGENCE BUDGETS.”
Haines: Yes. I believe it is. RIGHT. SO IT IS IN D.O.D., I THINK OUR SUPPORT IS FUNDED IN THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE, I WILL CHECK TO MAKE SURE.
March 28, 2023
Sen. Gillibrand Questions During Armed Services Committee Hearing:
“I was disappointed that for the second year in a row, the All Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, AARO, was not fully funded in the departments budget request… Can you discuss why AAARO was not fully funded?”
Mike McCord, Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer: ““[AARO] is a relatively new office we are standing up. I was under the impression that we had adequate funding for the relatively new state of this.”
Gillibrand: “Several senators signed a letter to Secretary Hicks… We specified in a classified annex exactly what funding wasn’t being met, and it’s operational funding, its basic operational funding, so I’m highly concerned about this.
“The incidents last month involving the Chinese high-altitude balloon and the three unknown objects highlighted the need for us to continue to improve our understanding of UAP’s over U.S. airspace. Secretary Austin, do you intend to ensure AARO receives full funding in the future?”
Defense Secretary Loyd Austin: I will, Senator. In this budget we’ve asked for $11 million in support of the office, of that initiative.”
Gillibrand: “That is not the budget request. Will you investigate why the budget request isn’t being met, and be part of the response?”
April 16, 2023
Senator Gillibrand interviewed by Jake Tapper on CNN:
“I created… an office within then DOD and the Intelligence Community specifically to review every unidentified aerial phenomenon that the military has access to. We have the most intensely specific technology that can video different aerial phenomenon, that can get radar, heat sensing… There was still 171 that they have not assessed what it is. This work has to be done. If we’re going to have domain awareness, if we’re going to have aerial dominance, if we’re going to make sure our adversaries aren’t spying on us, or using new technologies, or have aircraft that we don’t even know how it functions, or how fast it is, or how effective it is, that is a national security risk. Knowing what these aircraft are is essential, and unfortunately the military hasn’t been doing that work. They’ve just assumed they are non-adversarial because of how they fly or how they function.”
April 19, 2023
Gillibrand used the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, which she chairs, as the venue to bring Kirkpatrick before the cameras to answer questions.
“Dr. Kirkpatrick has a very difficult mission. While we have made progress, there remains a stigma attached to these phenomenon. There is a vast and complex citizen engagement, and there’s also very challenging scientific and technical hurdles. So we appreciate the willingness of Dr. Kirkpatrick to lean in on this issue…”
“In late 2017, media reports surfaced about activity set in motion by the late long-serving Majority Leader, Senator Harry Reid, more than a decade ago. We learned that there was strong evidence of advanced technology reflected in the features and performance characteristics of many objects observed by our highly-trained service members operating top-of-the-line, military equipment…. We don’t know where they come from, who made them, or how they operate.”
“As former Deputy Secretary of Defense, David Norquist, observed, had any of these objects had the label, Made in China, there would be an uproar in the government and media. There would be no stone unturned and no effort spared to find out what we were dealing with. We can look at the recent incursion of the unidentified, PRC (People’s Republic of China) high-altitude balloon as an example.”
“Finally, one of the tasks Congress set for AARO is serving as an open door for witnesses of UAP events, or participants in government activities related to UAPs, to come forward securely and disclose what they know without fear of retribution for any possible violations of previously signed non-disclosure-agreements. Congress mandated that AARO set up a publicly-discoverable and accessible process for safe disclosure. While we know that AARO has already conducted a significant number of interviews, many referred by Congress, we need to set up a public process and we need to know where that effort stands.”
“I just want to just talk a little bit about your logistics, who you report to, how that’s going, whether you need different reporting lines. By congressional legislation, your office is administratively located within the office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, but you’re not substantively subordinate to the undersecretary. Rather, you are to direct report to the deputy secretary. Are you taking direction directly from the deputy secretary? Are you able to meet and brief the deputy secretary? Is the office of USD(I&S) working with you to have the right framework?… Do I need to update your reporting structure in the next defense bill or is this something that you think will work its way out, or does it need further clarity?”
After the hearing, Gillibrand spoke with audience members who had brought their own UFO evidence. She told them to leave their materials for her staff to collect: “My office can be a clearinghouse for this information.” [Pg 46-50 of the transcript].
June 13, 2023
Senator Gillibrand interviewed for Wired:
“We need to just look into whether there are rogue SAP programs that no one is providing oversight for. The goal for me will be to have a hearing on that at some point so that we can assess if these SAP’s actually exist. So if there are SAPs out there that are somehow outside of the normal chain of command and outside the normal appropriations process, they have to divulge that to Congress.”
On David Grusch’s allegations: “I have no idea. So I’m going to do the work and analyze it and figure it out.”
June 14, 2023
Senator Gillibrand co-sponsors the Schumer/Rounds UAP Disclosure Act: “Understanding UAPs is critical to our national security and to maintaining all-domain awareness. When Senator Rubio and I created the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), we sought to increase transparency to the American people and reduce the stigma around this issue of high public interest. Declassifying previous records related to UAPs is part of that mission and I’m proud to support this important amendment.”
June 23, 2023
Senator Gillibrand’s official statement: Gillibrand Secures Full Funding For UAP Office In Senate Defense Bill Markup
Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced that she had secured full funding for the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) in the Senate Armed Services Committee’s markup of the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act. Earlier this year, Gillibrand and Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) led a bipartisan push to fully fund the office after the previous year’s NDAA failed to provide adequate funding.
Gillibrand and Rubio’s groundbreaking AARO was created in the FY22 NDAA to focus the Department of Defense (DoD) on resolving UAP sightings, improving data sharing between DoD and the Intelligence Community on UAP sightings, addressing national security concerns, and reporting health effects people may experience in relation to UAP events. AARO has access to DoD and Intelligence Community UAP data and is required to provide Congress with briefings and reports on UAPs.
“With aggression from adversaries on the rise and with incidents like the Chinese spy balloon, it’s critical to our national security that we have strong air domain awareness over our homeland and around U.S. forces operating overseas,” said Senator Gillibrand. “Fully funding AARO is essential to our national security; the office provides the opportunity to integrate and resolve threats and hazards to the U.S., while also offering increased transparency to the American people and reducing the stigma around this issue of high public interest.”
July 28, 2023
Senator Gillibrand was asked about the July 27 House UAP hearing:
“They’re very serious allegations that we have to get to the bottom of.”
Gillibrand said the Defense Department hasn’t responded to her requests for more information and she doesn’t know why.
“I don’t know why. I don’t know if it doesn’t exist. I don’t know if we’re not asking the right questions. I don’t know. I just know I have no, I have nothing to confirm those allegations.”
August 8, 2023
Senator Gillibrand interviewed by City And State New York:
“They are very serious allegations. The [July 26 House Hearing] hearing had two sets of testimony. The first was from pilots who saw an object flying in the sky that looked like a Tic Tac that had very strange patterns and abilities. Those pilots were retaliated against, and their careers were derailed, which is how I got involved in the issue. We want our pilots and our service members to come forward when they see things that they cannot identify, which is why I created the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office to review all of these unidentified aerial phenomena in a scientific and thorough way.”
“We realized for AARO to really work better we are going to need a lot more sensors around military bases, nuclear sites, on our aircrafts. That is going to be one of my to-dos for the new Congress…. we need to know what we can know and at least identify the knowable so our pilots are safer, so that we know what else is in the sky. … We need domain awareness, and we need air superiority. If our adversaries have technology that we don’t have, we need to know about it.”
“One of three things are true: Either it doesn’t exist and they worked on programs that were alien-related which weren’t, or they are making it up, or these programs do exist and the Department of Defense is not either read in on it, or the need to know is so small that the people that have been testifying in front of us don’t know about it, or they are just misrepresenting the facts. I intend to get to the bottom of it.”
“I think this AARO office is excellent and built to do this job. If there are special access programs – they are called SAP programs – that Congress was not read in on, we put an amendment in the defense bill to say they can’t be funded. We do not want to be misled. We do not want to be led astray. We want to get to the bottom of this and this office is perfectly positioned to do that work.”
August 14, 2023
Senator Gillibrand speaks about UFOs at a constituent event:
“I started meeting with pilots, and pilots were very upset that they kept running into these drones and other aircraft that they were really worried they would crash into. … and in some instances they [DOD] retaliated against the service members, the pilots, and said ‘you know, you’re just crazy about aliens, and we’re not going to take you seriously anymore.” And it ruined their careers. I was chair of the Personnel Subcommittee [of the Senate Armed Service Committee], and I said that’s not acceptable. These are men and women who are serving bravely for our country, and they are just reporting what they see…”
“This is fascinating because, we don’t know who is making these types of aircraft. I’m sure some of it’s China. I’m sure some of it’s Russia, and I’m sure some of it’s Iran. They are at the forefront of drone technology. We already know one weather balloon was Chinese [from February 2023], and they’re spying. They are spying on our bases, on our nuclear sites, and overhead. So I make this office [AARO], I created it. It’s up and running. I made sure the DOD fully funded it, because they didn’t even want to fund it….”
“Did anybody watch the hearings last week? We had come strange testimony. … The second guy, I think he was Navy intelligence, and he said, ‘I was in charge of looking at all the existing UAP programs, and I talked to everybody I could, found out what I could, and I talked to a bunch of people who said not only do we have a program but its super secret and we have dead aliens and we have crashed aircraft.’ What? [audience laughter] I don’t know what this is! They will not tell me about it, I cannot get to the bottom of it, I cannot get any data and information. So, we don’t know if this exists. We don’t know if that’s real.”
“I don’t know if we’ll ever get to the bottom of it. I don’t know if we’ll ever get the information about Special Access Programs that are need-to-know only, that Congress is not read in on. I’m trying to get to the bottom of it. I put a provision in the defense bill this year that said, you can’t fund any Special Access Programs if you don’t come through Congress. So that’s one push. And the other push is just trying to get these whistleblowers to talk to the guy who is the head of AARO, and he’s very competent and very capable. The last way I’m going to try to find out… is we’re going to get better sensors. Better sensors on our aircraft, better sensors on our bases, better sensors at these nuclear sites, so whatever is flying around them, we know whose they are. Because they’re most likely adversarial. They’re most likely Chinese, they’re most likely Iranian, trying to get intelligence, trying to get data. And if it’s not, we’ll catch them, so we’ll know, what it is, whatever it is.”
September 1, 2023
Senator Gillibrand tweets the following message about AARO’s new website: “I’ve been working directly with AARO to make it easier for current or former U.S. government employees, service members, or contractors to report UAP incidents. This is a matter of national security. This week, AARO finally launched their official website: http://aaro.mil”
September 20, 2023
Senator is asked about UFOs during a WAMC Public Radio interview:
PICKUS: Last question. You have been pressing the Department of Defense for more information about UAPs, also known as UFOs, have you gotten any answers?
SENATOR GILLIBRAND: Not any answers that you would think were interesting. What I have learned is this: we have not been really patrolling the skies in a meaningful way. The FAA looks at this sky for air traffic control to make sure planes don’t crash and Space Force and parts of Commerce Department, they do the work of making sure we know where satellites are and what they’re doing. But nobody’s been looking in between. And the spy balloon was a big wakeup call that other countries are taking advantage of this and spying on us, China being one of them. So we’d heard a lot of reporting from pilots that they keep seeing drones and other different types unidentified flying objects, unidentified aerial phenomenon, doesn’t matter what you call it, it’s something in the air that you don’t understand. Some look like drones, some look like balloons. And they really see it as a safety issue that they’re gonna crash into these objects. And they’ve been very distressed about it. So I was chair of the [Senate Armed Services] Personnel Subcommittee when a lot of these reports were coming in. And so I wanted to create an office that would review all these UAPs and assess what are they? Are they spy balloons? Are they spy drones? Are they something else? We need to have domain awareness and we need to have air superiority for our national security. And so now we have an office [the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, AARO] that’s been reviewing all these cases, they have about 800 cases they’re reviewing. They’re assessing what they are. A lot of are drones, a lot of them are balloons, a lot of them are unclear. But we are going to add sensors, we are going to add detection devices on our aircraft, we’re going to do over the horizon radars, we’re going to do a lot more to have that domain awareness and air superiority. And that I think is really important and meaningful because if there is any UAP out there that’s not from here, we will find that. We will be able to assess that and, and if not, then we’ve got a lot going on that is probably adversaries like China, Russia and Iran, that we have a huge responsibility to know what they’re doing.
September 27, 2023
Senator Gillibrand interviewed by Matt Laslo: “These claims are very serious, and I take all of them very seriously. And I want to make sure our service members know they can come forward and disclose all projects they worked on. And it’s important that the whistleblower community feels comfortable talking to AARO and having those conversations in SCIFs [Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities] so that AARO can do its job thoroughly. Otherwise, they can’t. So if the whistleblowers don’t come forward, they can’t assess their claims, they can’t find programs that they’re talking about.”
“They have to trust the process that Sen. Rubio and Sen. Rounds and I have set up to do this work, and if they don’t trust it we can’t get to the bottom of anything because we can’t do all the interviews that are needed to figure out what’s existing, what’s not existing and, frankly, what creation of programs we need in the future to better to monitor our skies, have air dominance, have pilot safety. Things that really matter.”
“I have to have a chance to talk to the whistleblowers to urge them to help us help them, because we’re their best allies and we need them to work with us.”
November 14, 2023
Senator Gillibrand responds to a question about Sean Kirkpatrick’s retirement: “I’m so disappointed. I thought he was an amazing leader of AARO…” [Matt Laslo]
February 7, 2024
Sen. Gillibrand responds to Matt Lalso question about AARO Director Tim Phillips:
Laslo: “Have you reached out to AARO [All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office] at all?“
Gillibrand: “Not yet, but I’ve asked to meet the guy. Remember, I’m going to meet with the interim guy… Yeah, I mean, Tim Phillips.”
Laslo: “You’ve already met with him in the past?”
Gillibrand: “I don’t think I have. I’m going to meet with him.”
February 29, 2024
Sen. Gillibrand tells Matt Laslo: “So I’m very concerned — this is on the record — I’m very concerned about UAPs, particularly drone technology, aircraft technology that is constantly around our military sites. And it’s a form of ubiquitous surveillance that causes great concern for me. And we need to know, is it Russia, China, Iran or other? Because it’s highly relevant that we can function, as military business, but, also, it’s important that we can protect secrets and it’s important that we have air superiority and domain awareness. All of these things are of high concern to me, and I’m hoping that in this year’s defense bill (NDAA) we can add more resources for sensors and detection.”
May 2, 2024
Sen. Gillibrand interview with Matt Laslo:
Laslo: “I haven’t seen you since you met with Timothy Phillips at AARO — their interim director.”
Gillibrand: “Yes, I did.”
Laslo: “How did that go?”
Gillibrand: “Very well. I think he's incredibly competent. He was working with Dr. [Sean] Kirkpatrick all along. I let him know that I'd like to have a public hearing this summer. And so he's gonna put together some data and information to disclose in a public hearing to show what work they've done, especially examples of things that were unknown that they've been able to figure out and examples of things that were unknown that they still haven't figured out, so that the public can see the difference between what technology brings to this analysis to inform lawmakers on what we need to do. I also am working on more legislation to require more sensors, so that we have more data collection of the area between FAA-space requirement — FAA and space, that number of miles of airspace isn't really looked at well enough. I also have deep concerns about some of the presence of drones around our military bases. It is deeply concerning that they are spyware by adversaries, and so we want to have more information on that as well. So I'm looking for a lot more information and work on these topics, because I think it is really concerning for domain awareness, for national security and for our pilot safety.”
Laslo: “That's interesting, cause their declassified report kinda made it feel like case closed. But so you want…”
Gillibrand: “Oh, it's definitely not case closed. I think that their report was just that their analysis of everything they were shown and everyone they talked to, cause they had no basis to say there's a secret program. But of note, the two whistleblowers that I've met with did not meet with AARO and refused to meet with AARO. And so maybe the next director they'll meet with, but I can't assess them unless AARO can talk to them, cause I don’t — I mean, AARO knows what they know and what they've seen and what they've been shown.”
Laslo: “Have you met with David Grusch yet?”
Gillibrand: “No. We invited him to come, and I was supposed to meet with him and Dr. Kirkpatrick together, but they ultimately declined that meeting. Yeah, so we're gonna try to do something this summer to just, again, keep the public aware of where we are, what we know, what we don't know and how we're going to gather data from here going forward so we have more robust information.”
Gillibrand on the Schumer/Rounds UAP Disclosure Act: “Mine's different. I thought Chuck got done what he wanted to get done, but maybe I'm mistaken. I thought he accomplished what he wanted. The work I wanna keep doing is to have much more thorough data collection, because we are still seeing so many unidentified aerial phenomena and we don't know what they are. And that's very frustrating. It's terrifying from a national security perspective and just for these pilots to have to fly and do their jobs to not be safe and to not know what they're running up against. And I'm just very worried about technology that we're not aware of, particularly if it's from an adversary that's doing it for malign interests, whether it's Russia, China, Iran or others. Very important.”
May 19, 2024
Sen. Gillibrand responds to questions about UFOs on CBS News New York:
“…unidentified aerial--or anomalous phenomenon--because some’s in air, some’s in water. Most likely most of these are drones, drones by adversaries, Russia, China, Iran. Some are spy technology, spy balloons, just like the spy balloon we saw [in February 2023]. And then there might be just other technology that we are not aware of that we can’t identify. What the purpose of this office is to do is to assess it--what is it? Is it a small plane, is it a drone, is it a balloon, is it something we’ve never seen before?—”
Host interjecting: “Is it an alien.”
Gillibrand: “—Yes. Is it anything? And the problem is that our service members, or pilots, they often see aircraft in their way that they are very concerned over, that they’re going to run into it, that is going to take down their aircraft, and without a process for domain awareness, it’s very problematic for domain awareness, national security, and air superiority. So that’s what this office [AARO] is supposed to do. I’m also very concerned about the number of drone attacks we’ve seen at nuclear sites and bases around the country that have been made public. And we cannot have adversaries sending drones to spy on our service members, our technology, our communications. I’m working with the Department of Defense to create a much more robust policy to take down these drones, so that these bases have the authority to take down spycraft. Because yes, maybe something is a science project, maybe something is just an enthusiast who wants to look on the base, but that is not acceptable from a national security perspective.”
Host: “Do you think there are definitely aliens or UFOs?”
Gillibrand: “I definitely don’t know. And I think it’s important that we have full awareness of what’s in our skies because we haven’t been looking, and we need to look.”
June 5, 2024
Sen. Gillibrand to Matt Laslo about a summer hearing with AARO interim director Tim Phillips:
“And I told him I wanted him to do video of the things that he’s figured out. Cause like they’ve figured out a bunch of things that looked really weird and now I want to know what they are because it gives the community something to fully understand, to see how strong the science is. To present to the public. So the public can say, ‘If you see these ten weird things, we figured out three of them. We’re gonna show you these three. We still don’t know about seven, but here’s three and this is why we know.’ And this is why better footage is important, it’s why better sensors are important, it’s why we need to do over the horizon radar in a certain way. Because, without data, we can’t assess and not knowing is isn’t acceptable. And so I've asked him and he said yes.”
June 18, 2024
Sen. Gillibrand on SAPs to Matt Laslo:
“So that was the part I worked on, was funding for AARO. I don't know if there's anything about disclosures. I did, I think, in the final bill, I think it’s included, my provision that says you can't have any SAPs [Special Access Programs] that aren’t disclosed. “I have no reason to believe that there are SAPs that exist or don't exist. “I have no basis to know one way or the other. I just know the provisions that I've tried to include would try to guarantee that we know about all SAPs. For example, I don't know if there are presidential SAPs. Meaning, I don't know if there's legal structure, under our framework, for presidents to put Special Access Programs for president eyes only. And if that exists, then I don't know about it. But I don't think that should exist based on balance of powers and based on the fact that Congress is responsible for allocating money.”
ML: “Because that's so interesting for me to hear Senators be like, ‘Yeah, I don't know.’”
KG: “Well we aren’t read in. If there are any programs, we are not read in. That's all I can say.”
July 23, 2024
Sen. Gillibrand cosponsors Senator Rounds’ 2024 UAPDA.
August 2024
Lue Elizondo’s book included this detail about Sen. Gillibrand’s interest in UFOs (pg. 227): “Kirsten Gillibrand, the Democratic senator from New York State who served on the armed services subcommittees, told her staff how she learned of the UAP issue, and how she would spend quality time with her two children watching the show [Unidentified] Mellon and I made for History Channel.”
It is not yet know the details of how she first became aware of and motivated by the UFO issue.
September 9, 2024
Sen. Gillibrand responds to Matt Laslo about upcoming Senate UAP hearing.
KG: “It’s in September. I'm pretty sure.”
ML: “Interesting. Why is that a priority?”
KG: “It’s a priority for me, because I think it's very important that we continue to make things publicly available. Give a progress report on how many unidentified aerial phenomena we've assessed and analyzed, give examples of what we have identified and give examples of what we haven't identified so that the community can be kept up to speed about what we're actually doing and what this office is doing. We also want to try to continue to build credibility within this office so more of the public can feed in sightings and have a place and a platform to send information and inquiries, because that's eventually what this office is supposed to do.”
ML: “And this is going to be with AARO? Timothy Phillips?”
KG: “Yep. And we'll have a new — there's a new head that's been identified.”
ML: “Interesting.”
KG: “I don’t know that it’s been publicly named yet, but I'm hoping that the new head will be the one to testify.”
November 13, 2024
Sen. Gillibrand exchange with Matt Laslo:
Matt Laslo: “…are you watching the UAP hearing in the House at all?”
Sen. Gillibrand: “No, what are they doing? Tell me the topic!”
ML: “They have Lue Elizondo, like, four whistleblowers. UAPs, kind of broadly…”
KG: “Did they say, like, the government has a program and they’re hiding it or…?”
ML: “Yeah. That’s what some of the testimony is. You'll have to go back…”
KG: “Any new details?”
ML: “Well, they keep saying ‘we can only answer that in a classified setting.’”
Gillibrand lets out a disappointed laugh, then says, “I want to know the details!”
On the upcoming Emerging Threats subcommittee hearing: “Yeah, I’m gonna have mine. I think we have a date in December [she meant November]. And we're doing it specifically focused on what happened at Langley and some of these massive drone strikes we're having all across the country. And some of the information that's been publicly available about those is very concerning. Very concerning. So we're going to talk about that.”
“And I still want to ask the new head of AARO — I'm meeting with the new AARO director this week. And I want them to show all the videos, examples of what they figured out, and then all the videos, what they can't figure out yet. “Because I want the community to know this is a body of stuff nobody knows what it is, and so that they feel and know, you're respected, you’re being listened to. We want your data and information. We want to co-locate it, and we want to cross reference it. And then this is going to be the scientists behind the assessment of: What tech is it? How is it flying? How's it — what's the propulsion? Because even if we don't know whose it is, we need to know how it's doing what it's doing.”
“And some of these drones are in that category. We don't know whose they are. We don't know what propulsion they use. We don't know the tech. We don't know it. It's not off the shelf stuff. And that's what is so important: It's not off the shelf stuff. It's either extremely next gen by an adversary that we don't know about. So it's very concerning. So that's why I want to focus on, like, let's take the shared data and information and really delve into it deeply. Show what we know. Show we don't know. Ask the community to help us, and then you don't have to worry about, like, what they're not telling you. Because if they're not going to tell us, then they're never going to tell us, but we have all this shared data and information that if we can assess and analyze then we are on common ground.”
November 19, 2024
Sen. Gillibrand chairs the Senate Armed Services’ Emerging Threats subcommittee hearing on AARO activities.
Key quotes:
“When unidentified anomalous phenomenon enters our airspace we need to know about it. We need to identify it, but in order to do that we need to reduce the stigma and credibility challenges associated with these events. Our servicemembers, scientists, foreign partners, and the general public need to know that their reporting, research, and analysis will be taken seriously and acted on in good faith.”
“These public documents help highlight the challenges still facing this office, including the lack of timely and actionable sensor data, the need to revisit cases placed in the active archive, and the importance of improving reporting sources, both in the interagency and internationally.”
“Second, I look forward to your presentation of three case studies demonstrating cases that AARO has resolved, including the GOFAST, which is one of the most prominent UAP cases. However, I believe it is important to acknowledge ongoing public interest in the Nimitz incident, the GIMBAL video, and other prominent UAP cases, and for AARO to share what it can about those cases, as well. It is also important that AARO speak to unresolved cases and what types of anomalous activity have merited further analysis. And while I know AARO has gone through a period of transition over the past year, it is important to share these disclosures, both resolved and unresolved cases, with the public, even when a Senate hearing is not scheduled.”
“Lastly, while some have been hesitant to come forward to AARO in the past, I hope that potential individuals with firsthand knowledge of unreported programs view your arrival in this position as an opportunity for a new start. AARO was created by Congress to do this work. Congress waives nondisclosure agreements for those who disclose information to AARO, and gave AARO the authority to go and turn over every rock. I hope those with information to share use this opportunity so that we, as your Senators who represent you, can do our job.”
“It has been widely reported that individuals claiming firsthand knowledge of unreported UAP programs have been reluctant to engage with AARO. What message do you have for those individuals, and how will you work to gain their trust?”
I recently just read your report from March, your historic report, and I would encourage anyone who is interested in this topic to read the report. Because when I was asked by a reporter about it they said, "Well, it doesn't show any evidence of secret programs that have aliens." That is not how I read the report. What I read in the report is the U.S. government took sightings extremely seriously over the last 75 years, put some of the greatest mind ever to analyze these cases, because they assessed them as some deeply unknown phenomena that may or may not cause threats, that may or may not be related to adversaries, but are certainly something that the U.S. government needed to know about. And what I read from this report is that we resolved numbers of cases, but in almost every instance, whether it was in the '40s, the '50s, the '60s, the '70s, the '80s, the '90s, the '00s, half the cases were unresolved. So I do not think this is an example of the government not taking these cases seriously. I think this is an example of our government spending 75 years taking these cases very seriously. And interestingly, for the group that put together this report, they did not have access to any firsthand reporting. And so from my perspective, for whistleblowers and people who want to come in, please come in, because the purpose of AARO is so that the Senators can do our job to provide oversight, accountability, and transparency. We find it very concerning that our pilots, that our Navy officers, that people who have sightings of UAPs are denigrated, are somehow dismissed or disregarded. They need to be protected.
November 19, 2024
Sen. Gillibrand to Matt Laslo about the Emerging Threats subcommittee UAP hearing:
“I think it was great. I really liked it, because AARO could show — particularly to the scientific community, as well as the whistleblower enthusiast community — we take all these cases very seriously. And what I really liked is the three examples he used of things we were able to figure out. He shows how we figured it out, so that, you know, if there's 100,000 cases, we’re gonna be able to figure out half of them to be things like that. But there's gonna be another half that we don't have enough data information, we don't know what it is and that we're just as interested in the ones we figure out as the ones we don't figure out, and so we have to keep getting more data and information to layer on top of it to know. And that it's a safe place to come forward, and that if there's programs that people have participated in that we don't know about, that aren't disclosed in the historic document, that we need to know about that — like the historic document is everything that AARO could assess and document so far, and so for these whistleblowers, if they worked on something that's not in that document, that's interesting. They should come in and see AARO.”
ML: “And what more needs to be done so that…?”
KG: “I think it's going to happen. I think the fact that he's [Kosloski] already talked to two whistleblowers with firsthand information — those are whistleblowers who would not come in before. It just gives us another lens of information. The report that we issued — or, the report that AARO issued is everything that they were told to date. That's everything, and so if the stuff that someone worked on is not in that report, they need to come in to tell AARO, because it means they haven't been told about it.”
“I don't think it [AARO] needs a makeover. They were able to use the money and time that they had over the last year and a half, to get the lay of the land, to get all the historic data culminated, to create procedures and frameworks to get the public to be able to give data and information. They were able to create scientific measures to do the analysis. All the purpose of AARO, so no time has been wasted, which I'm very grateful for. And sometimes you need an organization to develop a little bit of maturity before the whistleblower community will feel comfortable anyway, and so I feel like they've done the hard work to create a infrastructure around assessing and documenting information so now that they can have trust in the system.”
On Langley and drone incursions: KG: “Because the Langley example is just, it's an obvious example of how this is a national security priority, and the fact that they didn't readily know what technology was being used is deeply upsetting to me. So AARO, thank goodness, still has a role in those even though they know it's a drone. So AARO is supposed to assess, is it a drone? Is it a balloon? Is it something other? The fact they know it's a drone, would initially say that AARO’s not gonna be involved. But the fact they didn't know what technology the drone was using, it means that AARO can be evolved, which is very important to me because I think AARO is gonna be able to do better scientific analysis more quickly than anyone else.”
Graham, Lindsey
South Carolina–Republican
Term: 2003-Present
Senate Armed Services Committee (2011-2018)
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
November 2021
Senator Graham is one of four senators to co-sponsor the UAP amendment to the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, which had been initiated by Senator Gillibrand and Representative Gallego. The final bill passed the House on December 9, the Senate on December 15, and was signed into law December 27. [Source: statement]
February 16, 2023
Senator Graham co-signed a letter, drafted by Senators Gillibrand and Rubio, that was a formal request for more AARO funding and a briefing.
June 2023
Sen. Graham responds to a press scrum about David Grusch claims: “If we’d really found this stuff, there’s no way you could keep it from coming out. My gut belief is if there’s a physical piece of a spacecraft or an intact spaceship, we would have known about it by now.”
July 20, 2023
Sen. Graham responds to Matt Laslo a bout David Grusch:
ML: “Has this UAP or UFO whistleblower, David Grusch, come across your radar at all?”
LG: “No.”
ML: “No?”
LG: “I’m in the phonebook, if aliens want to get a hold of me they can call me.”
Blunt, Roy
Missouri-Republican
Term: 2011-Present
Senate Intelligence Committee
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
November 2021
Senator Blunt is one of four senators to co-sponsor the UAP amendment to the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, which had been initiated by Senator Gillibrand and Representative Gallego. The final bill passed the House on December 9, the Senate on December 15, and was signed into law December 27. [Source: statement]
Welch, Peter
Vermont–Democrat
House Term: 2007-2023
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence and Counterproliferation
Senate Term: 2023-Present
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation; Judiciary Committee
UFO Stance: Extraterrestrial Hypothesis Advocate
June 16 2021
The House Intelligence Committee receives a classified briefing from the UAPTF and the FBI previewing the upcoming UAP report. After the briefing, Welch gave journalists a clear impression that he was unimpressed by the briefing: “I’m not on the edge of my seat.” [Source: New York Post]
May 17, 2022
During the open hearing on UAP with Ronald Moultrie (Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security) and Scott Bray (Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence), Representative Welch leads the following line of questioning:
Chairman, what seems incredibly difficult for you is that there’s two almost competing but different narratives. One is no one knows whether there’s extraterrestrial life. It’s a big universe, and it would be pretty presumptuous to have a hard and fast conclusion, and then if there is, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that there is some exploration coming here, and that underlies a lot of the reports you get… people think there must extraterrestrial life, and it’s not at all beyond the pale that there would be a visit here.
On the other hand, as the DOD, you have the responsibility to make sure that our national security is protected, and that if there are surveillance drones or active drones that can disable our systems, that has to be analyzed. It has to be stopped. [Source: Hearing Transcript]
After the hearing, Representative Welch spoke with a Vermont’s WCAX:
“People think there must be extraterrestrial life and it’s not at all beyond the pale that there would be a visit here. On the other hand, as the DOD, you have the responsibility to make sure that our national security is protected.” [Source: WCAX News]
—Peter Welch became a US Senator in January 2023—
Kevin Cramer
North Dakota-Republican
Term: 2019-Present
Senate Armed Services Committee
UFO Stance: UFO Skeptic (Disclosure Supportive)
February 16, 2023
Senator Cramer co-signed a letter, drafted by Senators Gillibrand and Rubio, that was a formal request for more AARO funding and a briefing.
July 26, 2023
Senator Kramer asked about UFOs by Matt Laslo:
“I did not look into it [UFOs] much. I’ve watched some of the stuff on TV with some amusement. People are having a lot of fun with it. I don’t dismiss it completely, but also I don’t–where I don’t go is I don’t presume that an Unidentified Flying Object is [extra]terrestrial…. There are clearly unexplained phenomenon going on out there, but we don’t know whether that’s our technology, adversaries’ technology, or whether it’s [extra]terrestrial — I just don’t see how it can be [extra]terrestrial without us knowing it. I just don’t.”
Dan Sullivan
Alaska-Republican
Term: 2015-Present
Senate Armed Services Committee
UFO Stance: unclear
February 16, 2023
Senator Sullivan co-signed a letter, drafted by Senators Gillibrand and Rubio, that was a formal request for more AARO funding and a briefing.
Elizabeth Warren
Massachusetts—Democrat
Term: 2013-Present
Senate Armed Services Committee
UFO Stance: unclear
February 16, 2023
Senator Warren co-signed a letter, drafted by Senators Gillibrand and Rubio, that was a formal request for more AARO funding and a briefing.
John Hinkenlooper
Colorado-Democrat
Term: 2021-Present
Senate Armed Services Committee
UFO Stance: unclear
February 16, 2023
Senator Hinkenlooper co-signed a letter, drafted by Senators Gillibrand and Rubio, that was a formal request for more AARO funding and a briefing.
Jacky Rosen
Nevada-Democrat
Term: 2019-Present
Senate Armed Services Committee
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
February 16, 2023
Senator Rosen co-signed a letter, drafted by Senators Gillibrand and Rubio, that was a formal request for more AARO funding and a briefing
April 19, 2023
Senate hearing on UAP, questioning Sean Kirkpatrick of AARO [transcript]
I want to focus on Nevada because I want to talk about the impact of UAPs on aviation safety. So when it comes to Unidentified Aerial Phenomenal…phenomena, excuse me, one of my first concerns is really about the safety of Nevada’s military aviator. So we have airmen stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, naval aviators flying at Naval Air Station Fallon, and service members from across the world, training at the Nevada test and training range. I know you know all this. And unfortunately, the existence of advanced UAPs in the U.S. airspace and over U.S. military installations [is] not a new phenomenon. The Navy’s officially acknowledged that between 2004 and 2021, eleven near misses occurred involving UAPs that required pilot action and follow up reports. As a result, in 2019, the Navy established a protocol for pilots to report on their dangerous encounters. So, could you speak to any ongoing efforts within DoD to ensure the safety of our aviators with a potential UAP encounter? And what’s your relationship with NORTHCOM, NORAD, Space Comm, when it comes to this immediate, real-time response?.
I’d love to follow up about your risk-management methodologies for some of these… I have about a dozen more [questions].
Schumer, Chuck
New York–Democrat
Term: 1999-Present
Senate Intelligence Committee (2017-Present); Senate Majority Leader (2021-Present)
UFO Stance: Extraterrestrial Hypothesis Advocate
June 13, 2023
Tweet: BREAKING: I’m introducing new legislation to declassify government records related to unidentified anomalous phenomena and UFOs as an amendment to the NDAA, modeled after the JFK Assassination Records Collection Act.
June 14, 2023
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) are leading an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act which would mandate government records related to Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) carry the presumption of disclosure.
“For decades, many Americans have been fascinated by objects mysterious and unexplained and it’s long past time they get some answers,” said Leader Schumer. “The American public has a right to learn about technologies of unknown origins, non-human 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 surround these unexplained phenomena.” [Source: press statement]
Tweet: “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.”
July 18, 2023
Senator Schumer gives a floor speech after the Senate approval of the NDAA: “I am pleased the NDAA will include my amendment on policing transparency on UAPs or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena. UAPs generate a lot of curiosity for many Americans, and with that curiosity sometimes comes misinformation. So my amendment will require the National Archive and Records Administration to create a collection of records from across government agencies that can be declassified for the public’s use… These records will cary the presumption of immediate disclosure, which means they can only be made classified with good reason…. Harry Reid was passionate about this issue, and so were Senators Stevens and Inouye.”
August 10, 2023
Sen. Schumer is asked about UFOs on Pod Save America: “The truth is I have not read the report, I have not gotten a briefing. But Sunlight is the greatest disinfectant. Lots of people say ‘they’re disclosing it ‘cause they know something that we don’t know.’ Well let them disclose it and we’ll all know the truth, and we’ll be better off with the truth. And then I think of my dear friend Harry Reid, you know [chuckles] we would sit together and discuss this, and he had a more of a view of UFOs, and outer space intelligent beings more likely than I do, but I loved talking to him about it. I’m for the sunlight. And by the way that’s another thing we passed in the defense bill.”
December 13, 2023
Sen. Schumer engages in a colloquy with Sen. Rounds about the passage of the 2024 NDAA and the House stripping provisions from the UAP Disclosure Act.
“I say to my friend that Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena are of immense interest and curiosity to the American people. But with that curiosity comes the risk for confusion, misinformation, and mistrust especially if the government isn’t prepared to be transparent. The United States government has gathered a great deal of information about UAPs over many decades but has refused to share it with the American people. That is wrong and additionally breeds mistrust. We have also been notified by multiple credible sources that information on UAPs has also been withheld from Congress, which if true is a violation of laws requiring full notification to the legislative branch – especially as it relates to the four congressional leaders, the defense committees, and the intelligence committee…. I might add – it's beyond disappointing that the House has refused to work with us on all the important elements of the UAP Disclosure Act during the NDAA conference, but nevertheless, we did make important progress…. It is really an outrage the House didn’t work with us on adopting our proposal for a review board, which of course by definition here is bipartisan in the Senate. Now it means that declassification of UAP records will be largely up to the same entities that have blocked and obfuscated their disclosure for decades. We will keep working. I want to assure the American people, Senator Rounds and I will keep working to change the status quo. And before I yield finally to him, I would like to acknowledge my dear friend, the late Harry Reid, a mentor, who cared about this issue a great deal. So, he is looking down and smiling on us, but he’s also importuning us to get the rest of this done, which we will do everything we can to make happen.”
Rounds, Mike
South Dakota–Republican
Term: 2015-Present
Senate Armed Services Committee (2015-Present)
UFO Stance: Extraterrestrial Hypothesis Advocate
June 14, 2023
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) are lead sponsors of an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act which would mandate government records related to Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) carry the presumption of disclosure.
“Our goal is to assure credibility with regard to any investigation or record keeping of materials associated with Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena,” said Rounds. “Relevant documents related to this issue should be preserved. Providing a central collection location and reputable review board to maintain the records adds to the credibility of any future investigations.”
July 20, 2023
Senator rounds responds to Matt Laslo’s question about the term “non-human intelligence” used in his UAP disclosure amendment:
Rounds: “Well, pretty simple terms, aren’t they?”
Laslo: “But, could that be AI?”
Rounds: “Could be, Could be.”
Laslo: “So it’s that broad?”
Rounds: “It was not by accident. Let’s put it that way. I wish I could say more, but that’s just, I mean, we tried to keep it as simple as possible.”
July 23, 2023
Interview with The Hill
Rounds said he has seen “no evidence personally” that extraterrestrial craft are visiting the planet but said, “I know that there’s a lot of people that have questions about it.”
“It’s just like with JFK and the [1963] assassination. We set up separate archive for that or central collection place for all that data, which I think gave the American people a sense of security that there was a location where it was being held. This is following that same approach,”
Asked about whether he personally believes military personnel and sensors are encountering extraterrestrial visitors, Rounds said: “I don’t think you can discount the possibility just simply because of the size of the universe.”
“I don’t think anybody should say that they know for certain either way,” he said. “If we simply refuse to acknowledge there’s even a remote possibility, then we’re probably not being honest.”
“Some of the items we simply can’t explain,” he said of the Naval videos of UAPs.
Week of July 24, 2023
Senator Rounds: “I had one classified briefing with Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, director of All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office.”
December 13, 2023
Sen. Rounds engages in a colloquy with Sen. Schumer about the passage of the 2024 NDAA and the House stripping provisions from the UAP Disclosure Act.
“To those who think that the Citizen Review Board that would have been created in our UAP Disclosure Act, that it would be unprecedented and somehow go too far, we note that the proposed Review Board was very closely modeled on the review board established in the JFK Assassination Records Act of 1992, which has successfully guided the release of records to the American public on another very sensitive matter of high interest to the American people. And it does one more thing that we really need to recognize, and that is that there is, we believe, information and data that has been collected by more than just the Department of Defense, but by other agencies of the federal government as well, and by allowing for an outside, independent collection of these records we can make progress in terms of dispelling myths and providing accurate information to the American people.”
December 13, 2023
Senator Rounds discusses his failed UAP Disclosure Act with Matt Laslo:
“It’s not what we wanted, but it’s a step in the right direction,” Rounds exclusively tells Ask a Pol. “It brings attention to the need for additional transparency. I would really like to have a commission, and if we can negotiate on the commission that’s fine, in terms of who is on it. “I think an independent commission is still the best way to go.”
“I have talked to them [House Chairman Mike Turner], and I know there was some concerns. But I don’t know if the concerns were such that it would stop it. So I honestly don’t know where the actual stop was at within the process.”
“AARO is a part of DOD. Well, this goes beyond DOD. This requires attention. and cooperation by other agencies as well. And that’s the reason we wanted to separate it out [with the UPADA commission], because we want it to be all encompassing. AARO is working, but AARO is just for DOD. And while they’re collecting items, they’re not really disseminating items. So we would like to have some transparency, but we also want to make darn sure that we protect our national security interests as well.”
March 21, 2024
Sen Rounds responds to Matt Laslo: “I’ve been watching the UAP stuff pretty carefully…”
“Well, let me share. Here’s — look, I sit on Armed Services. I sit on Intel. I care about the UAP issues, okay? As near as I can tell based on everything I’ve been able to glean so far, the biggest concern that we should have is either our very sensitive programs being opened up or other countries’ very sensitive programs being actively engaged. Both of which would be of concern to me. So far it’s a matter of, let’s make sure that we don’t disclose what we actually have capabilities for in our investigations. Second of all, if there are some items out there that are not ours, where are all those capabilities coming from? Which other country may very well have them, and what are we doing to counter them? Those are the — there’s always the possibility that we haven’t figured out where all of this stuff is coming from. If we can’t answer ’em, those are the two things that I worry about: is that we either expose one of our very sensitive programs or we’ve got an adversary who’s got a very unique one that we haven’t been able to explain yet…. Well, if it’s ours, they [the Pentagon] may not want to address it.”
Laslo: “Yeah. Well it seems like, over here — it just seems like they’re doing a full-throated investigation into something very different over there. Looking into, like, extraterrestrial life or hidden programs. But it seems like over here, you guys are very focused on foreign nations and potential drone intrusions, stuff like that, or special development…?”
Rounds: “Y’know, I mean, look, we're recognizing that there are things that are difficult to explain sometimes, and our biggest concern is for national defense purposes: what are they? Where are they from? And the natural suggestion is they may very well be either ours or an adversary's. We do not want to get into a position of exposing any one of our very sensitive programs, but we're not sure where they're coming from. So, if the House wants to include specific language — we tried to and the House was…”
Laslo: “Are you read in on every program?”
Rounds: “Well, you never know if you’re read in or not.”
Laslo: “But the US contractors, there could be something that you don’t know?”
Rounds: “‘Who knows’? Never know — ‘you never know.’”
May 21, 20224
Sen. Rounds talks with Matt Laslo about AARO on ongoing congressional efforts.
Laslo: “Have you reached out to the interim director at AARO?”
Rounds: “I've met with the folks from AARO, yeah…. a month ago.”
Lalso: “How's it feel? Cause I know after Kirkpatrick left…”
Rounds: “I actually think that they’re — from what I can see — I think, they're getting invited into areas where they're getting access to more and more information. Which is good. I don't know if we've solved the problem of the silos that you find within DOD [Department of Defense] where everything is so secretive at the special access level, between the IC community and the DOD community, in general, that there is not a lot of overlap between folks who see the different programs. And, I think, AARO is recognizing that. And I think they're probably going to be able to shed some light without threatening national security with some of the information. There's — you know, it's more IC and Pentagon is where a lot of the special projects are at. And, you know what? Every nation has these projects. So — but it's a matter of not giving away your technical capabilities. And that's the part that I was concerned with, is that I didn't want to give away technical capability just to explain to somebody why what they think they've seen is — they might not be able to have an explanation for it, but there is an explanation for it in some cases.”
Lalso: “Are you confident that Congress now knows of every SAP?”
Rounds: “No. I'm not confident yet.”
Laslo: “Are you confident that AARO is on the hunt?”
MR: “I am. I think the preponderance of the evidence is that AARO is on the hunt. Time will tell whether or not they are successful in actually getting into and asking the right questions. I think part of it is is, you have to ask the right questions to the right people in the right setting in order to get an answer.”
Laslo: “Some whistleblowers still don't trust AARO…”
Rounds: “Yes. I understand.”
Laslo: “Do they [AARO] understand that?”
Rounds: “Yeah, I mean…Well, you know, I'm not saying that I have full confidence in it. I'm just saying, right now, the evidence is that they're trying hard and that they seem to be making some inroads, but time will tell and we're not going to let up on our interest in it. Hopefully, we're successful in maybe answering some of those questions.”
Laslo: “Is your UAP amendment with Schumer — are we going to see a redux of that or…tweaks to it?”
Rounds: “Tweaks. But I can't talk much more than that about it.”
Laslo: “But the talks have started?”
Rounds: “Oh yeah, oh yeah. There’s some work being done.”
March 22, 2024
Sen Rounds response to NewsNation’s Joe Khalil question about the UAPDA: “The reason we put it in in the first place [referring to non-human intelligence definitions], was to say we’re looking at everything. When the House took it out, that was one of the concerns that we had, was that people would say we’re hiding something and we didn’t want to do that. But we thought, we’re including everything, there’s no conspiracy here to hide anything, we just want to get the facts out. But we want to do it in such a fashion that we don’t disclose some of our higher end and very sophisticated platforms that we just simply don’t talk about.”
June 20, 2024
Sen. Rounds to Matt Laslo on a renewed push on the UAPDA:
Matt Laslo: “Hey how you doing, sir? Any update on the tweaks in your UAPDA amendment with [Sen. Chuck] Schumer?”
Sen. Rounds: “No, not a whole lot of anything there, just simply continuing to move forward and we’ll see where it goes. “I think we just got to clarify what our goals on it are, and I think we can work through them. You know, bottom line is nobody is trying to release information on classified programs that would help our adversaries. And — it's not — that’s not our goal. But, I think more openness in terms of what we can talk about can help clarify that maybe there is nothing to be afraid of out there.”
July 11, 2024
Sen. Rounds reintroduces the UAPDA as amendment to 2025 NDAA (DDJ summary)
July 31, 2024
Sen. Rounds tells Matt Laslo about the potential for a new UAPDA: “I just think the fact that Sen. Schumer doesn’t want his people to vote on anything or any amendments, I think the best hope we’ve got is pre-conference with the House and then have the House send us a message that basically, you know, is privileged so it can come in and then it becomes an up or down vote. I think that’s gonna be the only way this is gonna happen in the near term. And I’m just being practical.”
“I think it [UAPDA] might be in there, because — I mean, at least I think we’ve got a shot at it, because I think anything that comes over would be with a manager’s package that we’re putting together now. A large manager’s package over here, and then do a…— I mean, there’s a pretty good manager’s package being developed, I think. So if you take what came out of committee along with a consensus manager’s package on stuff, and then pre-conference that with the House.”
ML: “But last year that Schumer amendment — your UAPDA — got gutted in there.”
MR: “Right, but I think we’re still working with the House.”
ML: “What are the tweaks that you think can maybe win them over?”
MR: “Maybe more of a comfort level that they would have in terms of what our goal is. And you still gotta protect sensitive information here, and I think that’s the concern they have. And I don’t disagree with it. It’s one of the reasons I got involved in this the first place was to have a legitimate way to do this but still protecting the vital, sensitive things that we are doing.”
ML: “Who are you negotiating with over there? Is it Intel or Armed Services?”
MR: “Well, both. But Intel’s got a big part of it.”
ML: “Of this? The UAPDA?”
MR: “They did last year, you know, so...”
ML: “Interesting. Cause they kinda deny it.”
MR: “Of course. … That’s the nature of the game.”
November 13, 2024
Sen. Rounds gives a speech at a UAP Disclosure Fund gathering on Capitol Hill. Transcript; Video
Senator Rounds: First of all, thank you very much for the opportunity. I've prepared just a few remarks and then I left them with the presentation. I was not expecting this size of a group. I'm happy to see that. It says curiosity is alive and well in the United States.
For a number of years, I've been concerned about congressional oversight of matters related to UAPs. I believe Congress has the responsibility to exercise this oversight with an eye towards accountability by the executive branch of our national security, fiscal responsibility, and maybe most importantly, making sure our citizens are aware within constraints of necessarily classified information, of government programs concerning UAPs. I can tell you from personal experience, this concern is a bipartisan one.
For example, the Democrat leader of the Senate Senator Chuck Schumer and I have partnered on legislation to require significantly greater UAP related disclosure by the executive branch. I believe this bipartisan approach can carry over into the next Congress and the next administration. During my 10 years as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and over the last two years as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I've become increasingly aware of stove pipes or silos that adversely affect information sharing, coordination, action and, as a result, good national security policy. These silos do not only exist between national security agencies and between elements of the intelligence community. They also exist between congressional committees with jurisdiction for national security. As one of the very few Senate members who sits on both the Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, I am concerned about the silo between these two committees, at the member and the staff levels. These silos can create all kinds of problems. One of these is preventing proper congressional oversight of UAP initiatives.
I will continue working with my colleagues to overcome this inter-agency and inter-committee issue that can get in the way of what Congress needs to do with regard to UAP oversight. One aspect of required congressional oversight is making sure we are taking a science-driven approach to UAPs. We need to make sure that an executive branch priority is also a science-driven approach.
Let me just close for just a second with regard to UAP-related legislation that we proposed and that we will be proposing. Last year, Senator Schumer and I offered a bipartisan UAP-related amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. That's the NDAA that passes every single year. This amendment which passed the Senate was entitled the "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon Disclosure Act of 2023." The measure was directly modeled on the legislation Congress passed in the 1990s to set up a process to declassify and release the records that federal government had relating to the Kennedy assassination. Even now, thirty years later, some records are still withheld, but overall that process has been deemed very successful.
While the measure was included in the Senate-passed NDAA, it was unfortunately dropped from the final version of the bill that was negotiated with the House, which opposed our language. What was enacted was the establishment of UAP record collection in the National Archives, to which all records, from all parts of the federal government, are to be sent. Dropped was what would have been the creation of a records review board composed of eminent expert citizens with clearances, nominated by the President, and Senate confirmed. This board would have overseen the record review and declassification process to include identification of any conscious effort by an administration to withhold appropriate information from Congress or the public. I look forward to continuing work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to make the review board a provision of law.
And finally, let me just say that I want to take a moment and I want to recognize Lue Elizondo's contributions to increase UAP transparency and congressional oversight. Lue, you came forward to me, and the intel committee, and provided the insights that I needed to develop the UAP legislation with Senator Schumer. You helped me to understand a couple of truths. Number one, the UAP issue is real and a potential national security concern. And number two, the U.S. government has not been transparent enough about what it knows.
UAP transparency is a marathon. It took many decades to result in the status-quo of over-classification, and it will likely take time to find the right balance between protecting our national security, and an acceptable level of disclosure. Lue, in recognition of your contribution to UAP legislation in the last Congress, I would like to give you this framed red line of the UAP legislation.
Thank you for the opportunity to share with you. I think as I talked with everybody involved in this particular subject matter, those that have been directly involved, please understand the challenges that we have with regard to our national security challenges, and in sharing what we know about things that really... we don't know a lot about in some cases. All we know is that there is something that exists, whether it's ours, or an adversaries, or something else, we don't know. What we do know is that this phenomenon clearly exists and it's something that's not going to go away. So we just as well get in and learn as much about it as possible and let the public know what it is that we find out as well. Thank you.
Presents Lue Elizondo a framed, autographed copy of the UAPDA. (UAP Disclosure Fund)
Week of November 18, 2024
Sen. Rounds meets with new AARO director Jon Kosloski.
December 4, 2024
Sen. Rounds interview with Matt Laslo.
Laslo: How did your meeting recently go with the new head of AARO?”
Rounds: “It was good. I think he’s [Kosloski] technically very adept. I was impressed with him. He clearly has had some opportunities made available to him to visit with different people. So, you know, I'm optimistic that we're gonna have the support he needs. I don't know where it goes from here with his office. But look, there's a — I said this before — there’s clearly a phenomenon which is real. We just don't know who this real phenomenon belongs to.”
Laslo: “Do you think he can regain — or gain the trust of whistleblowers?”
Rounds: “Yet to be determined. We'll have to wait for someone to come back and tell us that. …It’s gonna work through the system. My interest in this is to make sure that we have a process in place that allows for discovery of what might be out there without publicly releasing anything that might impact our national security.”
Hawley, Josh
Missouri–Republican
Term: 2019-present
Senate Armed Services Committee (2019-2022)
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
June 2023
Senator Hawley interviewed by Mat Laslo for a Wired article about David Grusch’s allegations:
“They [Pentagon briefers] were talking about the balloons, and then several senators pointed out, ‘Now hold on: We’ve had a lot of unidentified anomalous phenomenon for years now,’ and that’s when the military briefer was like, ‘True. True.’ The takeaway from that is, they had thousands of sightings of these things over the years, which was news to me. So I’m not surprised, necessarily, by these latest allegations, because it sounds pretty close to what they kind of grudgingly admitted to us in the briefing.”
“It’s not good. None of it’s good. I think we want to get to the bottom of this. I think it’s disturbing.”
June 21, 2023
Sen. Hawley interviewed by NewsNation:
“The number of these [UAP] is apparently huge, huge. And that is something that the government has, the best I can say about it, downplayed, if not kept from the public, for a long, long time… I don’t have any basis to evaluate them [Grusch claims] but do some of the details that he’s alleging, do they sound plausible? Yeah, sure. They sound plausible, based on what I’ve seen this government do in other instances. He’s saying that the government knows more about this than they have previously let on. That doesn’t really surprise me because it looks to me like the government has been tracking these UAPs for a long time now and has not been saying much about it…. The government is good at hiding things when it really wants something to remain secret.”
Young, Todd
Indiana–Republican
Term: 2017-Present
United States House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services (2011-2012); Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation (2017-Present)
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
June 14, 2023
Senator Young co-sponsors the Schumer/Rounds UAP Disclosure Act: “The American people deserve transparency on all issues related to UAPs. Our bipartisan effort will protect and better organize government materials related to UAPs and promote disclosure of this information.”
Wicker, Roger
Mississippi-Republican
Term: 2007-Present
Senate Committee on Armed Services (2011-Present), SCAS Ranking Member (2023-24)/Chair (2025-); Select Committee on Intelligence (2023-24)
UFO Stance: unclear
September 19, 2024
Sen. Roger Wicker asked about the Armed Services’ Emerging Threats subcommittee upcoming AARO hearing:
“I’ll tell you, there are a lot of Americans who are interested in this issue. It’s not going to go away. And I don’t think we should be afraid of hearing from experts, and trying to winnow the myths from the reality. And who knows, we may learn something. But we shouldn’t be reluctant to look at it.”
Ernst, Joni
Iowa-Republican
Term: 2015-Present
Armed Services (2015-Present) Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities (2015 to Present; Ranking member 2021-2024)
UFO Stance: unclear
September 20, 2019
Sen. Ernst posts a joking meme on her Facebook page about NASA and aliens for her office’s monthly “Squeal Award”: While UFO-enthusiasts will be disappointed there are no [ufo emoji] at #Area51, a Martian flying saucer designed by NASA that crashed during test flights was moth-balled, but only after it had already abducted $222 million from taxpayers.”
from The Gazette: The more substantive piece is Ernst's bill to address inefficiencies in the Department of Defense. Her proposal would authorize military leaders to close unneeded storage and distribution facilities, which could save $500 million.
While Iowa's junior senator is dismissive of the Area 51 conspiracy theories - 'The only thing the government is hiding is waste,” her new campaign proclaims.
April 19, 2023
Sen. Ernst participates in the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities AARO hearing. She does not ask any UAP/UFO related questions. Her questions were exclusively focused on “threats posed by our adversaries in all domains.”
November 19, 2024
Sen. Ernst poses questions at the Senate Armed Services’ Emerging Threats subcommittee hearing on AARO activities:
“Are these phenomena tied to foreign adversaries such as China or Russia, leveraging advanced technologies beyond our current capabilities, or do they represent unknown scientific phenomena that challenge our current understanding? We must answer these critical questions to ensure that our national security is not compromised.”
“Given the public's growing concern and interest in UAPs, how do you balance the need for the transparency that our public is demanding with the potential risks of revealing classified defense information? …And then without having to explain the UAP, what do we need to begin really doing about them? What precautions can we take? What should we be doing about them?”
Schiff, Adam B.
California–Democrat
House Term: 2001-2025
House Intelligence Committee (Chairman 2019-2022; Ranking Member 2015-2019)
Senate Term: 2025-Present
Judiciary Committee
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
June 16, 2021
The House Intelligence Committee receives a classified briefing from the UAPTF and the FBI previewing the upcoming UAP report. After the briefing, Schiff gave a press interview:
“It was an interesting briefing. I did learn things that were certainly new to me. But I think I’m going to leave it at that.” [Source: New York Post]
June 25, 2021
Representative Schiff releases a statement on the release of the UAP Preliminary Report:
“…it has become increasingly clear that unidentified aerial phenomena are not a rare occurrence and our government needs a unified way to gather, analyze, and contextualize these reports.
“We should approach these questions without preconceptions to encourage a thorough, systematized analysis of the potential national security and flight safety risks posed by unidentified aerial phenomena, whether they are the result of a foreign adversary, atmospheric or other aerial phenomena, space debris, or something else entirely.
“As we continue to receive updates, we will share what we can with the American people as excessive secrecy will only spur more speculation.” [Source: statement link]
May 11, 2022
Representative Schiff releases a statement announcing a congressional public hearing on UFOs:
“There’s still much to learn about unidentified aerial phenomena and the potential risks they may pose to our national security. But one thing is sure – the American people deserve full transparency, and the federal government and Intelligence Community have a critical role to play in contextualizing and analyzing reports of UAPs.”
“The purpose of this hearing is to give the public an opportunity to hear directly from subject matter experts and leaders in the Intelligence Community on one of the greatest mysteries of our time, and to break the cycle of excessive secrecy and speculation with truth and transparency. I’m grateful to Congressman Carson for his continued leadership, and push for transparency, on this important issue.” [Source: announcement]
May 11, 2022
“There are a lot of unexplained aerial phenomena. We don’t know what they are, and they can’t be easily rationalized as weather phenomenon or balloons or anything else. So it’s quite a mystery.”
“I think they [Defense Department officials] will be comfortable telling the public what we do know, and what is still yet to be explained. But they’ll be very careful not to speculate that this is some extraterrestrial or this is some foreign adversary with some here before unknown technology. [Source: Fox News]
May 17, 2022
During the open hearing on UAP with Ronald Moultrie (Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security) and Scott Bray (Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence), Representative Schiff leads the following line of questioning:
“To me, among the most fascinating questions, are these phenomenon that we can measure? …it seems to move in directions that are inconsistent with what we know of physics or science more broadly. And that to me poses questions of tremendous interest and as well as potential national security significance. …”
“UAP reports need to be understood as a national security matter. And that message needs to go out across DOD, the IC, and the whole of the US government…. UAP reports have been around for decades, and yet we haven’t had an orderly way for them to be reported without stigma and to be investigated. That needs to change.” [Source: Hearing Transcript]
July 16, 2022
Representative Schiff presents a public lecture in California. During the Q&A, he is asked why studying UFOs is important.
“We are now as a result of oversight, being more systematic when pilots and others see things they can’t explain. … And sometimes that something moves in ways that we cannot explain, that aren’t consistent with our own technological capabilities, or what we know of our adversaries, and sometimes they aren’t even consistent–they don’t appear to be consistent with what we know about physics…. If it turns out to be more than that, that would be intriguing. My own suspicion is that what we’re seeing can be explained if we knew more about what we were observing and how we were observing it. But I leave myself open to other possibilities. … how often we are wrong about our assumptions. So I don’t want to exclude the possibility that we are wrong about other things as well.” [Source: Lecture]
July 20, 2022
Representative Schiff releases a statement on the passage of the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023:
Shining a historical light on UAPs. This year, the Intelligence Committee delivered on a promise to hold the first public hearing on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in more than half a century. The hearing included newly declassified information about UAPs, including never-before-seen video footage and data from subject matter experts. In order to support the work to unravel the UAP mystery, the 2023 IAA directs the GAO to study historical classified information that may further the broader IC effort to understand and explain UAPs – including the implications they may have for our national security. [Source: Schiff statement]
January 12, 2023
“I appreciate the effort undertaken by the ODNI to study and characterize unidentified aerial phenomena reports, and their commitment to ensuring transparency by releasing an unclassified summary to the American public. … Unidentified aerial phenomena remain a national security matter, and I will continue to support thorough investigations of all UAP reports and oversight by the Congress.” [Source]
—Adam Schiff became a US Senator January 2025—
Gallego, Ruben
Arizona–Democrat
House Term: 2015-2025
House Armed Services Committee (2015-Present); Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations (Chairman 2021-Present)
Senate Term: 2025-Present
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
June 17, 2021
The House Armed Services Committee’s Intelligence and Special Operations Subcommittee, chaired by Gallego, receives a classified briefing on UAP from the UAP Task Force. Source: Douglas Dean Johnson]
September 1, 2021
The House Armed Services Committee approves its version of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, and includes Representative Gallego’s UAP amendment. His office releases this statement:
“It is in the national security interest of the United States to know what is flying in our skies. Whether emerging tech from strategic competitors and adversaries or aerial phenomena from unknown origins, our military must have a full intelligence picture and the tools to respond quickly to these potential threats. My amendment creates a permanent office at DoD to comprehensively evaluate these UAPs, and I’m proud to announce its inclusion in the House version of the NDAA,” said Rep. Ruben Gallego, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations.
The approved amendment requires the Secretary of Defense to:
Establish an office to carry out the mission currently performed by the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force (in coordination with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence);
Submit an annual report on unidentified aerial phenomena; and
Terminate the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force. [Source: Statement]
The Debrief writes that the Gallego amendment is “the first to call for the establishment of an office within government solely for the study of UAP.” Among other provisions, the amendment also calls for “an update on any efforts underway on the ability to capture or exploit discovered unidentified aerial phenomena.” [Source: The Debrief]
September 25, 2021
Representative Gallego does an exclusive interview with Politico to explain why he proposed his UAP amendment:
“There’s been a total lack of focus across the national security apparatus to actually get at what’s happening here. I think there has been kind of a partial pastime of curiosity seekers that are within the Department of Defense but there has not been any professional initiative across the defense enterprise… so that we can actually make some deliberate and knowledgeable decisions.”
“I decided to actually put action to words. We had a briefing on this phenomenon. One of the things that came out of that briefing, without breaking too many walls here, was that there just needed to be better data collection. There needs to be standardized data collection across the services. We needed to continue to break down the stigma of reporting these phenomena. There are a lot of people who are afraid of reporting this because they’re afraid … it’s going to cost their careers. People think they’re crazy. We’re not going to be able to get to the bottom of this unless we collect information, get enough information to figure out exactly what’s going on [and] the pilots and other people who have seen it actually feel comfortable talking about it.”
“So if you happen to capture one of these huge weather balloons and think it was an unidentified object, it’s important we figure out … why it caused a reaction to a radar”
“Look, I’m from Arizona, I even lived in New Mexico a little bit. Very far away from Roswell, but still. Part of my job is to diminish the stigma of talking about this, especially for military personnel to talk about. If it means I have to take it on the chin a little, so be it.”
“I don’t think we have enough information to be honest, for us to know whether we should be worried or not. That’s why I’m structurally trying to put this together, so we can actually collect data and treat this like a scientific and military objective rather than … some kooky conspiracy theorists.”
“It’s OK for us to say we don’t know what’s happening so let’s figure it out. That’s not a bad thing in government. The only way to really do this is if you want to actually figure it out is to try to actually figure it out.” [Source: Politico]
November 14, 2021
“So let me tell you where the genesis of my legislation comes from. I’m the chairman of intelligence and special operations, which for some reason UAPs, or UFOs as people know them, fall under my jurisdiction. So I had a hearing regarding this and one of the things that was very clear about it is that we just don’t have enough information and even that the information the Department of Defense has, it is useless information, it is you know anecdotal evidence, and/or, you know even film, whatever it is. But we have no reference points to it, and there is no unified way to actually collect this information. Nobody knows what to do with this information. So the reason I put this legislation together is because we need to treat this as a real problem set, not that maybe these foreign aliens, or out-of-out of world aliens are a threat. The problem says that we don’t have enough information to make any decisions, so the way you do that is you actually gather the information so that way you can actually you know have some viable actions on it.”
” …the goal of my legislation is to treat this like a real problem set and the way you do that in when you’re dealing with the Pentagon is you have a system-wide understanding of how to collect this information, how to collect this data, let’s analyze the data and then let’s come up with recommendations about what this is and what we should do about it, because right now it’s really unfair I think for the NASA administrator to speculate that it is otherworldly objects or aliens because data doesn’t prove anything like that.”
“…and i think it’s getting to a point because we are a more interconnected society, you have a lot of people that are flying, a lot of people have can actively use their own drones, they can actually even now rent satellite imagery, more people are starting to discover this and i think that is setting up a course where if we don’t actually start answering questions or at least start looking for what the question should be, you’re going to have people jumping to some really bad conclusions.”
“…I think actually more than anything else it’s cultural. Because we’ve never treated UAPs as a serious issue, no person wants to be known as ‘the UFO general,’ right? Or be the person who is the director of UFO information. Because that basically sets your career path in the military….And so everyone just avoids it. Everyone just avoids the issue. Politicians avoid the issue. So everyone just kind of walks around in circles and saying, ‘Man, there’s something there,’ but nobody wants to do anything about it.” [Source: Hill TV]
December 9, 2021
Representative Gallego releases a statement on the passage of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act that includes UAP language from his amendment:
“Protecting our national security interests means knowing who and what are flying in U.S. airspace. Right now our system of tracking and identifying UAPs is scattered throughout the Department of Defense and other departments and agencies of the federal government,” Gallego said. “Based on briefings I’ve received as Chairman of the House Intelligence and Special Operations Subcommittee, I firmly believe that the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community need to come together and create a permanent, synchronized structure to collect and analyze UAP data. I’m excited that the amendment I introduced alongside Senator Gilibrand was included in the final version of the NDAA.” [Source: statement]
February 13, 2023
Rep. Gallego tweets about recent shoot-downs of balloons:
“The presence of high-altitude objects over American airspace is concerning. That’s why I’ve added language to the NDAA to evaluate all Unmanned Aerial Phenomena (UAP). This will allow us to report information in an organized way for analysis and study.”
To keep Americans safe, we must better identify what’s entering our airspace. I’m seeking answers from the @DeptofDefense on their plans to prevent these intrusions from happening again. To learn more about my UAP provision, check the link below.
—Ruben Gallego became a US Senator January 2025—
[more to come…]
U.S. House — UFO Statement Archive
Carson, André
Indiana–Democrat
Term: 2008-Present
Intelligence Committee (2015-present); Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence and Counterproliferation (Chairman 2021-22)
UFO Stance: Extraterrestrial Hypothesis Advocate
July 16, 2019
Representative Carson, as a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, receives a UAP briefing from the Office of Naval Intelligence. [Source: Navy emails]
June 16, 2021
The House Intelligence Committee receives a classified briefing from the UAPTF and the FBI previewing the upcoming UAP report. After the briefing, Casron gave a press interview:
Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.), who has been heading efforts on the UFO inquiry, said Americans should expect an eventual public hearing on the report’s findings.
“We’re looking forward to having a public hearing at some point,” he said. “I mean, there’s some national security concerns that we want to take into consideration.” [Source: New York Post]
“My hope … is that we will have a series of hearings and possibly a public hearing in the very near future.”
“There have been nearly 150 sightings–80 of the sightings detected with some of the best technology the world has ever seen. We can’t rule out something that is otherworldly, but that’s a very small percentage.”
The congressman also said Sunday that it would be “arrogant to say that there isn’t life out there.”
“If it is otherworldly, we have to take into account our advancements in terms of our cellphone technology and why aren’t these images being captured?” Carson said. “We have to think about the nearly 4,000 satellites that are orbiting the Earth right now. Most of those satellites have cameras attached to them. Why hasn’t any of that information been released?” [Source: Face the Nation]
January 2022
“If it is otherworldly we will have internal controls in place to protect us and to engage, in the event that that happens, in a healthy and safe way.” [Source:End UAP Secrecy]
Representative Casron announces the first congressional public hearing on UFOs in fifty years:
“The American people expect and deserve their leaders in government and intelligence to seriously evaluate and respond to any potential national security risks – especially those we do not fully understand.
“Since coming to Congress, I’ve been focused on the issue of unidentified aerial phenomena as both a national security threat and an interest of great importance to the American public. And I’m pleased to chair the first open Intelligence Committee hearing on these events. It will give the American people an opportunity to learn what there is to know about incidents. And I look forward to hearing from our witnesses on this critical matter.” [Soucre: announcement]
May 13, 2022
“The American people want answers. I think we have to be able to answer these questions in a way that does not compromise our national security, because our enemies will be listening very closely to hear what the military has to say.
“I think that there are things out there that can’t be explained. Some experts say 2 to 7% of these sightings are not based on weather balloons or computer malfunctions or aircraft. That is top secret. We can’t explain it away. So hopefully we can dig much deeper.” [Source: Fox News]
May 17, 2022
The House Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation (C3) holds the first congressional hearing on UFOs in over fifty years. Ronald Moultrie (Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security) and Scott Bray (Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence) testify about their progress standing up the new UAP office, AOIMSG. As chair of the committee, Carson, made several statements:
“You need to show us, Congress, and the American public whose imaginations you have captured, you are willing to follow the facts where they lead. We fear sometimes that the DOD is focused more on emphasizing what it can explain, not investigating what it can’t.”
“The last time Congress had a hearing on UAPs was half a century ago. I hope that it does not take 50 more years for Congress to hold another because transparency is desperately needed.” [Source: Hearing Transcript]
Representative Carson also gave an interview about the hearing to The Indianapolis Monthly:
Q: What do you hope the hearing accomplishes?
Carson: This is something I’ve been working towards for a long time, and something many other people have wanted as well. For a very long time, this subject was relegated to science fiction. But I believe UAPs present a very real risk and the Intelligence Committee has a responsibility to investigate it. As chairman… I think conducting this hearing will give us a chance to share some information with the public.
Q: What got you interested in the topic?
Carson: I’ve always been fascinated by it. When I was 16, Time-Life Books had a series called “Mysteries of the Unknown.” I couldn’t afford the whole series, but the first book was free. So I ordered it, and the first book was about UFOs. From there, I tried to learn more. And of course I was an ’80s baby and watched a lot of science-fiction movies. But coming from a military family, I know there have been questions about this from activists throughout the years. I want to be able to present an open hearing—the first one in 50 years, since Project Blue Book. But not in a way that gives our enemies any clues or cues into what we’re doing personally as a country.
Q: How would our enemies glean anything useful from this?
Carson: I think that UAPs have captured the imagination and the interest of the American public. They expect and deserve to know that the government and the intel community are seriously evaluating and responding to these potential security risks. Especially those we don’t fully understand. And there are about 2 to maybe 6 percent of these sightings that cannot be explained. They aren’t drones or aircraft or balloons or weather phenomena. That percentage of unexplained sightings must be addressed publicly.
Q: So probably less talk about cattle mutilations and possible abductions, and more about recent encounters between UAPs and, say, U.S. fighter jets?
Carson: After the public hearing, we will follow up a few hours later with a secret hearing. But from what I’m understanding, a lot of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle want to raise points about reports they’ve heard from their own constituents. So we could go anywhere. I want us to go different places in our allotted timeframe, while also retaining the credibility of the subcommittee.
Q: Twenty or 30 years ago, chairing a hearing like this might have been more problematic, because whoever got the job would be afraid he or she would be laughed at. Has that thinking changed?
Carson: Yes, and I think in a positive way. We have people in the media and in the state who are willing to report these things. There’s been a stigma attached to it, but we’re talking about witnesses who are commercial and military pilots. Folks in the military and law enforcement who have been ridiculed and prevented from advancing in organizations because of what they’ve reported.
Q: Popular opinion says that UAPs could be anything from secret aircraft operated by the U.S. or an adversary, all the way to extraterrestrials. What’s your view?
Carson: Look, I don’t think we’re alone in the universe. The laws of probability suggest we aren’t, but we just don’t know. It’s worth noting that the majority of these sightings happen around military installations. Many of us have seen YouTube videos, and obviously many of those are not credible. But there are others that seem far more credible, with real audio attached to them. What might we be looking at? These are questions we want to ask, and as chair of the committee, I’m going to give my colleagues the ability and opportunity to ask them.
Q: Have you ever seen a possible UAP?
Carson: I’ve seen things in the sky on a couple of occasions, but it could be explained as a shooting star or even an aircraft traveling at high speed. However, I’m open to the idea that it might, in some cases, be something else.
Q: Your committee already had a secret meeting last year on this topic. Can we assume, because of this public meeting and the secret one that will follow it, that you didn’t get all the information you hoped for that first time?
Carson: Yes.
Q: Is the interest in UAPs bipartisan?
Carson: There’s been so much interest among both Republicans and Democrats that I think this hearing will be bipartisan. That doesn’t mean that when the cameras come out, there might not be some pageantry or posturing. But that comes with the territory. What I’ve found is that Republicans have a genuine interest in this, and they’re asking the tough questions just like we are. I hope to have the spirit of bipartisanship, at least for an hour or two while this hearing takes place. They have questions too, so here we are. [Source: The Indianapolis Monthly]
January 12, 2023
Representative Carson on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Report, press release
“This report shows a key goal of our public hearing was achieved: to help destigmatize UAP reporting. By bringing this issue into the light and increasing public awareness, UAP reports have increased, ensuring the U.S. government has all the information on important issues of national security. I appreciate the collaboration of Chair Adam Schiff and other Members who have worked on this issue and look forward to continue learning more facts about these phenomena.”
January 14, 2023
Representative Carson CBS Saturday Morning interview:
Question: In all these sightings now, we’ve got 510, has any physical evidence such as debris been recovered?
Carson: “The debris that has been recovered has not raised any notable alarms, and that’s as much as I’ll say.”
May, 2023
Representative Carson was interviewed by documentarian James Fox, posted online August 2:
“Are people ready for some kind of revelation that deals with extraterrestrial life, life that is interdimensional, life that is otherworldly. And so that kind of revelation unearths people’s beliefs, their religious beliefs, their spiritual beliefs that they’ve been taught all their lives. And so, if such a revelation were to present itself, how does it get presented, and can it be done in a way that people are accepting of it?”
June 5, 2023
Fox News interview about David Grush:
“One of the purposes of the committee that I serve on, and the hearing that I held, the first hearing in fifty years since Project Blue Book, was to encourage folks in the IC, and outside of the intel community, to come forward with their stories.”
March 13, 2024
Rep. Carson in response to Matt Laslo question about the perception that the House Intelligence Committee is not taking the UAP issue seriously.
“Well, I think, whenever we talk about these issues our adversaries are always listening… So, we wanna make sure that we’re not giving away context, clues if we’re talking about it publicly.”
On AARO historical report: “Im still reviewing it.”
September 19, 2024
Rep. Carson to Matt Laslo about the House Oversight Committee UAP hearing: “Listen, the public wants to know and hear, but can you have a party without us [House Intelligence Committee]?”
Moulton, Seth
Massachusetts–Democrat
Term: 2015-Present
Committee on Armed Services
UFO Stance: Unclear
December 5, 2019
Representative Moulton and other members of the House Armed Services Committee receive UAP briefing from the Office of Naval Intelligence. He “asked questions typical of this topic” and expressed interest in securing funding for UAP investigations. [Source: Navy emails]
Burchett, Tim
Tennessee–Republican
Term: 2019-Present
Committee on Oversight & Accountability
UFO Stance: Extraterrestrial Hypothesis Advocate
June 16, 2021
“If the Russians had UFO technology, I mean, they would own us right now. They used to say that they’ve heard people talk about how the Nazis had it in the Second World War that they did, they would have won. That is ridiculous. It has to be something that is out of our galaxy, it just has to be if it in fact is real.”
“They [presidents] always say they’re gonna do something bad and then they get in office and, and honestly, I thought Trump was gonna do something, thought he was gonna release the files. But you know, they release these files that are redacted. It’s just a big blob of white out. Clearly, something’s going on that we can’t handle. I mean UFOs were in the Bible. Read Ezekiel, it talks about the wheel flying around. So I mean, they’re, they’ve been around since we’ve been around and somebody needs to come up with some answers.”
“I think Roswell was covered up. I think you know more people believe in UFOs than believe in Congress for good reason. Because of the jackleg stuff we do like that we talked about we’re going to release it and then we never do, or we release something that is so redacted that is just ridiculous. The Air Force had a release on Roswell, which was the big deal I think in ’48 [1947] and the big cover up there and the guy that did it was a smart aleck and he kind of smirked the whole time and nobody took it serious. They ought to take it serious. The American public wants to know and frankly, we deserve to know…. But we haven’t had a president with enough guts to do it just yet.” [Source: TMZ Interview]
Representative Burchett was one of three members of Congress who expressed frustration with recent UAP briefings in a Politico article:
“I don’t trust the Department of Defense to get this right since leadership there has always been part of a cover-up”
“It is clear from the public evidence that we don’t have full control of our airspace,” added Burchett, whose district includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where there have been numerous reports of UFO sightings over the decades. “That’s a national security issue and it’s also unacceptable.” [Source: Politico]
May 10, 2022
“A public hearing is long overdue, but it will be a waste of time if the Pentagon isn’t forthcoming with its information. We’ve asked the Pentagon to fix a problem it created in the first place, and I predict these officials won’t be nearly as transparent as they should be.” [Source: Liberation Times]
May 16, 2022
Before the open congressional hearing on UAP, Representative Burchett gave an interview with John Michael Godier’s show Event Horizon:
“Well I think it’s a big cover-up. It’s been a cover-up since before Roswell I think there’s obviously proof that that there is some kind of intelligence out there that can can put things in the air and move them at rates of speed, and change directions in manners that we’re not accustomed to or could not survive, and I think the federal government has continuously covered this up.”
“The only reason there’s a hearing is because it was leaked by some folks of some some very compelling audio and video of navy pilots, which are the best in the world, and some interaction with some type of craft. I still prefer to call them UFOs. I think it’s a distraction to change the name because you hear a headline ‘UAP’ or whatever. I think that that just further clouds the issue for the American public.”
“I think the hearing they’ll announce who’s going to be in charge in the federal government [of the new Pentagon UAP office]. It’ll some astrophysicist or something, I’m not sure if that’s the correct term or not, and I’m sure they’re an honest honorable person and they will talk about things they’ll say that this in fact is something we don’t understand and we’re not capable of doing it and everybody’s gonna ooh and ah but they’ve been saying that for quite some time since this stuff was leaked and that person in all sincerity and their honesty will probably not have the keys to the vault. They’re not going to talk about reports that have been redacted upon redaction, they might as well have just put one word on a paper and surrounded it with whiteout because these reports are a joke, and I feel like they’ve continuously done this. And that’s why people like me never get on intelligence committees.”
“It’s about control. I mean Reagan said that… if we were to as a people, the world, were to find out hey there is something there are other beings out there, maybe our focus would stop turning on the boogeyman overseas or across the border. And that whole military industrial complex, that investment that elected officials in congress make 75% on the return on their investments knowing which missiles, which companies to buy because of which conflicts were getting ready to get into before the average person knows, maybe that would upset that little apple cart a little bit too much, and so there’s a lot of factors. And I know people roll their eyes. I hear me saying this, but you just have to see and be around some of those people before you realize what the heck is going on now.”
Godier: In your fellow members of the House do you get a sense that you got a lot of support into looking into this? Do you feel like behind the scenes other congressional members that normally wouldn’t talk about this subject because of the stigma are very interested in it as as much as you?
Burchett: “Very few very few i’d say a half dozen, and I’m the most vocal. It’s just in my genetic makeup, but you know if I feel a little friction that’s generally the way I go, and I feel a lot of friction in this because people are shut up about it you can’t you talk about it and people just shake their head and walk off. I mean they just don’t want to be stigmatized with it.”
“If it’s from out of this world, they’ve had this technology a long time. You know I go out at night and look at the stars and the vastness of God’s universe and I think wow. And I look at some of those stars in the light… the vastness of God’s universe, some of the light that we’re seeing from stars left those stars before the time of Christ. Some of them are stars that have collapsed millions of years ago and we’re just now seeing the light from it. I mean that’s some pretty big vastness …this is something that’s been around for a long time and these beings if there are beings I think if they were going to do us damage they already would… I think if they wanted to do us harm they would have done us harm a long time ago and I’m just not seeing any evidence of that. And then I just think we we need to be more forthcoming with what’s going on.”
Godier: The hearing that’s coming up Tuesday. If it appears that you’re getting stonewalled again by the representatives from the Pentagon what can Congress do to go further?
“I would hope at some point we would subpoena folks. There’s enough out there we could call in people and give them and and give them some sort of freedom to talk without being prosecuted under the law…. They won’t be convicted of a crime or anything and i think we ought to allow that, we ought to allow people to come in and speak freely if they have to do it in a in a closed meeting or if they have to do it behind–you know they used to have mobsters come in and testify behind a screen who were squealing on their their mob cohorts–but I just think at some point enough is enough. I just don’t think this [hearing] is going to do anything. I don’t have any faith in Congress to do the right thing, and I just think that they’ll run us down a rabbit hole.” [Source: John Michael Godier interview]
After the public hearing on UAP, Burchett spoke with the press:
“For them to show that lame video, when you can find all the other that’s out there. I’ve talked to Navy pilots that are in there at the same time. That’s the kind of people you need to have in here for testimony… We have video from pilots, and their wing cameras for goodness sakes. Bring those guys in here. Let them talk.”
“By telling you they have whistleblower protection. That’s bogus until it’s in the law. For us to talk about it is bogus. You really need to provide them with some sort of ability to come in here and not be prosecuted, and not have a blemish on their records.”
“Transparency. I do not fear the American public knowing what we have. And I would sure as heck like them to see it.”
Interviewer: “Did you learn anything today?”
“No. I learned that I was correct, that the coverup will continue.” [Source: interview]
June 1, 2022
Representative Burchett interviews Luis Elizondo on his podcast Tennessee Talks. [Source: Tennessee Talks]
January 14, 2023
Representative Burchett News Nation interview:
“We’ve been covering this up since the 40s … I don’t trust [the] government, [and] there’s an arrogance about it, and I think the American public can handle it. …release everything… we need to find out what’s going on. …huge cover-up, for whatever reason. America is ready to know, and stop with all the shenanigans.”
February 22, 2023
Radio interview with Bob Thomas:
“My biggest concern is we have something in our airspace, in our military airspace, that is flying very close to our aircraft, that we do not control. Now it’s not the Russians, it’s not the Chinese. Some of the balloons, yes, they are Chinese. The first one was. I think the last three were basically a distraction so that we would get off the President’s back. They started shooting down weather balloons, which we see quite a bit of. The UFO or UAP phenomenon is real. I believe that there’s craft that’s visiting from somewhere, and we don’t control ‘em.”
June 7, 2023
Representative Burchett revealed on Steve Bannon’s podcast: “he ‘has a commitment’ from both House speaker Kevin McCarthy and House Oversight Committee chair James Comer to hold a hearing on UAPs, though he says it’s not a top priority for party leaders. ‘We’re only going to get about one bite at the apple,’ Burchett said.” [Wired]
June 8, 2023
Representative Burchett asked by Fox News, “Will we get answers as to wether or not we are alone.”
“We are not alone and we will get some answers.” Acknowledges he spoke with David Grusch yesterday.
June 29, 2023
Representative Burchett filed a UFO-related amendment (no. 438) to the House NDAA (H.R. 2670), to require the Dept. of Defense to declassify “any documents and other records…relating to publicly known sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena.” This was revised to be less expansive and approved for inclusion in the final House NDAA on July 12.
July 17, 2023
Representative Burchett announces a hearing focused on UFOs.
July 20, 2023
Press Conference announcing House OverSight Committee hearing on UAP.
Last year, the House Intelligence Committee held a hearing on UAPS. They brought in some Pentagon bureaucrats [Ronald Moultrie and Scott Bray] who only had two answers to the questions they were asked. I don’t know or that’s classified. This hearing is going to be different. We’re going to have witnesses who can speak frankly to the public about their experiences. We’ve had a heck of a lot of pushback about this hearing. We’ve had members of Congress who fought us. We’ve had members of the intelligence community and also the Pentagon even NASA backed out on us. There are a lot of people who don’t want this to come to light. I’ve even tried to introduce an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill and all that would do would require the Federal Aviation Administration to report UAP sightings by commercial pilots to Congress. The Intelligence, I was told the a uh the intelligence community shut it down. This is ridiculous, folks, they either they do exist or they don’t exist. They keep telling us they don’t exist but they block every opportunity for us to get a hold of the information to prove that they do exist. And we’re gonna get to the bottom of it. Dad gum, whatever the truth may be, we’re done with the cover up.”
Question: Would we have riots in the streets?
“Absolutely not. And that, what do you think? I think it’s the arrogance of this, the arrogance of our government. Why would it, why would it over 55 more people believe in UFO S and believe in Congress? I mean, look at the polling that’s out now. 55 58 depends on who you talk to. They believe there’s something else out there and these are legitimate polls. I, I, I’m stopped every, every weekend, I’m back in Knoxville. I’m talking about educated people, professional people, I’m on airplanes, I’m traveling all over the country. People will stop me and tell me about an experience, decorated veterans. These people, why would they risk their reputations and careers over something that they’re lying about? It’s just, it’s too big right now and, and I don’t believe they can keep their, their, their, their thumb in the, in the, in the, in the dam, too much longer because people are coming forward to too rapid of a rate.”
“It’s either something from that’s extraterrestrial or something that we, that we have in our skunk works that we are reverse engineering because with this technology, when you see the uh the tic tac videos and listen to the pilots, it defies all of our laws of physics, the human body would not be able to stand the pressure from this thing. It’s, it’s, it’s beyond belief and some other stuff and that’s why I wish they would release everything that, that I’ve seen because the American public would say, why are you covering this up?”
Question: At the hearing next week, should we expect to be seeing new visuals, video, or pictures?
“Possibly. But I think what you’re going to see is real questions.”
“And here’s what’s gonna happen. A few of the big shots in Congress are going to get a call from some of their donors saying, hey, let’s, let’s get to the bottom of this and they, they’re gonna start getting interested. We’ve had, I’ve had so many congressmen put a bug in my ear saying, man, I’ve had, uh, some of them have told me they’ve had sightings and they’re afraid to say anything and they’re glad we’re doing it. So I think we’re knocking, we’re knocking the varnish off of it a little bit with this. Do I think, you know, we’re not gonna bring you in a saucer or a little green man? That’s not what it’s gonna be about. And I know y’all. Every time you play this uh interview with one of us, you play the theme from X files, I get it. But the reality is the American public deserves to know and you, you better be careful about a government that doesn’t trust its people because there’s no telling what they’ll pull on you.”
On Eglin Air Force Base incident: “Ok. Well, and what Representative Luna and I experienced was, our colleague, Matt Gaetz was contacted by some folks that said that some people would like to talk about some information, some things they’d seen and we uh we contacted the Air Force and we flew, we were told we were going to be briefed on this issue, the UFO…. And, um, we got down there and it was the traditional SCIF James Bond stuff. You leave your phone, your Fitbit. We go in and the synopsis had nothing to do. It was some pretty, pretty big important stuff, but it was not anything to do with the UFO and we stopped the thing rightfully right in the middle of it and said, hey, this is not what you all told us. We were coming down here and they basically told us we’re not going to give it to you. The arrogance of this general was beyond belief. …Numerous pilots have told us and I’m sure they’ve told Representative Luna that the, when, when they come forward with this, they’re supposed to be provided some sort of whistleblower protection. But they’re not, they, the brass will tell you they’re debriefed. Well, they’re interrogated for eight hours, I believe at some point. And then they have a blemish on the record and then, uh, they carry this stigma and we were, we’ve been actually told that they will destroy, um, video evidence because they don’t want to have to go back in and have to be pulled off the flight line and be interrogated for eight hours.”
July 26, 2023
From Representative Burchette’s opening statement and questioning during the UAP hearing for the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Hearing.
“It’s been so difficult to get here today. I’ve said you know in the Baptist Church we’d say that the devil’s in our way, and the devil has been in our way through this thing. We’ve run into roadblocks from members from the Intelligence Community, the Pentagon. I proposed legislation to go in the FAA reauthorization that just said if an airline pilot has a sighting that when he makes that report to the FAA that it would come to Congress, but I was told that the Intelligence Community did not like that and the amendment was not even heard in committee. I think it’s time for this country to take back our country. We need to tell the folks at the Pentagon they work for us, that we don’t work for them, and that’s exactly the point. This is an issue of government transparency. We can’t trust a government that does not trust its people.”
“Has the U.S government become aware of actual evidence of extraterrestrial otherwise unexplained forms of intelligence and if so when do you think this first occurred?”
“Can you give me the names and titles of the people with direct first-hand knowledge and access to some of this crash retrieval some of these crash retrieval programs and maybe which facilities military bases that the recovered material would be in? And I know a lot of Congress talked about we’re going to go to Area 51 and you know and there’s nothing there anymore anyway it’s just you know and we move like a glacier as soon as we announce it I’m sure the moving vans would pull up.”
“What special access programs cover this information and how is it possible that they have evaded oversight for so long?”
What level of security clearance is required to fully access these programs, and I say that because myself, Representative Gaetz and Representative Luna were basically turned away at one point at Eglin [Air Force Base].”
“Which private corporations are directly involved in this program? How much taxpayer money has been invested in these programs to your knowledge?”
“Has there been an active U.S government disinformation campaign to deny the existence of unidentified aerial phenomena and if so why are you aware of any individuals that are participating in reverse engineering programs for non-terrestrial craft?”
“We thank you, and I do want to also thank the people in the audience, and people that are watching this. People all over the world that have kept this issue alive. You’ve endured criticism and derogatory remarks, and we’re trying to get to the bottom of it, and so God bless y’all thank you all so much we really appreciate you guys and gals.”
July 27, 2023
Representative Burchett and three other members of the House call on the Speaker to create a Select Committee to investigate the “United States government’s response to UAPs”
August 22, 2023
Representative Burchett and five other members of the House submit a letter to the Intelligence Community Inspector General, requesting names and locations of any UFO crash retrieval and reverse engineering programs.
Burchett tweeted a copy of the letter, stating: “During the UAP hearing, David Grusch testified he could not provide specific details about UAP crash retrieval programs or reverse engineering programs, but said the Intelligence Community Inspector General could. So my colleagues and I wrote to him to ask for details.”
August 28, 2023
Representative Burchett gives an interview for a MUFON symposium:
“I’ve got a meeting set up with the Speaker [Rep. Kevin McCarthy] when I get back to DC in September… Hopefully in September we’ll be able to, I’m going to get the Speaker to do that select committee. And I’m going to call on you all’s folks to make sure they apply pressure to their legislators.”
Burchett said that McCarthy called him on his birthday, August 25. “…I said don’t forget that select committee. I wish you’d really consider it, and he said ‘I thought you were going to come see me.’ …which tells me he’s still serious about it, in consideration of why we should have this select committee. You got to realize with the select committee we are going to be able to get to these witnesses in a setting where they will be able to tell us everything, and we can subpoena them, and they will have their attorneys there, and we will be asking questions, and they will be able to provide answers.”
On October 3, Burchett was one of eight House Republicans who voted to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
September 13, 2023
A NewsNation journalist tweets: “NEW-@RepTimBurchett tells me he spoke to @SpeakerMcCarthy Tuesday, who assured Burchett there will be more UAP / UFO hearings. Burchett says despite public demand for another, leadership was hesitant & reluctant to allow it. But assurance from the Speaker is significant.”
September 15, 2023
Representative Burchett tweets the letter from Intelligence Community Inspector General in response to his questions about David Grush allegations: “Look at the bottom paragraph. The IC IG office did nothing to look into the information they received from David Grusch on UAP crash retrieval programs? They have no information they can give to Congress??? Cover-up.”
Interviewed by Matt Laslo about the ICIG letter: “It’s more of the same. I’ve got no faith in any of these people. They’re just trying to run the clock out…. They keep bring people in who can’t spell UFO. Why would I trust them?”
“We’re not going to get a select committee. And the reason for that is, we ticked off the Intelligence Committee and Community, we got in their lane. Well, you know what, if they’d been doing their dad-gum job, we wouldn’t have got in their lane.” Is Speaker McCarthy supportive? “Yeah, sort of. But he realizes we stepped on the toes of the Intelligence Community, that’s what he told me, basically that’s why we’re not getting a select committee…. If he’d wanted to sweeten the pot [for a Continuing Resolution to fund the government] then he should have given me a select committee.”
September 21, 2023
Representative Burchett attends a closed-door NASA briefing to the House Oversight Committee. He tweets this video of this thoughts: “It’s 56 pages. Doesn’t say a whole lot. To me it’s just driving them towards getting more funding. … What I think they’ve done here is send these two folks in here, like the Pentagon did, who have very little knowledge of the issue, so they can hold up their hand before Congress and swear that they know nothing about the issue, and it doesn’t exist.”
September 22, 2023
Representative Burchett tells Matt Lalso about Himes contradiction the idea that the House Intelligence Committee squashed his UAP select committee: “It’s very odd that they say that when I was told by the Speaker [Kevin McCarthy] that that was the reason why we couldn’t have a select [UAP] committee, because we stepped on their toes. I just think they don’t want to address the UFO issue. The war pimps at the Pentagon got too much money and too much, you know, and nobody’s gonna slap their fat hand. Til I come along and I’m one of 435. I gotta get somebody else. Gotta get two of us up there.”
October 17, 2023
Representative Burchett tells NewsNation that he and others in the House will be allowed into a SCIF to review documents realted to Grusch:
“I believe, first of all, we’ll go through with the documents. That (going in with Grusch. ~Joe) would be a secondary thing, which I understand is in the works as well. From what I understand, there’s a lot more than Grusch out there. Dave’s a buddy of mine, but there’s a lot more than Grusch out there that have this information and we’re gonna get to it. And that’s why people are very nervous, and they should be, at the Pentagon. Because they’ve been covering this thing up since 1947. And now, all of a sudden, hey, 55% of America believes that there’s something else out there. A major news network like yourself is covering this, so they realize there’s money available, they want us to study it now. All I say is, bring out the documents, let the American public decide. You all have been great in the media by keeping the heat on them and thank you all for that.”
October 19, 2023
Representative Burchett tweets:
“A SCIF has been booked for members of Congress to meet with the Inspectors General of the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community to discuss UAPs in a classified setting. Dates for the meetings:
DOD IG – October 26
IC IG – November 16
It’s a start.”
October 26, 2023
Representative Burchett was interviewed after a classified UAP briefing in a SCIF.
Q: What did you learn in there? Are you satisfied?
Burchett: “Absolutely nothing. .. It’s like a stove pipe. They just have their little bit of information … If I got to hear one more time, ‘I don’t know, I don’t know.’ It’s another layer of the onion. We peel another layer and we know where not to go and it’s with these cats.”
“Some of them [Congresspeople] are not UFO people. They just don’t think they exist, but they are seeing the frustration that the rest of us have seen.”
“A select committee would empower us more. But there again, leadership has to agree with it, and leadership gets the call from the big boys… [With a select committee] we have subpoena power, and you don’t have to go through leadership. We just go. We just do it.”
Burchett also told the Daily Wire about future Inspector General briefings: “I don’t expect anything from this. Until we get some private government contractor who’s ticked off about something, that’s dealing with some of this stuff, [who] comes forward. A lot of it’s farmed out to them because it’s un-FOIA-able. We’re never going to get anywhere — just going to be our word against theirs. And people in Congress don’t have the guts to take them on because the defense contractors grease this place incredibly well.”
Burchett told he Daily Wire that he approached the new Speaker of the House Mike Johnson within 24 hours of his appointment about forming a UAP select committee:
“He seems very receptive,” Burchett said in an interview. When asked if he thinks Johnson might be open to a select committee, he replied, “I do — because he’s not beholden to the defense contractors.” When pressed on whether he would ask for a select committee, Burchett noted that he has already done so informally, but would need to make the request officially.
October 2023
Rep. Burchett interviewed by Trey Smith (football player and UFO witness) on The Torchbearer podcast.
Smith: “Congressman do you think that that's in play [War of the Worlds scenario] or do you think that it's more so for the benefits of the quote unquote shadow people in the government that are controlling all this to have access to the capabilities in this technology?”
Burchett: I think it's several of those things but it feeds into the ability of them to keep it secret no matter what the their angle is if it if it gets to the same conclusion for the big boys and girls then they're fine. I couldn't I couldn't um agree with you more on what you said though that's uh you know you figure you know they're up at Kennybunkport or or Martha's Vineyard and they're in their their um you know corduroy jacket with the with the sleeve you know with the elbow sleeves and they're smoking their pipe sitting around and talking about this little people and how we don't we can't handle it and we need to we need to keep you know this under wraps cuz people would riot. I mean I was told that. I was in the in the tunnel one of the tunnels under the Capital. It was kind of weird, a guy walked up to me that I knew and said ‘you know Tim,’ he said, ‘we really don't need to put this stuff out,’ and I was like what, he said, ‘yeah, people couldn't handle it, there'd be riots,’ and I'm like riots by who? You know, I could go to East Knoxville and have a forum on it I could go to West Knoxville and have a forum on I go to Lenor City, Dandridge, you know, wherever, Clay County or Granger County, you know what people would say I think there's something out there. I want to know the dadgum answer. I don't care their color, their socioeconomic background or anything else.”
November 8, 2023
Representative Burchett speaks on the UFO podcast Weaponized with George Knapp and Jeremy Corbell.
“Every time we do that, the UFO community gets a little tired… The folks that are true believers like us, they’re getting more refined, and they understand our frustration. . Everybody had that same look. They just kind of nodded, ‘We get it now, Burchett.’ Which was a good thing. You all are long termers, your lifers in this thing and you get it, you get the fact that we just get turned away at all times. But now, when you have a bunch of arrogant United States congressmen who have their finger on the checkbook of this country, that to me, I felt more redemed after the meeting.”
“In no shape form or fashion did we get anything that Grusch–and basically they um–let’s see, let me see how I can say this, basically they didn’t valdify or condemn Grusch. Let’s just leave it at that…. I left there not knowing anything more than when I went in.”
Knapp: The new Speaker has given you a thumbs up in pursuing the topic? Burchett: “100%… I think it’s important that we get some of these Department of Defense people in, and start separating the wheat form the chaff. Let’s start eliminating stuff that we don’t need to be talking about, and let’s get some people on the record. … maybe we can get a little closer.”
Knapp: You expressed some concerns that maybe this will be used against you in the next election. Is someone in your district running against you on UAPs? [37:15] Burchett: “Well, oddly enough, a member of Congress, a chairman apparently has been calling around the district, a very powerful chairman who has a lot of friends at the Pentagon and in those departments, has been calling around trying to get me opposition…. It’s not like I’m going to back off on it either, it just kind of ticks me off. It means that we are closer than maybe we give ourselves credit for.”
January 12, 2024
Representative Burchett talking with Matt Laslo about today’s ICIG’s SCIF presentation on David Grusch.
“At one time there was sixteen people in there.”
“More of the same. I’m tired of the runaround. And then you got to ask specific questions. Someone would ask a question, but they would give a very un-answer answer, then somebody else would ask it more specific way and they would give a better answer. I’m tired of all that stuff. Just give us the answer… We shouldn’t have to go through that many hoops.”
“There were people there that normally weren't there that took interest. And that's specifically due to the fact that their constituents are calling them and saying, ‘what the heck is going on?’ And why are they not, why do they not feel like we as taxpayers have a right to know where our tax dollars are being spent?”
January 19, 2024
Local news in Tennessee reports on Rep. Burchett’s primary opponent, Jimmy Matlock. The most important stated reason for opposing Burchett is his role in the outster of Speaker McCarthy, but UFOs are mentioned. Victor Ashe, mayor of Knoxville, tells the Washington Examiner: “UFOs may be an issue for some people, but middle Tennessee, in the middle east Tennessee, it doesn’t break No. 45 on the list. It’s just not a topic that relates to that, whereas jobs and public safety, you know.”
January 24, 2024
Rep. Burchett interviews Rep. Luna on his podcast Tennessee Talks.
February 7, 2024
Rep. Burchett responds to Matt Lalso question about his push for a UAP Select Committee:
“Yeah, I don’t know. Everybody pushed towards that. I don’t know if that’s even a possibility. Really. I can’t see — I don’t know. And they’d have to devote resources to it, and it’s just gonna be a — that’s just all new details, and I don’t know if they’d wanna do it or not. And I’ll push for it, but I’m not — it’s not a beach I’m going to die on.”
February 29, 2024
Rep. Burchett gets Matt Laslo up to speed on UAP hearing developments:
Burchett: “But yeah, I talked to the Speaker [Mike Johsnon] about it [during a Feb 9 fundraiser]. He made some notes about it, and he didn’t seem like there’d be any problem having a regular committee hearing like we did before.”
Laslo: “And you guys still want a field hearing?”
Burchett: “Yeah. We can do field hearings without anybody’s approval, apparently.”
Laslo: “Yeah?”
Burchett: “But the Select [UAP] Committee, I don’t think that’s — that’s staffing, that’s money, that’s hassle….”
Laslo: “Yeah?”
Burchett: “So I just don’t see that happening.”
Laslo: “How was — like, Speaker Johnson, was he familiar with the issue or he’s got a lot to learn?”
Burchett: “Yeah. Yeah. And the way I approached it to him was, ‘Look, we spend literally millions of dollars on an issue that our government says does not exist. Yet they — and, you know, and now they’re telling us they don’t exist, but then they won’t show us what they found in those studies. So, that’s the way I’m approaching it now to people in Congress. Because, you know, they don’t want the stigma — the saucers or the little green — although several of them have seen saucers.”
Laslo [laughs]: “Did that — did it feel like that resonated with Johnson?”
Burchett: “Very much so. He wrote it down.”
March 12, 2024
Rep. Burchett signed Rep. Burlison’s formal request for a UAP Select Committee to Speaker Jonson and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Signed by seven other House members.
March 12, 2024
Rep. Burchett responds to Lalso question about AARO historical report: “They’re lying — they’re lying to us, man. They’re not telling the truth, and it’s unfortunate. They’re just trying to degrade people. And, you know: debate us, don’t run us down…. I don’t care what they do. That’s just another bureaucracy — government-funded bureaucracy — and until we have an executive in the White House that truly cares about the government waste and nonsense — doing away with nonsense — you’re not gonna see any of that go away.”
April 17, 2024
Rep. Burchett met Maj. Gen. David W. Abba, the Director of Special Programs and the Director of the Department of Defense Special Access Program Central Office in the Pentagon, and Tim Phillips, Director of AARO present a classified briefing on UAP.
Rep. Burchett tells Matt Laslo after leaving AARO SCIF briefing:
“I don't think anything of anything. Because it's just, I just don't get a lot of information from them AARO]. I’m just — once again. Once again, I just feel like the whole thing is disinformation. I mean, it’s so compartmentalize that we're not going to get information and we’re told stuff in the SCIF that shouldn't be classified and it is. We got to have a president that just says: ‘Release it all.’ That's the only way it's gonna happen.”
To NewsNation: “They don’t think we deserve it. I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had with high ranking officials, that have told me that America really can’t handle this stuff, Congressman, we really need to be real careful about it. It’s not their position to tell me who or what I can handle. You know, wer’re Americans. We can take it. Give it to us. I’m tired of it. …As long as some of us are still in Congress, they don’t run us off, we’ll continue trying to get the answers. Look, I just want transparency.”
May 16, 2024
Rep. Burchett submits his two-page UAP Transparency Act amendment for inclusion in the 2025 NDAA. Full text linked here.
May 23, 2024
Rep. Burchett questions Department of Energy Secretary Granholm during a House Oversight Committee hearing. YouTube link & Committee homepage link.
Rep. Burchett: “What is the responsibility of the Federal Protective Services within the Nuclear Security Administration? I was going to follow up with the numerous reports by the Federal Protective Services officers describing suspicious occurrences of UAPs over nuclear facilities.”
Granholm: “Let me just say the Defense Department has said there is no evidence of UFOs, etc., or aliens in the United States, however at those sites there may be drones that may be nefarious and so we are definitely looking at that and making sure that our national security sites are protected. We have a whole program related to countering drones that may be coming from--”
Rep. Burchett: “Well this isn't about drones and this is prior to drones even. What protocols does the Department of Energy have for reporting and responding to any UAP sightings near nuclear infrastructure, and people joke about this but uh I've get a lot of question questions about this concerning this and about this hearing today from my constituent so I would appreciate you answering that if there are any protocols.”
May 23, 2024
Rep. Burchett questions Department of Energy Secretary Granholm during a House Oversight Committee hearing. YouTube link & Committee homepage link.
Rep. Burchett: [pull quotes]
Burchett to Laslo and other reporters after the hearing:
Burchett: “Oh, I set her [Granholm] up. I asked about UFO with the Department of Energy. And they said, ‘Aliens don’t exist or spaceships,’ and after that: BOOM! And then everybody just lit her up, because they have a procedure in place and they were certain. And she said they've never had an incident of a nuclear facility, and there's literally documented incidents. I mean, that's weird.”
Laslo: “What do make of her reaction?”
Burchett: “I think she was condescending. She kinda smirked, and I didn’t like that. I don’t like that. People believe in UFOs — and over half the American population does. It's like 55 to 60% believe that we're not alone. … “And I look, and everybody’s like, ‘Burchett, man, why didn’t you?’ and I say, ‘No, all I wanted to do is get her on record.’ And then watch them, watch [Rep. Anna Paulina] Luna. We had it all planned out, and that’s what worked.”
May 31, 2024
Rep. Burchett writes a Natioanl Review op-ed, Declassify the UAP Files, excerpted below.
“Around 5 a.m. on July 26, 2023, I walked outside my office building in Washington to an early-morning interview with Fox News. As I stepped out, I stopped to talk to a group of people who were eagerly waiting for something. I soon realized they were waiting for a hearing that was scheduled to start five hours later [the House Oversight hearing with witnesses Grusch, Fravor, and Graves].... There are about 50 seats in the committee room for the public. Hundreds of people from all over the country and even the world lined up throughout the building to try to sneak a peek inside. These people have been passionate about this issue for years. They all agreed that the government needs to be transparent about what it knows regarding UAPs.”
“The Pentagon has spent tens of millions of dollars studying UAPs for decades. Yet every time someone asks about them, top-level bureaucrats claim there’s nothing out there besides drones, party balloons, misidentified aircraft, or swamp gas. This isn’t about finding little green men or flying saucers. This is about government transparency. So many people, myself included, are tired of hearing from top-level bureaucrats that UAPs don’t exist. We’ve heard sworn testimony from witnesses who have everything to lose and nothing to gain from coming forward with their experiences. Members of our military have come forward and been “debriefed.” But it’s more like an interrogation followed by retaliation from their superiors and humiliation from their peers. If there’s really “nothing” as the bureaucrats claim, why are whistleblowers so mistreated and run through the mud? Also, if there’s really “nothing,” why do we get so many redacted reports and briefings held in the SCIF, where it’s completely classified, and we can’t talk about anything that was discussed? If there’s nothing to hide, why keep it under wraps? Why has our government spent tens of millions of dollars over many decades to study ‘nothing’?”
On his UAP amendment: “We need to cut through all the questions and uncertainty surrounding our government and UAPs. That’s why I introduced the UAP Transparency Act in mid-May. My new bill requires the declassification of all federal documents related to UAPs within 270 days. It also requires the president of the United States to provide a quarterly report to the U.S. House of Representatives detailing the progress made toward declassifying these records by every federal agency….The UAP Transparency Act is only a page and a half long because it’s simple. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Just declassify the files…. They know the American people don’t trust our government because it lies to them. But solving the problem requires our government to admit its wrongdoing and take action to make it right. That’s why I don’t expect the UAP Transparency Act to pass. Every step of the way, my efforts to push for increased transparency around UAPs have been stonewalled by the Intelligence Community and other members of Congress. However, we need to try. We need to get everyone on the record about this. The truth about UAPs matters to lots of people, and government transparency in general matters to everyone.”
September 10-11, 2024
Rep. Burchett to Matt Laslo on the upcoming House UAP hearing: “Exposure. Laying the groundwork, because nothing will happen until we get a president in the White House that says ‘we're gonna get to the bottom of this.’ Yeah, Trump's people are big for it right now. Well cause he said something about it. Harris hasn't said anything about it. I think it's just a missed opportunity — you don't have to do anything, hardly. …we'll get some good quality witnesses in. And I think two more whistleblowers will come in because we’re serious. I think that would be excellent. And I think that'll lay the groundwork for the next President to do what's right with this.”
ML: “Because right now, those whistleblowers have nowhere to go because they don't trust AARO?”
TB: “I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw the dome off the Capitol.”
November 13, 2024
Rep. Burchett participates in the House Oversight & Accountability subcommittee hearing on UAP titled Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth.
Key quotes:
Rep Burchett to Lue Elizondo: “How would you characterize UAPs?”
LE: “an enigma sir, and a frustration. We are talking about technologies that can outperform anything we have in our inventory and if this was an adversarial technology this would be an intelligent failure eclipsing that of 9/11 by an order of magnitude.”
Burchett: “Are there classified Department of Defense materials related to UAPs that you believe could be safely disclosed to the public without compromising National Security?”
LE: “Yes sir I do.”
Burchett: “As you know he [David Grusch] testified that the US has run a multi decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse engineering program. Would you agree with that?”
LE: “Yes sir.”
Burchett: “are there UAP programs operating without without proper congressional oversight?”
LE: “100%”
Burchett “What are they?”
LE “Unfortunately sir I would have to have that conversation in a closed session.”
Burchett: “I know you said that a lot of people are frustrated with those kind of answers but we're asking those kind of questions so you all know what the heck we're up against.”
November 13, 2024
Rep. Burchett to Matt Laslo:
“I think the fact that the government has earned our distrust and that the cover-up continues. They keep saying, ‘they don't exist’ yet former federal employees say they do. And that the specific questions weren't allowed to be answered because of a lot of things. But the reality is that America knows. Over half the population agrees that there's something else going on. And clearly, some of those men in there knew the answers.”
“Well, we really need a Select Committee so that we can go out and get this information subpoenaed, eventually. But the reality is none of that's needed if President Trump will come through with disclosure. They [DoD/IC] were stalling. That's why I said we've got to get it from the president. The president has to do it.”
Quigley, Mike
Illinois–Democrat
Term: 2009-Present
Committee on Intelligence; Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence and Counterproliferation
UFO Stance: Unclear
June 16, 2021
The House Intelligence Committee receives a classified briefing from the UAPTF and the FBI previewing the upcoming UAP report. Representative Quigley spoke with the press after the briefing:
“The stigma is gone. Now that’s as big a change in policy as I’ve witnessed about this issue in my lifetime. So the fact that they are taking this sort of thing seriously for the first time, I think, is important.”
“What do they say in ‘Contact’? Occam’s razor,” he said. “I still think that’s what’s real, and there are things we can’t explain.”
“If I had to predict how the public will react to this [Preliminary UAP Report], one word would be ‘disappointing’” [Source: NY POST]
Maloney, Sean Patrick
New York–Democrat
Term: 2013-2023
Committee on Intelligence; Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence and Counterproliferation
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
June 16, 2021
The House Intelligence Committee receives a classified briefing from the UAPTF and the FBI previewing the upcoming UAP report. Representative Maloney spoke with the press after the briefing:
“We take the issue of unexplained aerial phenomena seriously to the extent that we’re dealing with the safety and security of US military personnel or the national security interests of the United States, so we want to know what we’re dealing with.”
“I think it’s important to understand that there are legitimate questions involving the safety and security of our personnel, and in our operations and in our sensitive activities, and we all know that there’s [a] proliferation of technologies out there. We need to understand the space a little bit better.” [Source: New York Post]
—Rep. Maloney left Congress in January 2023—
Demings, Val Butler
Florida–Democrat
Term: 2017-2023
Committee on Intelligence; Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
June 16, 2021
The House Intelligence Committee receives a classified briefing from the UAPTF and the FBI previewing the upcoming UAP report. Representative Demings spoke with the press after the briefing:
“You know it’s always about our safety and security — our national security is number one — and so that’s really the area where we really focused on this morning.” [Source: New York Post]
May 17, 2022
REP. DEMINGS ON UNIDENTIFIED AERIAL PHENOMENA HEARING: “As a former chief of police there’s nothing I take more seriously than the safety and security of the American people. We will always investigate any potential threat from our adversaries. The top goals of this investigation are seriousness, transparency, and national security. Just because something is unidentified doesn’t mean that it’s unidentifiable, and truth must always be a precondition to good policy.
“By treating this issue seriously, working with Pentagon experts, and empowering witnesses and hard evidence, we can find answers, ensure the integrity of American airspace, counter global threats, and keep Americans safe at home and abroad. I will continue to work with the Pentagon and our intelligence agencies on this important issue.” [Source: Press Release]
—Rep. Demings left Congress in January 2023—
Smith, Jason
Missouri–Republican
Term: 2013-Present
House Committee on Budget; Ways and Means (Chairman 2023-Present)
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
June 24, 2021
During a Budget Committee hearing , Rep. Smith asked the top Pentagon budget official the following UAP-related question:
“As you could imagine, the American people probably share my concern that we have a system wide outage when I am asking questions about UFOs, and whether it is the Chinese or the Russians or it is actually people in other places. So, let us try to ask this UFO question again and see if the systems will hold up.
“Under Secretary McCord, there has been a lot of discussion recently regarding unidentified aerial phenomena, UAPs, harassing U.S. Navy pilots and exhibiting technological advancements far beyond our current capabilities. The Senate Intelligence Committee voted to require U.S. intelligence agencies and DoD to compile a detailed public analysis of all information collected on UAPs. Additionally, a former top Pentagon intelligence official said the report could range from revealing an unknown threat or military vulnerability to there have been probes visiting our planet, or anything in between. Another top Pentagon official said that dozens of UFOs appeared to have carried out some kind of reconnaissance or surveillance of our nuclear technology and weapons.
“The UAP Task Force at DoD has stated its intention to release an unclassified report on this matter by Friday. Will the report provide the American people with answers on how we plan to continue investigating and counter these phenomena? … Do you believe this report will reveal any serious national security threats that the American people should be aware of?… There is a lot of interest, and even more interest as the days get closer.”
Himes, James A.
Connecticut–Democrat
Term: 2009-Present
Committee on Intelligence (2013-Present; Ranking Member 2023-Present)
UFO Stance: UFO Skeptic (Disclosure Hostile)
June 25, 2021
“They’re very sensitive to, if this is an adversary, you want to be really careful about saying, ‘we know this and we don’t know that. The report [UAP Preliminary Report] is going to be a little unsatisfying for that reason and that reason alone.” [Source: CNN]
During the open hearing on UAP with Ronald Moultrie (Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security) and Scott Bray (Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence), Representative Schiff leads the following line of questioning:
“…my point is that an observation, either a visual observation [from a jet aircraft] or an electronic observation, infrared or whatever, looks radically different than it does to most people. Even instruments, instruments are on gimbals and that sort of thing, so that creates a very unusual view to, again, those of us who are used to seeing things in two dimensions largely. And second question, I think Mr. Bray, you said something that I want to unpack a little bit. A number of these UAPs you said we can’t explain. Again in the service of sort of reducing speculation and conspiracy theories, ‘we can’t explain’ can range from a visual observation that was distant on a foggy night, we don’t know what it is, to we’ve found an organic material that we can’t identify, right? Those are radically different worlds. So when you say ‘we can’t explain,’ give the public a little bit better sense of where on that spectrum of ‘we can’t explain’ we are. Are we holding materials, organic or inorganic, that we don’t know about? Are we picking up emanations that are something other than light or infrared that it could be deemed to be communications? Give us a sense for what you mean when you say we can’t explain.” [Source: Hearing Transcript]
February 12, 2023
NPR Interview on the balloon shoot-downs:
Now, my theory is – and this is where it gets pretty speculative, but it’s informed speculation. I’m thinking back last year to when we had the hearings on what we’re supposed to call UAPs, unidentified aerial phenomas – most people call them UFOs. And what I learned in that hearing is that there is an immense amount of garbage up there, all kinds of balloons. You don’t have to be a nation-state to launch a balloon. You know, there are folks launching weather balloons, Wi-Fi balloons, you name it. And now we’re just particularly sensitized to it. And we also happen to have a lot of our military radars and that sort of thing doing something that they’re not used to doing, which is looking for balloons. So I think because we’re really looking hard, we’re seeing a lot of this garbage. And when it incurs – when it – when there’s an incursion into civil aviation space, I think, at that point, the authorities say, boy, we’d better do something about this.
March 6, 2023
Interview with Stephen Colbert:
“WHAT WOULD BLOW YOUR MIND IS THE AMOUNT OF GARBAGE DRIFTING AROUND UP THERE IN AN AWFUL LOT, I’M SORRY TO SAY, an awful lot of what people think are UFOs is just garbage. I DIDN’T KNOW THIS BEFORE THE [May 2022] UFO HEARING, WE ARE SUPPOSED TO CALL IT UAP, UNIDENTIFIED AERIAL PHENOMENON. I’m not really sure why that is. YOU CAN EXPLAIN MOST OF THE STUFF PEOPLE SEE BECAUSE, THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUTS UP A COUPLE HUNDRED BALLOONS EVERY DAY AND THEY DON’T COLLECT THEM ALL. ANYWAY, THE OTHER THREE THINGS. There is a Michigan balloon weather operators club that put something up and lost it. Most of it is garbage.”
“WE’VE GOT THE NAVY IN THE LEAD POSITION LOOKING AT WHAT THESE THINGS ARE BECAUSE IT’S LARGELY PILOTS THAT ARE IN F-18 OR F-35S ONLY SEE THESE THINGS, UNCLE JOE ON THE PORCH AFTER A COUPLE BOURBONS SEE THESE TOO BUT WE TRUST THE NAVY PILOTS WERE SEEING THESE THINGS AND THEY HAVE SENSORS SO IT’S NOT JUST WHAT THEY SEE. IF A SENSOR PICKED SOMETHING UP YOU KNOW THERE’S SOMETHING THERE. SO HERE’S THE INTERESTING ANSWER YOUR QUESTION. IF YOU GO THROUGH THE COUPLE HUNDRED INCIDENTS WHERE A PILOT’s THE SENSORS PICKED IT UP. WE CAN EXPLAIN ALMOST ALL OF IT. IN OTHER WORDS, IT WAS A WEATHER BALLOON, ANOTHER PLANE. I’M NOT A PILOT BUT WHEN YOU’RE A PILOT MOVING AT HIGH SPEEDS AND THERE’S SOMETHING ELSE COMING AT YOU, THINGS LOOK STRANGE. AT NIGHT, OVER THE OCEAN. WE CAN EXPLAIN ALMOST EVERYTHING. THIS CAME OUT IN THE HEARING. THERE STILL A FEW THINGS THAT WE ARE NOT SURE ABOUT.”
April 21, 2023
Representative Himes participates in a briefing at Wright-Patterson Air Force base. The purpose of the briefing was to ensure that intelligence officials are knowledgeable about activities occurring at Wright-Patterson, which houses the National Space Intelligence Center (NSIC) and National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC).
“Historic… I don’t recall the committee ever doing anything like this.” [Source: MARCA News]
June 6, 2023
Fox’s Special Report with Bret Baier interview, when asked about David Grusch allegations: “We did have a hearing, in fact we have had two hearings in the last couple of years on this subject,” Himes told Baier. “And I asked a question in the second hearing, because of course we hear this kind of notion that has been out there forever that the United States government is hiding materials that we are hiding aliens or whatever. I asked a very specific question which is do we have any sort of matter, organic or inorganic or whatever, that we can’t explain as to its source. Now this was a year, maybe a year-and-a-half ago, and the answer was an unequivocal no.”
June 29, 2023
Representative Himes responded to Matt Laslo’s question about David Grush allegations: We haven’t really done anything with it yet. Staff is sort of looking into the situation, but we haven’t done anything officially with it yet. I mean, you know, we did hearings on this less than two years ago. I was assured by all of the various units that there was no material. No organic or inorganic material that they were hiding or anything else, so I’m skeptical.”
September 20, 2023
Representative Himes tells Matt Laslo, “No discussion at all,” regarding the House Intelligence Committee taking interest in UAP.
December 13, 2023
Rep. Himes responds on Twitter to the accusation that he was “reportedly running around during the NDAA conference committee and making last minute efforts to lobby for removal of the most important enforcement and oversight provisions from the original Schumer-Rounds amendment”:
“Hey Nicholas. I run my own Twitter. And I have not said a word about UAPs or associated measures in the NDAA or anywhere else. Don’t think I’ve even mentioned them in the last few months. That was the deal I was forced to strike with
. But you do you.”
February 2, 2024
Rep. Himes responds to Matt Laslo about the UAP Disclosure Act.
Laslo: “I was curious, with the NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act], how did Schumer’s UAP amendment get stripped? Was that you all [on Intel]? Was that [Intel Chair Mike] Turner?”
Himes: “You know, I know this is sort of a cause célèbre online. I don’t think it was us all. You should ask [Intel Chair Mike] Turner about it.”
Himes: “Give me a card just to remind me, and I’ll have [my aide] call you. Because I, like, I know the accusation is that me and Turner spiked it. I don’t think that’s accurate. But I’ll have [my aide] call you on it.”
Laslo: “But you would know if you were a part of it.”
Himes: “Well, it’s possible, you know. I don’t know.”
Laslo: “Yeah?”
Himes: “Put it this way: I certainly wasn’t in any meaningful way a part of it, but sometimes negotiation shit gets done. But I’ll ask [my aide] to call you.”
Laslo: “Well, that’s interesting, because [House Armed Services Committee — or HASC — Chair Mike] Rogers did know about it, where Turner seemed more aloof. But, like, Senate Armed Services Committee didn’t care about it. It was led by Intel over there.”
Himes: “All of this is — I mean, I’ll give you some context, which is any number of us have boiled the ocean for any evidence that we are hiding aliens or have spacecraft or whatever, and the answer is always: ‘No. No. No. No.” — [from] all kinds of people. So a lot of this is just an effort to do yet another comprehensive deep dive. You saw the [Sean Kirkpatrick] Scientific American article, right? I mean, It’s getting bananas. But I’ll ask the staff to call you.”
June 26, 2024
Rep. Himes to Matt Laslo:
Rep. Himes: “So I got an extensive brief three weeks — or four weeks ago — by whatever the hell. What’s the unit that, you know…?” [He may be referring to April 17, 2024 SCIF briefing in which AARO tried to shore up support for the conclusion to its UAP Historical Report Volume 1, or possibly a later one that was not publicized.]
ML: “AARO?”
JH: “AARO?”
ML: “AARO.”
JH: “And I mean it just pains me to say, because there’s thousands of people out there who wake up in the morning desperate for there to be evidence of alien life, but there’s none. And they looked at every single compartmented program — and yeah there was a program here or there that was set up in the event that we found something, but there’s just nothing there. I don’t talk about it because I’ll, you know — nine out of ten people don’t care and one out of ten people would light themselves on fire if I — if they see that.”
ML: “Well ‘cause Sen. Gillibrand wants to bring in AARO, either in July or September, for a public hearing to kind of explain some of their thinking and metrics. But she also wants to focus on some of the stuff they haven’t been able to ID…”
JH: “Senators need to get briefed and then move on. Just way too much energy, and there is no there there. So, before senators start talking about it, they need to get briefed.”
ML: “Well have you — because some people like Sen. Rounds, who’s Intel and Armed Services, same with Gillibrand, they both aren’t convinced that Congress knows every SAP or Special Access Program.”
JH: “Well they need to get briefed by AARO, AARO will take them through every single compartmented program.”
ML: “So you’re convinced that AARO has full access to everything in the Pentagon?”
JH: “Yes.”
ML: “But also in Department of Energy, etc?”
JH: “Yes, yes.”
JH: “Now, are there two or three or four or five phenomenon that we don’t have the science around that we don’t — or some sighting or whatever — no, it’s not perfection. But, you know, again, I wish we had aliens but we don’t.”
ML: “Yeah? What do you think, cause Gillibrand also in the NDAA is fighting for more censors above military installations and nuclear facilities which some say is drone incursions. Are you convinced that the Air Force, etc., has American skies protected? That we — I mean, cause last year, remember the balloon invaded US airspace.”
JH: “So again, hopefully we’re off the UAP thing, but a balloon wandered over our airspace. Why? Because we had the best censors in the world looking for really fast moving things coming from the north. We didn’t have censors looking for slow moving things coming from the west. Or — yeah, the west. So yeah there’s work to do.”
LaHood, Darin
Illinois–Republican
Term: 2015-Present
Committee on Intelligence; Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence and Counterproliferation
UFO Stance: unclear
July 21, 2021
“Other allies around the world have picked up similar sightings of these same identified objects and I think you’ll see a continued focus by the military and the intelligence services to get the origins of those. But I’m not sure we learned anything more definitive [from the UAP Preliminary Report] that we didn’t already know before.” [Source: WMAY interview]
May 17, 2022
During the open hearing on UAP with Ronald Moultrie (Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security) and Scott Bray (Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence), Representative LaHood leads the following line of questioning:
“Obviously, this topic of UAPs has attracted a lot of interest in people that are curious about this hearing today. As we talk about, and I would say there’s a lot of what I would call amateur interest groups that are involved in the UAP field, my question is when there are unsubstantiated claims or manufactured claims of UAPs or kind of false information that’s put out there, what are the consequences for people that are involved with that or groups that are involved with that?”
“So just taking that a step further, so that misinformation, false narratives, manufactured, so what are the consequences? Are there legal consequences? Are there examples that you can give us where people have been held accountable by this information or disinformation? …what’s the deterrent from people engaging in this activity?” [Source: Hearing Transcript]
Gallagher, Mike
Wisconsin–Republican
Term: 2017-April 2024
Armed Services Committee; Intelligence Committee
UFO Stance: Extraterrestrial Hypothesis Advocate
February 9, 2022
Representative Gallagher is appointed to the House Intelligence Committee. He joined the Armed Services Committee in 2017. [Source: Statement]
May 17, 2022
During the open hearing on UAP with Ronald Moultrie (Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security) and Scott Bray (Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence), Representative Gallagher leads the following line of questioning:
“DOD had an initiative to study UFOs in the 1960s called Project Blue Book. It’s also been well reported in our briefing and in other places that we had more recent projects, specifically AATIP. Could you describe any other initiatives that the DOD or DOD contractors have managed after project Blue Book ended and prior to AATIP beginning? Did anything also predate Project Blue Book?”
“Additionally, are you aware of any other DOD or DOD contract programs focused on UAPs from a technological engineering perspective? And by that, I mean, are you aware of any technology initiatives focused on this topic other than initiatives focused on the individual case investigations?”
“It’s also been reported that there have been UAP observed and interacting with and flying over sensitive military facilities, particularly, and not just ranges, but some facilities housing are strategic nuclear forces. One such incident allegedly occurred at Malmstrom Air Force Base in which 10 of our nuclear ICBMs were rendered inoperable. At the same time, a glowing red orb was observed overhead. I’m not commenting on the accuracy of this. I’m simply asking you whether you’re aware of it and whether you have any comment on the accuracy of that report.”
“And then finally, are you aware of a document that appeared around 2019 sometimes called the Admiral Wilson Memo or EW Notes memo? This is a document in which, again, I’m not commenting on the veracity, I was hoping you would help me with that, in which a former head of DIA claims to have had a conversation with the Dr. Eric Wilson and claims to have sort of been made aware of certain contractors or DOD programs that he tried to get fuller access to and was denied access to. So you’re not aware of that? In my 10 seconds remaining then, I guess I just would ask Mr. Chairman unanimous consent to enter that memo into the record. [Source: Hearing Transcript]
“I’m new to this debate. I don’t bring any particular UAP expertise, but I’ve done basic research. I’ve probably done about five hours of research. So I asked what I thought were just basic questions for people that are just modestly familiar with the literature, and they [Moultire and Bray] couldn’t answer any of those questions…
“The whole thing was incredibly confusing. I’m not sure we got any closer to the truth. Listen, I appreciate this effort to destigmatize the discussion, but until the Defense Department starts speaking in simple and direct plain English answering questions, we’re just going to spin everybody up and spin around in circles. I left very frustrated. Though I started off as a casual observer in this whole UAP debate, now I’m so pissed off that I’m not going to let it go until they answer my questions.” [Source: interview]
“There’s the extraterrestrial hypothesis. I’m trying not to lean for or against it, I just don’t think we know enough to dismiss it. The third really interesting one is that it’s inter-dimensional, that it’s us from the future. … Theoretically time travel is possible. That is the third hypothesis. People of the future have figured out how to bend space and time. … I would say there is a group of people on the outside who believe this is more plausible than the extraterrestrial explanation, serious people too.” [Source: Interview]
“The quicker DoD can disconfirm certain hypotheses that they should be able to easily disconfirm, the better we can focus time and energy on more plausible hypotheses.” [Source: Politico]
“The reality is, there are only two full-time people looking into this. So, I have questions about whether they have the resources, or the access, necessary to get us closer to answering these questions.”
“The fact is, things are appearing on our ranges that should not be appearing. It jeopardizes the safety of our pilots, it compromises our ability to safeguard critical infrastructure. We need a lot more answers than we got this week.”
“I’m going to be pressing the Pentagon to be more transparent thus far.” [Source: Spectrum News 1]
June 8, 2022
“I don’t know it’s aliens. There is something weird going on. There are a lot of people out there who used to work for the federal government claiming they were part of programs that basically involved things we don’t know about landing here and us taking those things and studying them. It’s impossible to get a straight answer from the government… We should offer everyone who may or may not be involved in those programs blanket amnesty in return for testifying to Congress.”
“Thus far we’ve not gotten answers to our questions…there’s got to be a way to get to the bottom of this whole aliens thing. It’s driving me insane.”
“It could be humans from the future. That’s the hypothesis I favor.” [Source: Jonah Goldberg’s The Remnant]
July 13, 2022
Representatives Gallagher and Gallego propose a UAP amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2023. It contains an immunity provision for witnesses of “any event relating to unidentified aerial phenomena… any government or government contractor activity or program related to unidentified aerial phenomena.” It passes on a voice vote.
According to Politico:
It was proposed by Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), who have been among a vocal bipartisan bloc of lawmakers pressing Pentagon and intelligence officials to take the issue more seriously — and to be more transparent with Congress and the American people.
Gallagher couched the effort in national security terms, saying his “primary interest … is to ensure that our military and intelligence community are armed with the best possible information, capital, and scientific resources to defeat our enemies and maintain military and technology superiority.”
But he also wants “to further Congress’ ability to fact gather and further prove or disprove the origin and threat nature of whatever seems to be flying in our skies.”
“I believe it’s possible that folks may be precluded from being fully transparent with Congress due to their being bound by non-disclosure agreements,” Gallagher added in a statement to POLITICO. “If that’s true, I want to make sure that there’s no technical reason preventing them from speaking to us.” [Source: Politico]
January 12, 2023
Rep. Gallagher’s statement following the release of a congressionally-mandated unclassified report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs), released on social media
From The New York Times article:
The amendment [UFO historical report in the NDAA] was introduced by Representative Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican and a member of the Armed Services Committee. Mr. Gallagher, who declined an interview request, said in a brief statement that a “comprehensive timeline” of unidentified aerial phenomena in U.S. government records was needed, and that the amendment would ensure a full review of “all U.S. government classified and unclassified information.”
“This is an important step that will give us a more comprehensive understanding of what we know — and don’t know — about incidents impacting our military,” he said.
February 13, 2023
Rep. Gallagher’s statement in response to the several UAPs shot down over the weekend.
February 15, 2023
Representative Gallagher, CNN interview:
“For years now we’ve had a problem with Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon–so called UAPs, fouling our ranges, things showing up in our training ranges and us not knowing what they are. We’ve actually tried to get the administration, and the previous administration as well, to take this more seriously. We set up a special office to adjudicate these issues. But until now, until it burst into public view, it really didn’t get the attention it deserved.”
June 26, 2023
Representative Gallagher authored an amendment (no. 287) to the House NDAA (H.R. 2670), focusing on cutting off funding for secret UFO black projects that have been kept from Congress:
“None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act or otherwise made available for fiscal year 2024 may be obligated or expended, directly or indirectly, in part or in whole, to conduct or support any activity relating to un8 identified anomalous phenomena that is controlled under a classified program that has not been formally, officially, explicitly, and specifically described, explained, and justified to the appropriate congressional committees, congressional leadership, and the Director..”
“—Any contractor or former contractor of the Federal Government in possession of material or information produced by the Federal Government and relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena… a comprehensive list of all non-earth origin or exotic unidentified anomalous phenomena materiel.”
June 27, 2023
Representative Gallagher interview on the Pat McAfee Show:
Asked questions about UFOs and aliens, Gallagher touted an amendment he led to last year’s National Defense Authorization Act — which he referred to as the “Alien Bill”
After McAfee, his crew and Gallagher threw around speculation about extraterrestrial life, including that objects would be from past or future civilizations, Gallagher took a more serious tone, saying the bigger issue surrounding UAPs is “people losing trust in government, trust in institutions.”
“This should be an opportunity for the government to be transparent,” he said. “If we have information that disconfirms the extraterrestrial hypothesis, or all these other ones, at least it shows the government doing something competent and being forward-leaning by declassifying information to the public.”
He added: “So for those two reasons alone, I think it’s worthy of investigation. And, the third one that I’m probably the most interested in is whether it’s adversary technology, particularly from China.”
Gallagher said he was approved to visit Area 51, a classified Air Force facility in Nevada often associated with alleged extraterrestrial and UFO sightings, and plans to go eventually.
Appearing on the sports talk show, Gallagher suggested that one possible explanation of supposed UFO sightings was the so-called “Terminator” theory—based on the film of the same name—that aliens were actually human beings from the future.
Another hypothesis, he said, was that “as opposed to being us from the future, it could actually be an ancient civilization that’s just been hiding here and is suddenly showing itself.”
However, Gallagher said the “worst-case scenario” would be if the reported sightings of craft that appeared to defy modern capabilities were actually advanced technology built by adversarial nations. He added that fears of potential Chinese weapons developments had been his “entry point” into the UFO discussion.
“The biggest source of resistance is just people [are] almost sort of embarrassed to talk about the topic,” he said. “They think they’re going to be labeled a crazy, tin foil hat, conspiracy theory, loony tunes person. So just by having these discussions out in the open, I think it goes a long way.”
However, Gallagher added: “Most of the resistance is just from the bureaucracy in the defense department and in the intelligence community.” He claimed that five requests regarding UAPs he had made to U.S. intelligence agencies had yet to elicit a response.
[Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel & Newsweek]
April 17, 2024
Rep. Gallagher discusses UAP with Matt Laslo: “Well, I still don’t think we have a good explanation for what’s fouling our ranges. I haven’t heard one. And that’s just a matter of safety for our pilots. And furthermore, like, I don’t think we have a well-enough established process for just cataloging incidents, like, analyzing all the data and storing it in the right way. I still feel like AARO [All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office] has a long way to go in that respect as well. So…”
Laslo: “Well, that’s what’s interesting, when they just dropped their recent declassified report, they made it sound very definitive, and yet, there's still a lot of incursions and a lot of frustration with you members?”
Gallagher: “I share that frustration…. Well, I think more hearings, were good. I think the hearing that we did last year was very smooth, and it got a ton of attention. It just showed that Congress cared about the issue and wasn't afraid to talk about it, right? Cause everyone doesn’t wanna be labeled a kooky alien nut. So more of that. Just, like, standard flexing the oversight muscles…. I mean, we've been doing stuff. I had a variety of amendments and whatnot. But I think it’s probably gonna be another issue that will be addressed in some fashion in this year's NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act].”
—Mike Gallagher resigned from Congress effective April 20, 2024—
Krishnamoorthi, Raja
Illinois–Democrat
Term: 2017-Present
Committee on Intelligence
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
May 17, 2022
During the open hearing on UAP with Ronald Moultrie (Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security) and Scott Bray (Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence), Representative Krishnamoorthi leads the following line of questioning:
“First question is, there have been no collisions between any US assets in one of these UAPs, correct?”
“I assume, or tell me if I’m wrong, there’s been no attempt … there’s no communications or any kind of communication signals that emanate from those objects that we’ve detected, correct?”
“And I assume we’ve never discharged any armaments against a UAP, correct?”
“How about wreckage, have we come across any wreckage of any kind of object that has now been examined by you?”
“Do we have any sensors underwater to detect on submerged UAPs, anything that is in the ocean or in the seas?”
“But the ones where you say most of them represent physical objects, can you say that they are definitely, with a hundred percent certainty that they are physical objects?…I think that we might have a bias right now going on with regards to just reporting on UAPs being in training areas when we don’t really track what’s happening elsewhere. The last question, have our encounters with UAPs altered the development of either our offensive or defensive capabilities, or even our sensor capabilities?” [Source: Hearing Transcript]
June 6, 2022
“I didn’t learn anything that day [May 17 hearing] that would substantiate what Harry Reid had said [about UFO crash retrievals], but that doesn’t mean there isn’t more information out there that needs to be gleaned. …This particular agency [UAP Task Force] doesn’t necessarily have visibility into all branches of the government and their own experiences with UAP. They really focus on what pilots, whether Air Force or Navy, have seen, especially in training areas. They’re starting to have more interaction with the airports and FAA. There’s so much more possibilities in terms of what other branches of government, and others, have seen. We need them to have more visibility into the rest of government, and more communication with others too.”
“Even with regard to this UAP issue, I’ve sensed a real collective inquiry, and a lot of curious minds [in Congress] trying to figure out what’s really going on here.” [Source: John Michael Godier interview]
January 14, 2024
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi talking with Matt Lalso about attending the January 12 ICIG SCIF presentation on David Grusch.
“I’ve been to the SCIF three times now about this, and I still haven’t gotten the answers to the questions I want,” Krishnamoorthi exclusively told Ask a Pol after the classified briefing. “We're just dancing around the edges, and we're not getting into the substance of what's going on here.”
“Now I'm interested in a potentially writing a letter or doing some kind of, authoring some communication on a bipartisan basis, saying, ‘This is what we want. Come back to us with these answers, and let's not spend time on, kind of, procedural stuff.’”
Crawford, Eric A. “Rick”
Arkansas–Republican
Term: 2011-Present
Committee on Intelligence; Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation Subcommittee (Ranking Member 2021-Present)
UFO Stance: unclear
May 10, 2022
“With China and Russia developing hypersonic weapons and the Biden administration leaking alleged US military operations in Ukraine, we have far more serious intelligence threats than flying saucers.” [Source: CNN]
During the open hearing on UAP with Ronald Moultrie (Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security) and Scott Bray (Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence), Representative Crawford leads the following line of questioning:
Despite the serious nature of this topic, I have to say I’m more interested in our understanding of Chinese and Russian hypersonic weapon development…in as much as this topic may help us better understand unknown activities of Russia and China, I am on board.
This is not about finding alien spacecraft, but about delivering dominant intelligence across the tactical, operational, and strategic spectrum.
…how do you prevent leaks of potentially classified videos or other material? [Source: Hearing Transcript]
Gaetz, Matt
Florida–Republican
Term: 2017-2024
Armed Services Committee (2017-2022)
UFO Stance: Extraterrestrial Hypothesis Advocate
Early March 2023 [between 2/22/23 and 3/11/23]
Representative Gaetz interviewed on Newsmax:
“I have seen evidence of craft that I am not familiar with, any of our allies or adversaries or even out country possessing. I’ve seen that craft taken by air crews who’ve gotten quite close to it and we we’ve got a lot more questions about why this information isn’t more broadly available to the American people.”
July 26, 2023
From Representative Gaetz’s questioning during the UAP hearing for the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Hearing.
“So just to be put a fine point on that, there’s nothing that you’re aware of that’s above Special Access Program classification? …I draw a point on that because we can have access to to those programs and so the notion that we’re not being given that access sort of defies our typical muscle memory here in Congress.”
“Several months ago my office received a protected disclosure from Eglin Air Force Base indicating that there was a UAP incident that required my attention. I sought a briefing regarding that episode and brought with me congressman Burchett and Congresswoman Luna. We asked to see any of the evidence that had been taken by flight crew in this endeavor and to observe any radar signature, as as well as to meet with the flight crew. We were not afforded access to all of the flight crew and initially we were not afforded access to images and to radar. Thereafter we had a bit of a discussion about how authorities flow in the United States of America and we did see the image and we did meet with one member of the flight crew who took the image. The image was of something that I am not able to attach to any human capability either from the United States or from any of our adversaries, and I’m somewhat informed on the matter having served on the armed services committee for seven years, having served on the committee that oversees DARPA and Advanced Technologies for several years. When we spoke with the flight crew and when he showed us the photo that he’d taken I asked why the video wasn’t engaged, why we didn’t have a FLIR system that worked here’s what he said. They were out on a test mission that day over the Gulf of Mexico and when you’re on a test mission you’re supposed to have clear air space, not supposed to be anything that shows up, and they saw a sequence of four craft in a clear diamond formation for which there is a radar sequence that I and I alone have observed in the United States Congress. One of the pilots goes to check out that diamond formation and sees a large floating, what I can only describe as an orb, again like I said not of any human capability that I’m that I’m aware of, and when he approached he said that his radar went down, he said that his FLIR system malfunctioned and that he had to manually take this image from one of the lenses and it was not automatic automated in collection as you would typically see in a test mission. So I guess I’ll start with Commander Fraver. What in how should we think about the fact that this craft that was approached by our pilot had the capability of disarming a number of the sensor and collection systems on that craft?”
“It was stated explicitly to me by these test pilots that if you have a UAP experience the best thing you can do for your career is forget it and not tell anyone because any type of reporting either above the surface or below the surface does have a perceived consequence to these people, and that is a culture we must change if we want to get to the truth.”
Mr chairman I would observe that perhaps as we as we move forward from this hearing there are some obvious next steps every person watching this knows that we need to meet with Mr Grusch in a secure compartmentalized facility so that we can get fulsome answers that do not put him in Jeopardy and that and that give us the information we need. Second I would suggest that the radar images that
were collected of this formation of craft out of Eglin Air Force Base and specifically the actual image taken by the actual flight crew that we can actually validate be provided to the committee subpoenaed if necessary so that we’re able to track how to get this type of reporting and analysis done in a more fulsome way.”
Representative Gaetz interviewed by News Nation after the hearing:
“Well somehow we’ve got to get subpoena power. We’ve got the ability to get access to the records, the radar systems, the photographs, that will inform the decisions we have to make on funding and authorities. At Eglin Air Force Base I saw things that did not appear from human origin, and I hope we can get that information before the entire Congress. That’s probably all I can say about it. So we may need other authorities that would require the establishment of a select committee, and we’re going to be chatting about that with the Speaker in the coming days”.
July 27, 2023
Representative Gaetz and three other members of the House call on the Speaker to create a Select Committee to investigate the “United States government’s response to UAPs”
July 28, 2023
Representative Gaetz hosts a Newsmax segment on the UAP hearing.
“It certainly makes fights between Republicans and Democrats look silly if we’re going to have to fight the aliens before it’s all over.”
November 29, 2023
Rep. Gaetz tweets support for the Burchett amendment over the Schumer/Rounds UAP Disclosure Act: “Americans have long been kept in the dark by the U.S. government about Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP). The time for transparency is now. We don’t want the information in small bits and pieces over 25 years.”
March 12, 2024
Rep. Gaetz signed Rep. Burlison’s formal request for a UAP Select Committee to Speaker Jonson and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Signed by seven other House members.
April 26, 2024
Rep. Gaetz provides a tweet rebuttal to the AARO case resolution report on the Eglin Air Force Base UFO sighting: “Last year, when I attempted to receive a briefing with the flight crew who witnessed the UAP at Eglin AFB, the Air Force tried to block me. This report by the AARO is incomplete and does not reflect all of the information that I was shown. I believe all of the information regarding the sighting should be released to the public, including pictures from the pilot and radar signatures.”
May 22, 2024
Rep. Gaetz responds to Matt Laslo about current UAP legislation: “I’d like to see the provisions that didn’t survive conference last time survive conference this time.”
Laslo: “Has the conversation changed [since 2023]?”
Gaetz: “I don’t know.
—Rep. Gaetz resigns from Congress November 13, 2024—
Luna, Anna Paulina
Florida–Republican
Term: 2023–Present
House Oversight Committee (2023–Present)
UFO Stance: Extraterrestrial Hypothesis Advocate
June 6, 2023
Representative Luna tweets:
July 18, 2023
Representative Luna tweets her involvement in the upcoming House Oversight hearing on UFOs with the following graphic.
“12,618 sightings were reported to Project Blue Book”
July 20, 2023
Representative Luna participates in a press conference that announces an upcoming House Oversight hearing on UFOs.
“For decades, countless of Americans have questioned our government’s lack of transparency regarding U A in our nation’s airspace. These same questions have been echoed by many leaders on a bipartisan basis. From Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama from Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump, from Marco Rubio to Chuck Schumer from the former Director of National Intelligence, John Radcliffe to current officials at the National Security Council. They have all called for disclosure of UAs. If this was a court case, the court would be compelled to take up the thousands of testimonies, images, videos and eyewitness accounts from doctors, pilots, scientists and active duty, service members, the status quo on the part of the US government has been to leave the American people in the dark regarding information of UAP. They refused to answer questions posed by whistleblowers, avoiding the concerns of Americans. And acknowledging that the possible threat of U A poses to our national security as well as public safety. It is extremely unnecessary and an over-classification if the last few months have taught me anything, especially in investigating this. It is that this issue is in the hands of the American people and they deserve answers. I just want to be fully transparent here myself. Representative Burch and Representative Gates had attended an air Force base and we are blocked not only by the Pentagon but by the Department of the Air Force from seeing information, talking to witnesses and after much arm twisting, we got some of the information. But the fact is is that they answer to Congress and that the American people and any government entity that attempts to stonewall us is doing nothing in the vested interest of the American people. When I take a face value, the numerous road blocks that we’ve been presented with it leads me to believe that they are indeed hiding information. I look forward to bringing this topic to light and finding out the truth of what is really out there.
Question: Do you expect next week’s hearing is the start of a series of think this is like your one shot.
“I think that it’s probably going to be the start. What Representative Burchett, myself and my colleagues behind me have realized is that ultimately as elected members and being assigned to house oversight and accountability, we can conduct field hearings. And if we continue to get stonewalled, if we smell that they’re giving us a bunch of BS, we are going to do the field hearings directly at those locations and we’re going to open it up to the press because full transparency really is what we need in this situation and ultimately to piggyback off of what all my colleagues have said, the military, the Pentagon, the intelligence agency, they answer to the people and thus Congress. And so we are going to hold them accountable.”
On the Eglin Air Force Base incident: “The Pentagon, this is Department of the Air Force. It was a commanding, yeah, of course, it was the commanding general of Eglin Air Force Base. And ultimately, even before we got down there, the Pentagon actually tried to cancel the field hearing. And also it’s important to note that these were whistle blowers, these were pilots that had come forward to representative Gaetz’s office with information saying this needs to be investigated. We have an increase in sightings in this region and it’s a cause for concern for national security reasons. We don’t know what it is. So we went down there, we were stonewalled. They would not give us access to testimony from some of the pilots. They were hiding images and information. We were told there was pictures available which we still haven’t seen. And ultimately, what ended up happening is we had to actually call House Armed Services. Chairman Rogers got involved, the Pentagon got involved. The Department of the Air Force got involved. We actually got into an argument with the general of that base and I just, it’s important to note that we were there simply to follow up on the whistleblowers that came forward with information. And so if the Department of the Air Force, if the Pentagon thinks that they’re above Congress, they have something else coming to them.”
July 24, 2023
Tweet that shares and comments on a Chris Mellon interview with News Nation, in which Mellon said: “I’ve been told that we have recovered technology that did not originate on this earth by officials in the Department of Defense and by former intelligence officials.”
July 26, 2023
From Representative Luna’s opening statement and questioning during the UAP hearing for the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Hearing.
“From Roswell New Mexico to the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, the sightings of UAPs have rarely been explained by the people who have first-hand accounts of these situations this is largely due to the lack of transparency by our own government and the failure of our elected leaders to make good on their promises to release explanations and footage and mountains of over-classified documents that continue to be hidden from the American people. This isn’t just how I feel, in fact the American people largely believe that the government has actively covered up the truth about UAPs one poll in particular found that 68 percent of Americans believe that the government is hiding information about UAPs and not being honest about what we know about them, and from my personal experience I believe the same thing…
“It is unacceptable to continue to gaslight Americans into thinking that this is not happening or that the potential of intelligent lifeforms exist other than humans. Even more alarming is the fact that these eyewitnesses are many times service members and have no assurance that their lives will not be negatively impacted or even harmed by their experiences. In being an active duty service member working on an airfield I’ve had conversations with many pilots where they were in fear of coming forward for retribution and or being taken off flight status. How do we know this? Because the government has said nothing to assure us otherwise. They have also done nothing to calm the concerns of over 20 percent of Americans who have reported to have seen UFOs or UAPs. We are simply told not to question the government and that the government has it under control.”
“Referring to your new interview [David Grusch] you had referenced specific treaties between governments article 3 of the nuclear arms treaty with Russia identify as UAPs it specifically mentions them, to your knowledge are there safety measures in place with foreign governments or other superpowers to avoid an escalatory situation in the event that a UAP malevolent occurs?”
“You mentioned white collar crimes potentially being, taking place in regards to a cover-up, can you please elaborate?”
Grusch: I have concerns based on the interviews I conducted under my official duties of potential violations of the federal acquisition regulations the FAR.
July 27, 2023
Representative Luna and three other members of the House call on the Speaker to create a Select Committee to investigate the “United States government’s response to UAPs”
August 22, 2023
Representative Luna and five other members of the House call submit a letter to the Intelligence Community Inspector General, requesting names and locations of any UFO crash retrieval and reverse engineering programs.
September 14, 2023
Representative Luna tweets: “Just got word that we will not be getting the UAP select committee. However, we will be getting another hearing. @timburchett is working on dates. Also, we are still working on SCIF for Grusch.”
September 20, 2023
Responding to DOD acknowledgment of congressional UAP briefing at Eglin Air Force Base, Representative Luna said: “Hopefully they actually follow through, but I don’t have a lot of faith after what happened to us at Eglin. DoD would do well to not block the American people out from transparency like they did to us earlier this year.”
October 26, 2023
Representative Luna was interviewed after a classified UAP briefing in a SCIF.
“The fact is that Congress should have oversight and the ability to look into and have access to these programs. And we’re being told we don’t have access to these programs, which defeats the purpose of what we’re supposed to be doing.”
November 4, 2023
Representative Luna tweets that House members have been given permission to read David Grusch’s IG complaint.
January 12, 2024
Representative Luna talking with Matt Lalso after today’s ICIG SCIF presentation on David Grusch.
“I think that Grusch, if there was any doubt in anyone’s mind that he isn’t credible, I think that, you know, after leaving that, where I’m at he’s a very credible witness.”
“I think that this is — just from what I've been able to gather — this has been a long-term effort to really keep this information outside of the purview of Congress. We are going to continue to move forward, track down and do what we need to do, but if I'm at the point where I know that our witness is good, I'm going to then work with him directly. Because I feel like that's the best way, not only to get information out to the American people, but also to to ensure that we're not chasing ghosts. It has felt that the more that we try to do this your traditional way, the more blockades we get and that's just simply frustrating.”
“Remember, we can still operate and do certain things without having a full committee. We would like one, but I don't know if that's even going to be something that we'll be able to get it, you know, before the end of the 118th Congress.”
January 24, 2024
Rep. Burchett interviews Rep. Luna on his podcast Tennessee Talks.
February 2024
Rep. Luna explains her Eglin Airforce Base experience on The Grant Mitt Podcast: “I was men-in-blacked. I know a lot of people are going to be like that's crazy but ultimately what happened is being a member of oversight we follow up with whistleblowers and we also can conduct our own investigation so myself representative Burchett from Tennessee and Representative Gaetz uh were on a small codel to the Panhandle because a whistleblower came forward from Eglin Air Force Base Pilots to representative Gates's office saying that the Air Force was essentially covering up UAP activity and we needed to look into it so we coordinated the meeting uh Pentagon tried to initially cancel the first one we got it back on the books we show up there and we get in and the base commander tried to basically tell us that we didn't have authorized clearance to look into and speak to some of the witnesses of which you don't tell Congress that we don't have the authorized clearance especially members of house arm Services oversight and Judiciary so we I kind of had it out with the base commander which is kind of funny because this guy really thought that he he had it going on and he actually in the middle of our um our meeting he took off on leave which never happens with a member a delegation going to military in base but then also too we had pretty sure people from the agency that were there as well and so you really don't find that I've worked at Harbert field I you know I worked in the military for a number of years and so why would a intelligence agency need to be there on a meeting for whistleblowers so that happened I can tell you based on my investigations not in a classified setting that I absolutely believe that they there is um things that are Advanced Technologies not of human origin.”
March 12, 2024
Rep. Luna signed Rep. Burlison’s formal request for a UAP Select Committee to Speaker Jonson and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Signed by seven other House members.
March 21, 2024
Rep. Luna to Matt Laslo on AARO historical report: “I’m skeptical.”
April 16, 2024
Rep. Luna tells NewsNation: "It's become evident that (laughs) there's whole lot of people that don't want us to continue down this path...but we're still working in a bipartisan fashion to move forward. With this SCIF meeting [with AARO], hopefully we'll get some more answers and maybe, hopefully announce our first field hearing."
April 17, 2024
Rep. Luna meet Maj. Gen. David W. Abba, the Director of Special Programs and the Director of the Department of Defense Special Access Program Central Office in the Pentagon, and Tim Phillips, Director of AARO present a classified briefing on UAP. Members were interviewed by Matt Laslo immediately following the briefing.
Luna: “It was a nothing burger.”
May 23, 2024
Rep. Luna questions Department of Energy Secretary Granholm during a House Oversight Committee hearing. YouTube link & Committee homepage link.
Rep. Luna: “There have been persistent claims and reports including those from credible whistleblowers to this committee suggesting that the US government, potentially including the Department of Energy, has been involved in reverse engineering technologies recovered from UAP. For example the pentagon's proposed Kona Blue program aimed at reverse engineering such technologies, although it was ultimately not established. Can you clarify whether the Department of Energy has been involved in any such efforts or either historically or currently to analyze reverse engineering materials from related to UAPs?”
Granholm: “I have no knowledge of that.”
Rep. Luna: “There are several reports indicated frequent drone incursions over doe nuclear facilities including an incident on April 1st 2021 at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory also known as LLNL can you detail the DOE's current security measures to prevent unauthorized drone activities or UAPs and what steps are being taken to enhance these measures of frequencies of incidences?… I review some unclassified materials from around the ‘40s and ‘50s and so they weren't just being reported as drones back then and I encourage you to look over those materials because I think that you guys should be upgrading that program to cover down on UAPs. There have been documented sightings of metallic spheres over DOE facilities, if you want to call them drones in this instance, such as one report on April 30th 2019 over LLNL. What investigations have been conducted in regards to these sightings and what conclusions do you guys have about the nature nature and origins of these objects?”
June 13, 2023
Rep. Luna to Fox News: "I directly confronted Energy Secretary Granholm with multiple reports, as well as a statement by the Pentagon, and she still denied the facts. That's why I believe the American people have lost faith in our government to be transparent."
She submitted the ten following questions to the Department of Energy for a response:
How are unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned aerial system (UAS) designated by DOE?
What characteristics would an object need to display to be considered a UAP?
How many UAP incursions have been referred to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)?
At Formula One events, private companies are deployed which can disable drones and trace the operator – is that technology available to the DOE?Follow Up: If so, how many drones were you able to track to an operator and how many were you able to disable?
Follow Up: If so, how many drones were you able to track to an operator and how many were you able to disable?
How many UAP incursions have been reported internally this year alone, across all Critical Infrastructure Locations with DOE oversight (e.g. nuclear armament, refinement, and deployment sites like Pantex and Savannah River Site)?
Several reports indicate frequent drone incursions over DOE nuclear facilities, including an incident on April 1, 2021, at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Can you detail the DOE's current security measures to prevent unauthorized drone activities, and what steps are being taken to enhance these measures given the frequency of such incidents?
The recent AARO report highlights that better data collection is crucial for understanding UAP phenomena. What technologies and methodologies are the DOE employing to gather and analyze data related to UAP sightings, particularly those near critical infrastructure?
Given the potential security and safety risks posed by UAPs near nuclear facilities, what protocols are in place to ensure the safety of DOE personnel and the public? Have there been any documented cases of adverse health effects on personnel due to UAP encounters?
10. In the spirit of transparency, how does the DOE handle the public disclosure of UAP incidents? Are there any plans to declassify and release more detailed reports on UAP sightings over DOE facilities to inform and reassure the public?
November 13, 2024
Rep. Luna participates in the House Oversight & Accountability subcommittee hearing on UAP titled Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth.
Key quotes:
Rep. Luna: “To your knowledge can you name the country and around time frame that the first back engineered UAP program started?”
“To your knowledge have any USOs ever outpaced our submarines? At what magnitude?”
“Are you aware of any hotpots that currently exist off our Shores in North America… okay we've heard reports of there potentially being hotpots, maybe enter and or entry and exit points have you heard of any of that?”
“In regards to these aircraft being piloted by whatever they might be, nonhuman biologics, would you agree that it's likely that they are being piloted by some mind- body connection?”
“In our previous panel we had [David] Grusch and he had testified to say that some of these were interdimensional beings. Can you speak on that?”
“would it be safe to infer that they’re living craft?”
“Do any of you ever come across reports from people that claim to have firsthand experiences with these entities, whatever they might be, or these aircraft, and then as a result whether or not their religious, find that these things will automatically disappear?”... I ask is because it seems like just based on our conversations that we've had people that say that there are good and bad of whatever these things are and so my concern from a national security perspective is is a that true?”
“Mr Gold if you can answer this real quickly, some of these aircraft it seems that they are operating off of energy that we don't currently have, but just yes or no in your opinion if we were able to obtain that would that impact humanity for the better or negative?”
November 13, 2024
Rep. Luna to Matt Laslo on House UAP hearing: “Well, they [hearing witnesses] didn't answer some of the questions we were asking, so I thought that was annoying. Well, they submitted a lot of stuff to us and then when you ask them about it, they weren't answering them. So, why waste everyone's time?”
December 20, 2024
Rep. Luna interview with Matt Laslo
Lalso: “And last question, do you feel like this helps, like getting the attention on this? Like, why not do a UAP/UAS Committee?”
Luna: “So that would be a select committee from the speaker. We asked for that. What I'm more interested in is that you have the AG, the incoming FBI, the Secretary of State who led UAP investigations, Marco Rubio, who I have a feeling, will get confirmed. So I just don't think that — it’s an era of transparency.”
Perry, Scott
Pennsylvania–Republican
Term: 2013-Present
Foreign Affairs Committee (2013-Present)
UFO Stance: Extraterrestrial Hypothesis Advocate
June 6, 2023
Representative Perry spoke about the David Grusch allegations to the Epoch Times: “The truth, whatever it is, regardless of what the subject is, belongs with the American people, not in these halls, not in some other place in some building in downtown Washington, D.C.—out with the American people. This is their government, not the people that work in D.C. They’re the custodians of the information.”
July 26, 2023
Representative Perry interviewed by Fox News:
“These are obviously sensational claims, but they come from three very credible witnesses, all with military experience, one with a particular intelligence background, but all three with security clearances and first-hand knowledge, especially the two Navy aviators.”
“If funds are being misappropriated, or reappopriated, and that is one of the claims as well, that’s very concerning to me.”
“If these are indeed extraterrestrial then I don’t know who in the government has anymore authority to know about them than any other citizen. We are free Amercians, and if these are impacting us or imperiling us, we have every right to know what potential concern we should have.”
“And understand this is beyond Human capability, but certainly not beyond the possibility that these are unmanned vehicles operated by either the United States or our adversaries. We need to know what we are dealing with here, and if it’s not harmful, if it’s extraterrestrial and not harmful, then why must it be classified, and why can’t American citizens know about it? I think those are reasobanle questions that we demand answers to.”
October 26, 2023
Representative Perry was interviewed after a classified UAP briefing in a SCIF.
“We can’t even find out who is allowed to know… This is one more example that this isn’t our government. We just get to live here in America, and the government doesn’t answer to us.”
Waltz, Mike
Florida–Republican
Term: 2019-2025
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (2019-2022); House Armed Services Committee( 2021-2022); House Intelligence Committee (2023-present)
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
June 10, 2023
Representative Waltz interviewed by Florida’s Voice:
“UFOs, UAPs, whatever you want to call it, I think we need to take this incredibly seriously. Yeah, I’m going to ask for a briefing and sit down of what this whistleblower [David Grusch] is alleging.”
“I think why Americans are seeing so many, you know, feel like this is really new and they’re seeing so many reporting of these sightings is because we now have such a proliferation around the world of satellites, of Radars, of sensors, of cameras that you know 20-30 years ago it was you know Joe Bob and his pickup truck takes a grainy photo of something he sees in the sky. Now we have radar imagery, thermals, different types of infrared sensors. You can’t deny this stuff this is real, hard data that is showing objects that are doing things that can’t be explained. And it’s that data that we’ve demanded the Intelligence Community and the Pentagon analyzed and come back to Congress to explain and through us to the American people.”
“What we have been assured is it’s not our systems, so that means that it’s either our adversaries have things that, with capabilities that we weren’t aware of and that we can’t explain, or it’s otherworldly. Either way I want to know, when the American people deserve to know what the hell it is.”
January 12, 2024
Rep. Waltz talking with Matt Laslo about attending today’s ICIG SCIF presentation on David Grusch.
“We didn’t see anything definitive on the existence of extraterrestrials, but definitely some concerns on whether things are being shared across the inter-agencies that should be.”
“Well, I want to understand if the taskforce that Congress has mandated truly has access. I mean that’s what I think from the process standpoint, we need to verify,” Waltz said. “I mean, that was one of the key aspects of his complaint, right? Was that there were compartments that exist.”
—Rep. Waltz resigns from Congress to become National Security Advisor, January 20, 2025—
Comer, James Jr.
Kentucky–Republican
Term: 2016-Present
Committee on Oversight and Accountability (2016-Present; Chairman 2023-Present)
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
June 22, 2023
Representative Comer interviewed by Matt Laslo on the upcoming subcommittee hearing on UAP.
“So [Reps. Tim] Burchett and [Anna Paulina] Luna, on my committee, are the two that are kinda taking the lead in that. It’s interesting. It’s not an issue I’m an expert in so I don’t know anything about it, but apparently Burchett and Luna are so they’re really excited and our staffs are real excited about it. We’re having to do background checks on some of the witnesses. It’s been interesting. We’re going to do it. There’s a lot of witnesses. It’s pretty amazing some of the background checks we’re getting back on some of these folks. I know that we had to reshuffle the deck on a few witnesses because of some issues…. An old trick in oversight is: whoever the minority witness is or whoever the majority is, first thing the other side does is background checks on ‘em to see if they’ve ever been accused of being a racist or if they have a felony, you know what I mean. 99.9% of the time, nothing comes back. But some of these cats have had some pretty interesting background checks.”
September 16, 2023
Representative Comer interviewed by Matt Laslo about the UAP select committee: “Well, I think that’s fine. There’s a lot of people interested in that. .. I’m fine with it. I could care less. … I’m fine with it because we can’t have a UAP hearing every week. We’ve got too many things going on especially now. I think it should be under the Science Committee though, because we probably don’t have the right staff for that. … I would vote for it.”
December 20, 2024
Rep. Comer interview with Matt Laslo.
Laslo: “What would you like to see in the new year, because your committee's been doing the UAP investigation. You know, some people want a Select Committee still.”
Comer: “That's something that is being discussed. So we'll see what happens. There's still a lot of — we've gotta see who's gonna be Speaker. We got to see, there's still some committee slots that haven't been filled. The budgets haven't been approved yet for the committees, so you can't hire staff. “I don't have a single staff person on my staff that knows a lot about UAPs. …We didn’t have a lot of staff… I think to able to do that [UAP Select Committee] you’ve gotta have expertise. “We didn’t have that, so that’s all being discussed.”
Lalso asks about Burlison’s interest in hiring David Grusch.
Comer: “Well, I mean, I don’t know. I can’t remember the guy you’re talking about exactly. But if we were gonna do something on our committee, we would need a little bit of staff that knows something about it. And I have very smart lawyers that are very good investigators and know a lot of policy stuff, but they don't know anything about UAP.”
Lalso: “Yeah, they’re hired for Hunter frickin Biden.”
Comer: “Right, right, right.”
Grothman, Glenn
Wisconsin–Republican
Term: 2015-Present
House Oversight Committee (2015-Present; subcommitteeChairman 2023-Present)
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
July 26, 2023
From Representative Grothman’s opening statement on UAP hearing for the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Hearing.
“…curiosity and speculation from all walks of life have generated interest in studying what UAPs are and what threats
that they may pose. I will say that when I was younger in school I read a book, a 1966 book called Flying Saucers Serious Business, and for a while when I was a little bit younger I thought it was the most important issue out there. The lack of a transparency regarding UAPs, which was one of the themes of that book, has fueled wild speculation and debate for decades, eroding public trust in the very institutions that are meant to serve and protect them.”
There is a pressing demand for government transparency and accountability that cannot be overlooked, and that’s been a problem that’s been around for 50 years … Today we’ll see clarity from these Witnesses’ testimonies as to what can be done to improve reporting for military and civilians and remain committed to objective inquiry. Congress should work to ensure that knowledge is not driven by fear. Today we are not just debating the existence of UAPs, we are deliberating on the principles that define our Republic, which is a commitment to transparency.”
“Thank you all for being here today. Mr chairman, thank you I’d like to one more time thank Mr Burchett, Ms Luna for bringing this to our attention it’s a topic that has interest me since I was in school it was a very Illuminating hearing. Obviously I think several of us are going to look forward to getting some answers in a more confidential setting. I assume some legislation will come out of this. I think we’re going to want to look into what we can do to make more of this information public. I think there’s certainly a time period after which it should always be made public and people have been concerned about these issues like I said since I was in high school [1969-73].”
July 28, 2023
Representative Grothman was interviewed by Wisconsin Public Radio about his committee’s UFO hearing:
“We had a couple congressmen who were very adamant that they wanted to have a hearing. There’s a congressman who hasn’t come forward yet, but he told me he had seen one of these things when he was a child. So given that there were a couple passionate congressmen who wanted this hearing, we decided to give it to them.”
“I last visited this, and I’m not kidding, in Middle School when I read a long book. And it was kind of like today, there were a small number of people who said they saw what at the time we called UFOs, and they felt the government wasn’t taking it seriously, and a lot of people were seeing them but weren’t coming forward for fear of ridicule, and at the time the government said well we can’t divulge this for national security reasons. So we’ve got all these closed files, people can’t look at them. It was the same thing on Wednesday.”
“I think there should be legislation saying they have to release these files eventually. We went through a period in the late 1960s, the early ’70s in which there were a lot of rumors that these things were out there. As far as I know to this day the files are not released on what pilots saw in the 60s and 70s. So, I think if you go back fifteen years or whatever, these things should be released… The big thing is “a little more transparency from the military”
“Is it something that other nations have developed that we are nowhere near developing? We ought to know that. And if it is something from outer space, and there are other people monitoring us, well, we ought to know that.”
“I’ve received more phone calls on this and more press attention than I have for all the hearings I’ve held… If there are a couple dozen people who have seen things high up in the sky going at rapid rates, and stopping on a dime, let’s face it, if that is true, that is incredibly significant, isn’t it? For all the other headlines out in the paper for the last year, if we’re being visited from another galaxy, I guess that’s the news story of the year.”
“This stuff has been around a long time. Maybe Congress hasn’t had the hearings on it, but the idea that certain pilots are saying that they see this strange stuff has been around since I was in elementary school.”
August 6, 2023
Representative Grothman interviewed by Bret Baier of Fox News:
“I’ve since had a conversation with someone who’s involved with the Department of Defense who insists our military is withholding information on this. So while it seems like an off-beat thing for Congress to focus on this, it’s high time we did.”
January 11, 2024
Rep. Grothman and Rep. Garcia sponsored bill that would at least create a reporting mechanism for civilian pilots who claim to see UFOs, including legal protections against reprisals.
"Our bipartisan effort highlights our need for transparency from the federal government regarding UAPs to better protect the safety and security of American citizens.” [USA Today article]
January 12, 2024
Representative Grothman talking with Matt Laslo after today’s ICIG SCIF presentation on David Grusch.
“We didn’t have a silver bullet one way or the other. I’m sure we’ll do something else… I have a feeling the next one we have will be private again, but we’re not done. Well, there’s stuff he didn’t have … It’s very frustrating.”
“I think they’ll [Comer and Speaker Johnson] go anywhere I want to go. Comer hasn’t really been looking over my shoulder on this at all.”
March 20, 2024
Rep. Grothman responds to Matt Laslo’s question about UAP Select Committee:
“I think we’re gonna hold another hearing in the subcommittee, so that really won't be necessary. It’s unneeded ’cause, we’ve held a bunch of, not hearings, but briefings in the SCIF [Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility], and we’re gonna do some others. We’re not done with it.”
March 23, 2024
Rep. Grothman speaks to NewsNation about his FAA bill:
“Isn’t it important that the Department of Defense look into this and see exactly if there’s any possible explanation,”
“Not only pilots, but air maintenance people, flight attendants… air traffic controllers can report these phenomena without having people worrying that revenge is going to be taken on them.”
Grothman tells NewsNation “Prime” his bill would mandate thorough, timely investigations “which I think quite frankly, sometimes in the past, was not done, or even worse. Air personnel were even afraid to report it in the first place, or fear that people would say, ‘oh, yeah, there’s Joe. You know, who knows what he’s imagining?’”
“As I go around my district again and again, I hear more questions from people. I can’t think of a hearing that I have chaired… that has received so much interest.”
“We’re going to hear (about) more of these instances… and the more instances that are made public, the more instances the FAA is able to look at, the more we’re gonna learn.”
November 13, 2024
Rep. Grothman participates in the House Oversight & Accountability subcommittee hearing on UAP titled Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth.
Key quotes:
“This is a topic I've been interested in since 8th grade.”
“Since that last hearing [2023] I've led several briefings with government agencies to deepen my understanding with these issues. First the Department of Defense inspector General's office informed us that the Department of Defense does not have a streamlined process for service members to report UAP activity. Since then the Joint Chiefs have implemented standards for UAP reporting across the services. The intelligence Community Inspector General informed us that whistleblowers often fear retaliation for reporting mismanagement of highly sensitive government projects or information. Finally AARO has expressed to the committee that like any other federal government agency it's faced challenges in its establishment, specifically in hiring staff to manage UAP historical records and coordinating with other federal agencies. While these agencies have been helpful to us in understanding the challenges that come from collecting UAP data, none of them have been able to substantiate the claims made at this hearing last year by David Grusch.”
“…whether these phenomena are the result of foreign adversaries developing advanced technologies or something else entirely we must take them seriously, investigate them thoroughly, and assess their implications on national defense.”
“None of this is going to be possible without transparency. For far too long critical information about UAPs has been either classified or ignored leaving the American public including congressmen without clarity needed to make informed decisions. Declassifying reports and fostering a more open dialogue about UAPs will not only increase the public trust but also encourage collaboration between government, the scientific community, and our allies. Quite frankly there's been things that have been kept secret that is I think old enough that there is no reason it shouldn't be released regardless of any so-called you know private information. A transparent approach will allow us to share insights, identify patterns, and develop new strategic defenses as we continue to investigate these phenomena.”
“The American people who right now I don't think have trust and it's just obvious. I don't have trust. We cannot shy away from the unknown especially when the stakes are so high.”
“I'm hopeful we can learn from the testimony and come out of this hearing with actionable ideas to advance UAP transparency--actually the idea is just to say, in my mind, go back 15 years and everything has to be released.”
November 19, 2024
Rep. Grothman to Matt Laslo on the House UAP hearing:
“Well, I guess we're going to have to do some more work because they didn't tell us enough information.”
ML: “Yeah? Now that you guys have carried on this investigation, how do you think you dislodge some of that information?”
GG: “Well, I guess we'll have to threaten them with legislation.”
ML: “Do you — did anyone in the incoming Trump administration reach out after it?”
GG: “No, no. We’re still waiting for our contact, so we'll talk to the Trump people about a lot of things.”
ML: “Yeah? Do you think you guys are successfully building a case — between them and Grusch’s testimony last summer?”
GG: “Well, I mean, we're building a case, but they obviously don't like to tell us what's going on. That's what really annoys me. I mean, when you talk about things that are over 20 years old, come on.”
ML: “Yeah? Could you guys change a whistleblower law, because it seems like a lot of them are afraid to speak about...”
GG: “I'm not sure that's the problem. The problem’s just…” Grothman trails off mid sentence.
ML: “But in the new year, this issue's not going away?”
GG: “No. I don't think the public will let it go away.”
December 6, 2024
Rep. Grothman attends classified AARO briefing in Capitol SCIF, speaks to Matt Laslo after.
“I think he’s a very open guy [Kosloski].”
Turner, Mike
Ohio–Republican
Term 2003-Present
House Armed Services Committee (2003-2022); House Intelligence Committee (2015-Present; Chair 2023-Present); “Gang of Eight” (2023-Present)
UFO Stance: UFO Skeptic (Disclosure Hostile)
June 6, 2023
Fox’s Special Report with Bret Baier interview: “Bret, this has been a story since the 1960s. Really every decade there have been individuals who have said that the United States has such pieces of unidentified flying objects that are from outer space. There is no evidence of this. And certainly, there (would) be quite a conspiracy for this to be maintained, especially at this level.” [Source: Dayton Daily News]
June 13, 2023
Matt Laslo goes to press with his article in Wired containing many quotes from members of Congress about recent UFO developments, especially allegations made by David Grusch in the article for The Debrief: “That’s why one of [Rep. Mike] McCaul’s first reactions to the article was to forward it to the House Intelligence Committee chair, Mike Turner, whose office didn’t reply to multiple requests for comment.
July 30, 2023
Fox News Interview: “I always love it when you have someone who comes forward and testifies about things that they don’t know anything about. The most striking aspect of all of the testimony, was repeatedly over and over the whistleblowers had to say, actually I don’t have any knowledge of this, someone else told me that. Really, this would take thousands and thousands of people for such an unbelievable coverup to be occurring. For people to speak with such confidence over something that they do not know, is something that I think everybody needs to be concerned about.”
“I certainly can’t tell you there are no aliens here, I can tell you that there is no evidence of what the gentlemen is testifying about. He said himself personally, he has no direct knowledge.”
September 27, 2023
Representative Turner is asked by Matt Laslo, “Curious, any update on UAP investigations and stuff?”
Turner: “I don’t do ambush interviews. Call my office.”
November 30, 2023
Representative Turner interviewed by NewsNation:
“What I really find interesting about what I call the pro-alien caucus over here in the House… you would think that if this is that important of an issue to them, at least one member of the House who’s, you know, advancing this cause would actually come up and substantively talk to me about this issue. No one has even raised it.”
January 12, 2024
Representative Mike Turner attended today’s ICIG SCIF presentation on David Grusch. He made no comment to the press after leaving the SCIF.
Moskowitz, Jared
Florida–Democrat
Term: 2023-Present
UFO Stance: Extraterrestrial Hypothesis Advocate
July 20, 2023
Representative Moskowitz participates in a press conference that announces an upcoming House Oversight hearing on UFOs.
“And, and ultimately, you know, it really is about getting to just go greater government transparency as Tim said that, you know, when we ask these questions, if the answers are, there are no unidentified aerial phenomenon, then say that, but that’s not what the answers are, the answers are. We can’t tell you. And so that leads to speculation.
“We we need to know whether these things are uh are they domestic uh are they foreign or are they, are they something else or do they not exist? And the government needs to have straight answers. And so the American people deserve to know the truth on this unnecessarily censoring things or over-classification is what leads to all of these theories that have been out there.”
“I think the overarching question that we’re really asking is why are they overclassification this and why aren’t they being transparent? You know, and it’s about asserting reasserting, I should say Congress’s role in all of this. I mean, to Tim’s point, I mean, the United States Congress passed a law on the JFK assassination. That information under that law is now supposed to be available and yet president after president violates parties of both parties, right, violates that law and extends the information to his point. Why? And that’s really what’s happening here. We’re interested in the, why, why are they doing this? Why won’t they tell the American people? Yes, it’s a national security issue. Of course, it is. Right. We can’t, we tell the American people that it isn’t China? It isn’t Russia, right? And, and if it is right, then that’s even more questionable, why aren’t they telling the American people that other countries have this technology, right? And to your point, I want to reengineer reverse your question, which is, are we OK with the federal government keeping information from the American people because they’re trying to prevent us from having anxiety on all sorts of issues. I mean, if they can do it here, what else, what else are we going to give them authority to not tell the American people, people because they’re interested in, in, in, in controlling and keeping us in a bubble. I mean, that’s a, that’s a scary thought that they don’t trust us. That the universe is a big place. I mean, everyone learns about that in school, right? The universe is a big place. Our solar system is a big place. We’re learning about solar systems far beyond. And so the idea that human, the human brain can’t tolerate that there might be life somewhere else. I just don’t accept that. And at the end of the day, I think the hearing is really about real-life accounts from reliable people. And as the technology is getting better, our technology is getting better. We’re now capturing these things on our hand held devices. And why is the military and the government not just being honest with us, why are they over classifying it? Why aren’t they being transparent? “
“I wanna give Tim [Burchett] uh a lot of credit going back to uh some of your questions, which is, this is a really simple hearing. It’s about oversight…. it was really hard for him to get this scheduled. It was hard for him to get it scheduled. It was hard for uh Congressman Luna to get it scheduled. It was hard to get a room. It was hard to get staff on board. It was hard to get approval every single step that they had to go through to make this hearing happen. Next week, the witnesses, they were stonewalled and they had to push and push and push again. If there’s nothing to talk about, why was it so difficult? And that again is what breeds these theories and these concerns. And so I think the best thing that can happen quite frankly just to end this whole debate is just like, let’s hear the testimony and let the government come forward and figure out what they have and share it with the American people.”
July 26, 2023
From Representative Moskowitz’s opening statement and questioning during the UAP hearing for the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Hearing.
“‘For decades many Americans have been fascinated by objects mysterious and unexplained and it’s long past time that they got some answers. The American public has a right to learn about technologies of unknown origins, non-human intelligence, and unexplainable phenomena.’ Those are not the words of a UFO Twitter account. That is a direct quote from majority leader Chuck Schumer, that the American public has a right to learn about Technologies of unknown Origins non-human intelligence and unexplainable phenomena.”
”But we can’t allow that [national security classifications] to be used as a shield to keep the American people completely in the dark from basic truths the American people deserve to hear more about special access programs. Congress has a right to know if there’s any unsanctioned weapons development, satellite imagery that has not been provided to Congress… it’s time for Congress to reinsert ourselves I call on our military leaders and intelligence officials to release more information to the American people about UAPs. And to our military leaders, if there’s nothing to conceal let Congress go to Wright Patterson Air Force Base, the Dugway Proving Ground, or even Groom Lake in Nevada. We should have disclosure today, we should have disclosure tomorrow. The time has come.”
Mr Grusch, as a result of your previous government work have you met with people with direct knowledge or have direct knowledge yourself of non-human origin craft?… Mr Grusch, as a result of your previous government work have you met with people with direct knowledge or have direct knowledge yourself about ATs, Advanced Technologies, that the US government has?”
July 27, 2023
Representative Moskowitz and three other members of the House call on the Speaker to create a Select Committee to investigate the “United States government’s response to UAPs”
July 28, 2023
Representative Moskowitz interviewed by Newsmax about the UAP hearing.
“But I found his testimony most interesting on the program he was a part of about UAPs, and about how he believes these contractors are involved in reverse engineering technology. I think that’s where I would like to continue to pull that thread with him.”
August 22, 2023
Representative Moskowitz and five other members of the House call submit a letter to the Intelligence Community Inspector General, requesting names and locations of any UFO crash retrieval and reverse engineering programs.
September 1, 2023
Representative Moskowitz tweets “Disclosure” and a news reports on AARO’s new website.
September 13, 2023
Representative Moskowitz interviewed with Representative Mace by Bret Baier on Fox News: “I don’t know that we’re there [aliens] yet, Bret. I think we have simpler questions. Like, if there are these weapon’s programs, like when we used stealth helicopters to go after Osama Bin Laden 12 years ago and we didn’t know these stealth helicopters existed–and they came out of Area 51 by the way–are there secret weapon’s programs, advanced technologies that we have, how are they getting funded? …There is more threat to pull here. I don’t know if those sandcastle people that they showed [reference to faked alien mummies] I’m not there yet, but I think there is bipartisan agreement.”
October 5, 2023
Representative Moskowitz tweets at his Republican colleagues: “to my UAP colleagues. I know when you are picking a speaker you will be asking for a UAP select committee!” Speaker McCarthy was removed from his speakership on this day.
October 26, 2023
Representative Moskowitz was interviewed after a classified UAP briefing in a SCIF.
“We were actually told that we don’t have clearance to learn certain things. … I think all the members were very frustrated. …They wouldn’t tell us who [in Congress has access]. They wouldn’t answer that.”
January 12, 2024
Representative Moskowitz talking with Matt Laslo today’s ICIG SCIF presentation on David Grusch.
“The process is extremely frustrating, but actually this is the first real briefing that we’ve had that we’ve now made, I would say progress on some of the claims Mr. Grusch has made. This is the first time we’ve got a ruling on what the IG thinks of those claims… This one actually moved the needle.”
“You should see that room. It's wild how nonpartisan this really is. This is about Congress versus the executive and government oversight and secrecy and transparency. This was the most fascinating meeting I've sat in. Ok, now that doesn't mean we got the ultimate answer to the ultimate question. We didn’t obviously, but this was more directional, right, on where we need to focus and what the next steps are. Where we need to ask for information. Places actually to maybe go.”
“We need more from DoD. We need more from AARO.”
March 12, 2024
Rep. Moskowitz signed Rep. Burlison’s formal request for a UAP Select Committee to Speaker Jonson and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Signed by seven other House members.
March 22, 2024
Rep. Moskowitz tells Laslo he has not read the AARO historical report yet.
Laslo: “What do make of AARO these days?”
Moskowitz: “Well, we don't know.”
April 11, 2024
Rep. Moskowitz tells Matt Laslo regarding the upcoming AARO briefing: “I think that it's important. Look, I think I'm going to have a lot of questions on UAPs — that's what they're in charge of. We'll talk about some of Grusch's accusations, but also, you know, disclosure to the American people, right? Some of the UAPs they're able to explain, they're on their website, right? Other UAPs they're not able to explain. And they're not able to explain them away, like weather, right? I have questions about why they can't do that…. Now, we're filming these things more and more and more. People are seeing with their own eyes. Why can't they explain what they are? I think there's going to be a lot of focus on that.”
June 27, 2024
Rep. Moskowitz to Matt Laslo:
ML: “Well, he says this whole UAP investigation is a waste of time. Like, he's 1,000% convinced and has been by AARO.”
JM: “What do you think AARO is gonna walk in and be like, ‘yeah, it's true?’ I mean, we know that there are UAPs. And we know that there are UAPs they can't explain. Why can't they explain them? I mean, we talked to pilots, right? We talked to pilots — decorated pilots, people not part of this whole thing who say, ‘I know what I saw,’ right? Over bases. So, you know, look — I don't do this deep-state nonsense. But no, there is definitely a concerted effort by our government to keep information from us. When the stealth helicopters came out of Area 51 to go kill Osama bin Laden, nobody knew those helicopters existed. Okay? And the only reason we know they exist is because one of them crashed.”
ML: “Do you think we'll get a public UAP hearing ahead of the election?”
JM: “I mean, look, my Republican colleagues have been pushing the Speaker on this. They’ve told me we're going to get a Select [UAP] Committee. I signed that letter, it didn't happen. I think it — I think, right now it looks like it's done.”
July 23, 2024
Rep. Moskowitz tells Matt Laslo about public interest in UAP:
“…you know, of all the things people come up and talk to me about — and obviously, right now we're talking about the election and Biden and Kamala Harris and Trump and all these things and the assassination attempt — but more people come to me and talk to me about, ‘Hey, what's going on with UAPs? I think there's just a lot of intrigue and, you know, a lot of mistrust in information we've been given. I think people trust the folks that have come forward — former pilots, you know, Army folks who tell us what they’ve seen. And so, you know, there's always a lot of intrigue on things we don't understand.”
September 24, 2024
Rep. Moskowitz to Matt Laslo in the inclusion of the UAPDA in this years NDAA: “Yeah. I mean, a lot of my colleagues here are going to push for it, just depends how hard, depends if they can get the speaker's ear. Yeah. I mean, it just depends on whether the majority here makes that a big deal, right? Whether the members that you and I talk to that care about the UAP stuff, whether they can get the speaker to make it a priority.”
November 13, 2024
Rep. Moskowitz participates in the House Oversight & Accountability subcommittee hearing on UAP titled Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth.
Key quotes:
“AARO along with ODNI released an unclassified report on UAP sightings. Of the 366 sightings included in the report 171 remain uncharacterized with some of these appearing to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities. That's a nice way of saying we don't want to tell you what they are.”
“When the American people and members of Congress ask are reports of UAPs credible, we're met with stonewalling, we're met with responses of ‘I can't tell you’ and in fact we're met with people not wanting us to have hearings. We're met with people not wanting us to ask you [the hearing witnesses] questions. In fact many of us were told not to ask some of you certain questions on certain topics. In a time of heightened distrust of our government institutions I believe more transparency is not only needed but is possible and obviously we can respect national security limits but we also have to provide our constituents with the information and oversight that they have tasked us for.”
“Now we've seen this has gone from a long time ago where you could discredit people because it's some guy living in a Winnebago, you're able to see people now, these are pilots, these are military, these are folks with serious backgrounds. This [hold up cell phone] has changed the face of this because now we have video.”
Rep. Moskowitz to Elizondo: “You specifically said the [NDA] 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. I'm just making an observation.”
November 13, 2024
Rep. Moskowitz to Matt Laslo on House UAP hearing: “I think we, as we've talked about, as we’ve been waiting for a second hearing, I think more people have questions. It's about fighting for greater government transparency. No one's jumping to any conclusions, but every time we ask a question or pull a thread, we get stonewalled. And that's what breeds more questions, and it's what breeds theories on why is it such a problem.”
“Well, this is the first guy [Luis Elizondo] who's come forward — he's got a legitimate background. Comes forward and says, ‘I was forced to sign a document.’ Ooh, that's interesting. What’d the document say? ‘Well, it had a crash retrieval.’ Well, why have that in there? And that's when, you know, just popped in my head, ‘well, hold on a second, we can't talk about fight club, well, because there is a fight club.’”
“I want the Speaker to do a Select Committee in the next Congress…. “Because this is Congress’ — because Congress has an oversight function. We can't just give all the power to the executive. This is our function of oversight. Listen, we know there's something there. We don't know exactly what it is, but we know they don't want to tell us.”
Donalds, Byron
Florida–Republican
Term: 2021-Present
UFO Stance: Extraterrestrial Hypothesis Advocate
July 20, 2023
Reporter Scrum Question: UAPs, UFOs, do you think they are non-human extraterrestrial origin?
“Yes. Yes. Yes. Listen, God made a phenomenal planet with phenomenal people, even though we disagree, we have our own issues. I don’t think we’re the only ones in the universe. Do I think that our federal government has hidden information from the American people? 100 percent.”
Mace, Nancy
South Carolina–Republican
Term: 2021-Present
UFO Stance: Extraterrestrial Hypothesis Advocate
July 26, 2023
From Representative Mace’s questioning during the UAP hearing for the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Hearing.
“Since the Roswell incident in 1947 many Americans have wondered about the dangers of unknown objects crisscrossing our skies whether these are UAPs or weather phenomena, advanced technology from American allied or enemy forces, or something more out of this world.”
“When you reported your experiences with a UAP did any of you face any repercussions with your superiors, yes or no?”
“Do you believe there’s an active disinformation campaign within our government to deny the existence of UAPs, yes or no?”
“I have a few questions for Mr Graves. What percentage of UAP sightings in your belief go unreported by our pilots?”
Graves: this is an approximation based off of my personal experience speaking with a number of pilots, but I would estimate we’re somewhere near five percent reporting perhaps
“So like 95 basically don’t report seeing UAP?”
“Mr Fravor, as an expert Naval aviator have you ever seen an object that looked and moved like the Tic Tac UAP? …Did the Tic Tac UAP move in such a way that defied the laws of physics the way we understand them?”
“Many dismissed UAP reports as classified weapons testing by our own government but in your experience as a pilot does our government typically test advanced weapon systems right next to multi-million dollar jets without informing our pilots?”
Fravor: no we have test ranges for that
“It took over 15 years for your encounter with the Tic Tac to be declassified. Do you feel there was a good reason to prevent lawmakers from having access to this footage?”
Fravor: no I just think it was ignored when it happened and it just sat somewhere in a file never got reported.
“Do you believe that officials at the highest levels of our national security apparatus have unlawfully withheld information from Congress and subverted our oversight authority?”
“You’ve stated that the government is in possession of potentially non-human spacecraft. Based on your experience and extensive conversations with experts do you believe our government has made contact with intelligent extraterrestrials?”
Grusch: something I can’t discuss in public setting
“Um okay and I can’t ask when you think this occurred. If you believe we have crashed craft as stated earlier, do we have the bodies of the pilots who piloted this craft… were they human or non-human biologics?”
“Who in the government, either what agency, sub-agency, what contractors, who should be called into the next hearing about UAPs either in a public setting or even in a private setting, and you probably can’t name names but what agencies or organizations contractors, etc. do we need to call in to get these questions answered, whether it’s about funding, what programs are happening, and what’s out there?”
Grusch: I can give you a specific cooperative and hostile witness list of specific individuals that were in those.
“And how soon can we get that list?”
Grusch: I’m happy to provide that to you after the hearing.
“Super. Thank you, and I yield.”
July 29, 2023
Representative Mace interviewed by Brietbart:
“But at the end of the day, I don’t think this is really about little green men. This is about government transparency versus government secrecy,” she said, emphasizing it is about the misappropriation of funds, which leads to many other questions.
“How much money is being spent? What’s it being spent on? And are our government agencies hiding anything from Congress and therefore hiding it from the American people?” she asked. “The American people deserve the right to know; it’s about national security. It’s about technology. Is this AI-driven? Have we, as a government, developed our AI to…such an advanced level?”
“I think it’s about energy. If you can defy the law, if the laws of physics and gravity are being defined in the way that these pilots have told us as being defied, then who has the power to create that kind of energy? Do we have that technology, or is it our adversaries?”
“If this is really going on, it’ll be the biggest story in history, not just U.S. history, but world history,” she said, inquiring if these programs exist.
“Why can’t Congress be informed about what’s really going on in this country?”
August 22, 2023
Representative Mace and five other members of the House submit a letter to the Intelligence Community Inspector General, requesting names and locations of any UFO crash retrieval and reverse engineering programs.
September 12, 2023
Representative Mace releases a video about the July 26 Oversite Committee hearing on UFOs.
The tweet reads: “Joining the #UAP Caucus to stand for truth & transparency in our pursuit of the unknown. The mysteries of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (#UAP) demand our attention, rigorous investigation, data-driven analysis & oversight. The pursuit of truth knows no boundaries.”
Video transcript: “The UAP hearing should have been the most historic hearing in congressional history. … This is one of the most important stories of our lifetime, and it happened on the oversight committee. What the hell kind of energy is being utilized to see a craft move through time and space in the way that they have? And it’s not just crazy people saying these things. These are pilots. These are decorated military commanders. … And the goverment, your’e government is lying to you. And they’re lying to Congress, and we’ve got to get to the truth.”
“The things that I’ve heard, specifically about contractors, military contractors that are involved, getting to the bottom of that will be the precipice of the entire story.”
“What you see on TV is one thing, what you see behind the scenes is another. After the UAP hearing, a lot of members were interested and intrigued, and wanted more information. They want to get into a SCIF, they want to find out, they want to read classified briefings. But what you see in public is a mockery, making a mockery of people who have seen UAPs or UFOs, whatever you want to call them. … We should not be afraid to broach this subject. Whether it’s real or not real, your money, your tax dollars are being spent on it. We ought to know what’s going on.”
September 13, 2023
Representative Mace interviewed with Representative Moskowitz by Bret Baier on Fox News:
If there are bodies out there, I want to see it for myself. I got to see it to believe it. I have to touch it, put my hands on it. I dont know what non-human biologics are, but I would like to learn more. I’m trying right now to get some of those witnesses into a SCIF to be able to come back to us and brief us on some of the classified information they could not share. It’s not about little green men. It’s about money laundering. What has the government spent our tax dollars on, where has it gone, what programs?”
September 20, 2023
Representative Mace tells Matt Laslo: “I have. I have spoken with one of the witnesses after the hearing and would like to continue to try to get answers. I’m trying to do it through HASC—the House Armed Services Committee. So to get waivers for any witnesses that want to get into a SCIF [Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility], would need a waiver on TS/SCI [top secret or sensitive compartmented information] clearance or to be able to do that. Even though they have their clearances, they would need a waiver from the Pentagon to get into a SCIF, so I put a request in for that.”
“I don’t know that we need one [UAP select committee], but we might have to have one if Intel and Armed Services say well we can’t get down another layer, then we might have to. This isn’t something that should just be swept under the rug, because I’d like to know how much money has been spent on these programs and what they’re doing. And then, Congress shouldn’t be kept in the dark.”
“They [House Intel. Committee] won’t do it. Yeah, they won’t do it. My understanding is Intel won’t do it. I think, the next option, if Intel won’t do it, will be through Armed Services, and we’ll see if there’s an appetite for that. My understanding is that leadership does have an appetite. They’re willing to support members who want to continue down this investigative path. That he’ll—that they’ll support it, but I don’t—trust but verify. So fact check that. But that’s what I’ve been hearing rumor wise in the House.”
March 12, 2024
Rep. Mace signed Rep. Burlison’s formal request for a UAP Select Committee to Speaker Jonson and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Signed by seven other House members.
September 19, 2024
Rep. Mace to Matt Laslo about chairing the upcoming UAP hearing:
“I want whistleblowers to feel like they can come forward. I want people protected. Every American deserves the right to know how their how their tax dollars are being spent and what it’s being spent on. And if it's no big deal, why hide it?”
“I don't trust anybody,” Mace says. “I can't trust anybody. I mean, truly, you can't trust anyone up here. You just can't.”
“I go to these SCIFS, I'll go for a briefing in a classified setting, and ‘Well, we can't tell you,’ because, you know, I'm not read in on it — I don't know the name of the program, I’m not read in on it,” Mace tells Ask a Pol. “How the hell our we supposed to know how much money is being spent on it and where it’s being spent? It's bullshit. And that’s all I have to say. And I don't like bullshit, and that's what we deal with a lot up here. That's a reason to have these hearings: get information, have greater transparency and put the government on the spot, at the end of the day.”
September 24, 2024
Rep. Mace to Matt Laslo on the importance of Admiral Gallaudet being a witness at the upcoming UAP hearing:
“...so I met with [Rep. Tim] Burchett and with [Rep. Anna Paulina] Luna to get them on why they wanted this guy [Gallaudet, though unnamed at this point] — I think he’s an admiral that does USO stuff —more than happy [to have him testify]. But the witnesses will be different, and they'll bring different information to the table.”
“It's actually a guy that will talk about USOs, because we haven't talked about USOs. But also, I wanted to have a military vet. I think it's important to have more than just academics. I need people who’ve maybe seen some shit and can tell us some stuff. So, like, — I want people who've actually seen and heard and read. Like, it's just important. So, I moved the dates back… I really want someone who's formally in uniform. It's important that the issue is taken seriously. We'll get there eventually. This is just the start, right?”
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna on Rep. Mace chairing the upcoming UAP hearing: “Oh, yeah. She's cool. She's game. She's a true believer.” (9/25/24)
November 13, 2024
Rep. Mace chairs the House Oversight & Accountability subcommittee hearing on UAP titled Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth.
Key quotes:
“I’m not going to name names but there are certain individuals who didn't want this hearing to happen because they feared what might be disclosed, but we stood firm. No amount of outside pressure would ever keep me from pursuing a subject to ground come hell or high water. …some of the testimony you will hear them deliver today does not reflect well on influential individuals and agencies within the US federal government and perhaps some of our contractors.”
“This hearing is attended to help Congress and the American people to learn the extent of the programs and activities our government has engaged in with respect to UAPs and what knowledge it has yielded. This includes of course any knowledge of extraterrestrial life or technology of non-human origin. If government funded research on UAPs has not yielded any useful knowledge we also need to know those facts.”
“The reality is despite their enormous taxpayer funded budgets, the transparency of the defense department and the Intelligence Community have long been abysmal. The Pentagon has failed six consecutive audits. In fact it's never actually passed one. Adding to this is a runaway over classification of documents and materials, a reluctance to declassify materials when appropriate, and at times an outright refusal to share critical information with Congress. In short it's not a track record that instills trust. So Congress has tried in recent years to lift the veil and find out if information about UAPs is being withheld not only from the American public but also from their elected representatives in Congress.”
Rep. Mace: “Has the government conducted secret UAP crash retrieval programs, yes or no?”
Elizondo: “yes”
Mace: “Okay were they designed to identify and reverse engineer alien craft, yes or no?”
Elizondo: “yes”
Rep. Mace: “Does the US government or private contractors, do they work with other foreign countries, China for example, to exchange data quote ‘from a source that intelligence data about UAP?’ …In terms of material that's given to private contractors is certain material given to certain contractors because of their experience so for example if it's related to submerged and undersee propulsion would it go to a general contractor like General Dynamics?...What's Lockheed's expertise?”
Mace: “My last question, the first hearing [2023] we had on this, I never briefed on UAPs or what they were, biologics, non-human, etc. How would you define, each of you my last question, how would you define non-human biologics, non-human intelligence? What are we actually talking about?”
Mace: “We want to thank you all for being here. I want to thank Mr Garcia and folks on both sides of aisle for being here today and being patient. We have a lot more questions and I hope that this will open the door to more hearings in the future. I obviously would like to know how much taxpayers are spending on this, you have the right to know, but also if we're spending money on something that doesn't exist why are we spending the money? And if it does exist why are we hiding it from the public? And of course our national security is a huge issue because if there's technology that could harm us or Allies that are in the hands of our adversaries we obviously want to stay ahead of that to the best of our ability to ensure that technology is not in the hands of someone who could use it against us or our allies anywhere in the world.”
November 13, 2024
Rep. Mace as she’s leaving the House UAP hearing she chaired to Matt Laslo:
ML: “How do you think it went?”
Mace: “Well, there was a standing ovation. That was the first time in a hearing — ever — I've seen applause and a standing ovation. “There’’s a lot of interest in the topic and people just want to know facts, data and the truth — what does this mean, what's going on, what are we funding, how are we funding it and what are we funding it for, right? — at the end of the day. Obviously, more questions. I mean, I could have gone all afternoon — I could have gone all day, right? I mean, so this is just the tip of the iceberg.”
“I mean, there's a lot to unpack here, like, I'm gonna have to go back and listen to all the testimony in the question portion of it — there is a lot to unpack in what they're telling us, in terms of what agencies are involved, what contractors are involved, how they're involved, what they're involved with. And this based on now two hearings with multiple witnesses with clearances, esteemed backgrounds and careers in the military and other federal agencies that are telling the American people we're being lied to, that Congress is being lied to. This is bombshell.”
“If I had more time to question, I would want to know who's hiding it, how are they hiding it and why? You know, so we didn't have enough time to get into that today. But who's behind it all? And is the Pentagon — is anything being hid from the Pentagon too? So I just, you know, we need more whistleblowers. We need more time to truly get to the bottom of it. But what we saw today was huge. This was bombshell revelations about what potentially is there — explained and unexplained.”
“Obviously, yes to a SCIF again. I want to go back and look at the DOD [Department of Defense]. I want to look at the budget of Intel agencies and DOD again. You know, where is this stuff hidden? And then why is it being hidden from us?”
“Yeah. I'm able to know [AARO’s budget] in a private setting, but the public isn't. And it's, it's — it shouldn't be classified. Just like the dates of the 2017 [satellite imagery of a UAP, mentioned in the hearing] — like, why is the date of it [classified]? Why can’t you talk about it publicly or describe it? “It's not like some of it is. Some of it sounds like it's executive branch, Intel agencies and private contractors. And skirt the law. This is — we're just scratching the surface now. There's so much more.”
Garcia, Robert
California–Democrat
Term: 2023-Present
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
July 24, 2023
Representative Garcia interviewed by The Los Angeles Times about the upcoming UAP hearing:
“There’s a lot of information we don’t know, and so I think that it’s really important that we have this hearing publicly.”
“He [Burchett] has a perspective on this, which is fine. My job as the ranking member on the Democratic side is to ensure that we have a hearing that is responsible, that is serious, and that centers national security, and I will make sure working with my subcommittee chair that that’s the type of hearing that we hold.”
July 26, 2023
From Representative Garcia’s opening statement and questioning during the UAP hearing for the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Hearing.
“The sheer number of reports, whistleblowers and stories of unidentified anomalous phenomena should raise real questions and warrant investigation and oversight and that’s why we are here today. Pilots have reported encounters for years now. Because of the stigma around reporting these incidents we still don’t have a complete picture of actually what’s going on, particularly as our witnesses will testify on the civilian side and that is a real problem that we have today.”
“If we are to advance oversight and public disclosure, we must also gain the broad support of the public. We will succeed getting facts out to the public faster if there is a broad public support as part of the process.”
“I encourage all of my colleagues to engage with these difficult questions with an open mind and to follow the facts on behalf of our country. I also just want to say more broadly that we should look at this hearing and believe that everything is on the table as it relates to UAPs. I think an open mind is absolutely the best.”
“One of the things that I found fascinating in our discussion, Mr [Ryan] Graves last night as well, is that you’ve both [David Fravor] described UAPs and formations and the way they have they are observed in space or or in our air and the way that they move essentially in ways in which current technology, or aircraft that we know of, are unable to actually function or move, and so will you just for the public record again briefly just either describe or note that aircraft that are being witnessed, particularly by the 30 folks that you’re working with, are essentially outside the scope of anything that we know of today in the technology we have today.”
“I know that some of you have also said some of these answers in the past. We’re trying to get them on the public record as well which is
really important. Mr Grusch finally do you believe that our government is in possession of UAPs… and where?”
“We have to continue our investigation and accountability on asking the right questions and ensuring that they’re part of the public record.”
”It’s important also that our friends in the media and those that are not just reporting on this hearing but that reporter on this topic that may in the future the media has an important role in this process and it’s very important that the media engages does independent investigation and reports on not just what happened today but what they what they see independently as what has happened around UAPs in the broader community. That is also an important public benefit that we have in trying to get the information and the facts as it relates to this. Let me also just say finally that as a teacher and an educator, a long time teacher and researcher that I also really believe in following facts, in doing your homework, and making sure that you follow science. As we try to get as much information as possible and so I want to thank you all for for agreeing to do that today. Transparency is a Cornerstone of government. We live in a vast Galaxy a lot of unanswered questions.”
August 6, 2023
Representative Garcia interviewed by Bret Baier of Fox News: It’s up to us [Congress] to get to the bottom of it. There’s a lot of information that came out. And while the government can certainly agree that there are a lot of UAP that we can explain, there are many that we cannot. … The American people deserve transparency and disclosure here, and there are unanswered questions.”
January 11, 2024
Rep. Garcia and Rep Grothman sponsored bill that would at least create a reporting mechanism for civilian pilots who claim to see UFOs, including legal protections against reprisals.
Garcia: “This bill is another step forward for disclosure and to provide a safe process for UAP reporting by civilian and commercial personnel… "incredibly important for our national security" [USA Today article]
Garcia tweets a link to the article: “UAP reporting is critical to our national security and transparency. That's why I’ve introduced the Safe Airspace for Americans Act with @RepGrothman today. It would facilitate reporting of UAPs by civilian aviation personnel. Thanks to @SafeAerospace for your partnership.”
January 12, 2024
Rep. Garcia talking with Matt Laslo about attending today’s ICIG SCIF presentation on David Grusch.
“I think there's additional hearings that should be had in public. I think there's additional classified briefings that we should have. But I think the most important thing is to take this seriously, and to not turn it into a joke and to not dismiss it as fringe. The truth is, we don't know what UAPs are. It is a national security concern, and we should address it as such.”
April 9, 2024
Rep. Garcia tweets: “The role of Congress to seek the truth and disclosure about UAPs is a critical responsibility that should be taken seriously. Democrats don’t control the House or the hearing schedule. We continue to ask for more public UAP hearings from the GOP leadership. It’s time.”
April 17, 2024
Rep. Garcia met Maj. Gen. David W. Abba, the Director of Special Programs and the Director of the Department of Defense Special Access Program Central Office in the Pentagon, and Tim Phillips, Director of AARO present a classified briefing on UAP.
Before the brefing, Garcia sent this Tweet: “Right now, I am headed to a classified briefing with AARO on UAPs. I look forward to reinforcing the need for more investigation and transparency. I believe it's Congress's duty to pursue clarity and transparency on behalf of the American people.”
After the hearing: Garcia told Matt Laslo about his request for public UAP hearings: “I just want to have more public hearings. Public hearings are really important. Classified briefings are great. … We’ve already made that request to Oversight so… I’ve made that request in letters, in person. I’m not sure how many more times I can request it.”
May 30, 2024
Rep. Garcia submits a version of the 2023 UAP Disclosure Act to be considered as an amendment to the House version of the 2025 NDAA. Link to proposed amendment.
The following day, Rep. Garcia tweeted about his actions: “I’m offering three UAP amendments for the National Defense Authorization Act. We must continue to responsibly push for safe reporting of UAPs and bring that transparency to the public. This is critical for our national security. My first amendment creates a UAP reporting mechanism for civilian pilots. My second amendment includes UAP disclosure provisions from last year that were blocked, including a UAP Records Review Board. My final amendment ensures AARO has access to convert intel for investigations.”
June 6, 2024
Rep. Garcia to Matt Laslo:
“I think because we have to try every single avenue possible to try to actually get some of these bills done. And I think it keeps steady pressure on the majority to kind of get it out. And it's a big issue. There's a lot of community and public support. And we have filed a lot of amendments, not just on this topic, but we did last year and we'll continue to do it on UAPs as well.”
“I don't find it [UAPDA Review Board] to be dubious. I think that within this UAP space, there's a lot of noise and there's a lot of folks, but I think what's needed is responsible legislating. And I think you need to have responsible legislation and responsible people doing that work…that's my personal commitment is that I'm very interested in the topic — I have been long before I got the Congress — and I'm gonna continue to be very active in this space.”
“I would argue that the responsiveness to Congress in the last year has been dramatically different than in the past. And, so yeah, I think that there is movement and there is progress being made. There's no doubt that whether it's DOD [Department of Defense] or our friends at NASA or other folks, are very aware that there's a lot of interest. And I have learned an immense amount in the hearings and classified briefings. So I feel like the issue is moving forward, and I don't think we should prejudge what, you know, what we think the outcome should be. And I'm not, you know, I'm not — like, I'm a professional. I'm an educator. I do a lot of my own research. I'm not into the conspiracy — I'm not a conspiracy theorist. I want to follow the facts, and so that's kind of why I'm doing this.”
“Broadly speaking, I think that we have a responsibility to use every single lever that we have in Congress to get information, and these amendments are a part of that process.”
June 11, 2024
Rep. Garcia tweets:
November 13, 2024
Rep. Garcia participates in the House Oversight & Accountability subcommittee hearing on UAP titled Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth.
Key quotes:
I also want to start to with some facts. We know that there are objects or phenomena observed in our airspace as your witnesses will testify and also possibly in our oceans. In many cases we don't know what they are and this is of course why we're discussing UAPs. Now the All Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, AARO, has reported hundreds of UAPs that remain quote ‘uncharacterized and unattributed and which quote appear to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities and require further analysis.’
In our last hearing in July we heard testimony that a significant number of pilots of major airlines have witnessed UAPs as well but have no real confidential way of reporting them to the government. We heard that commercial pilots who encounter UAPs may be hesitant to speak openly due to stigma or fear of retaliation. We also know that AARO has reported that and I want to quote ‘that most reports still reflect a bias toward restricted military airspace a result of reporting from military personnel and sensors present in such areas’ and so the lack of ability for civilian pilots raises real safety concerns and limits our ability to understand UAPs. This is a particular piece of this conversation that I am very interested in.”
“It's very important that we show that democrats and republicans in Congress can work together to cut through misinformation and look for a serious and thoughtful way to have the discussion in public.”
Rep. Garcia:“Do you believe just for the record that the federal government, any part of the federal government, is knowingly concealing evidence about UAPs from the public?” [All witnesses answer yes without hesitation.] “What do you believe UAPs could be or are?’
Garcia: “I just want to just reiterate to my colleagues, I mean this is a very bipartisan piece of legislation [Safe Airspace for Americans Act] and we just got to continue to get this through the Congress. And it's incredibly important that civilian pilots have the opportunity to safely report the UAPs that they are seeing or encountering in the air, and I can't express how critical this piece of what I believe is a larger collection of evidence and facts actually happen. We've been approached by pilots, I've talked to folks that that have been engaging with our office and others, and there is still an enormous stigma, and essentially we don't have a system where folks are feeling free to be able to report what they're seeing.”
Garcia: “Earlier this year as part of the House defense authorization bill the NDAA, I filed an amendment to include the UAP Disclosure Act which would create a UAP record review board and exercise of eminent domain over UAP related material modeled actually on the JFK assassination records collection act which is widely known. Now the amendment was blocked but thankfully the Senate included the amendment by Senator Rounds and Schumer for the UAP Disclosure Act so I just again want to say that we should be pushing and ensuring the UAP Disclosure Act which is bipartisan and its support should move forward.
Garcia: “I want to thank you all for for being here, I want to thank chairwoman Mace especially for holding this important bipartisan hearing and I want to thank all the committee members that are interested in this topic. I think our commitment to all of you and all the folks that have contacted us and certainly to the advocates and the pilots is that we need to continue investigating UAPs. I think the country is owed explanations and ensure that the safety or national security is always protected. This is a conversation and questioning that must continue, so I'm very grateful to all of you and I also just want to just add personally, I think it's really important for me, two things guide my questioning and my observations on UAPs. One is we should always be guided by facts science and data and and stay serious on those issues. And the second thing is I think that we should not limit our imagination and our thoughts and our curiosity on what UAPs could actually be, and I think those two things for me are really important and I'm grateful that for all of you to be here.”
Raskin, Jamie
Maryland–Democrat
Term: 2017-Present
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
July 26, 2023
From Representative Raskin’s questioning during the UAP hearing for the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Hearing.
“So I take it that you’re arguing what we need is real transparency in a reporting system so we can get some clarity on what’s going on out there because there are many pilots in your situation, but we should have a way of developing a systematic inventory of all of such encounters, is that right?”
“I hope you [Grusch] understand that there would be bipartisan rejection of any attempt uh to vilify demonize or engage in other reprisals against our witnesses and people who are telling the truth from their perspective
What is your [David Fravor] general interpretation of these phenomena, or what is your current thinking of trying to make sense of them?”
“Have you formed any general conclusions about what you think you experienced then?”
Gravor: Yes. I think what we experienced was like I said well beyond the Material Science and the capabilities that we had at the time, that we have currently, or that we’re going to have in the next 10 to 20 years?”
Representative Raskin tells Matt Laslo: “There [were] a lot of people getting in touch with me, telling me I had to come and check it out. I did what I could to read up on it, and, obviously, I’m a real newcomer to the field so I’m gonna be reading more into it.
“You saw I asked about that. It seemed like sometimes Mr. Grusch could testify freely and in detail, and then other times he didn’t. So I would be interested to hear more fulsome testimony in a SCIF… I can assure you from what members were saying that there will be a meeting in the SCIF with him to go over all those questions that remain unanswered.”
September 14, 2023
Representative Raskin tells Matt Laslo: “Oh, yeah. I don’t know what’s happening with that. I’ll find out. I think that was certainly a far more valuable use of our time then this faux impeachment investigation.”
March 22, 2024
Rep. Raskin responds to Laslo question about “some members of the [House Oversight] Committee are asking for a Select UAP Committee.”
“I think it might be a good use of their time, actually. Much better than impeaching Joe Biden. So I could see that as a more productive deployment of their time. Obviously, it would be up to the Republicans....Put it this way — I prefer for them to be looking for UFOs in outer space than looking for UFOs on Hunter Biden's laptop.”
Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria
New York-Democrat
Term: 2019-Present
Committee on Oversight & Accountability (2019-Present)
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
July 26, 2023
From Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s questioning during the UAP hearing for the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Hearing.
“When it comes to notification that you [David Grusch] had mentioned about IRAD programs, we have seen defense contractors abuse their contracts before through this committee. I have seen it personally and I have also seen the notification requirements to Congress abused. I am wondering one of the loopholes that we see in the law is that there is at least from my vantage point is that depending on what we’re seeing is that there are no actual definitions or requirements for notification. What methods of notification did you observe, like when they say they notified Congress, how did they do that? Do you have insight into that?… To put a finer point on it when there is a requirement for any agency or company to notify or any agency to notify Congress do they contact the chairman of a committee do they get them on the phone specifically is this through an email to hypothetically a dead email box?”
“For the record, if you were me, where would you look? Titles, programs, departments, regions–if you could just name anything.”
July 29, 2023
Representative Ocasio-Cortez speaks about UAP in a social media post: “Let me start off the whole UAP discussion just by stating the obvious. Which is that people don’t trust the government. And why would you? I mean a lot of our budget is like five defense contractors in a trench coat asking for a trillion dollars. So you know when you don’t have universal health care but you spend $800 billion dollars a year that can’t pass an audit, I don’t trust it either. That’s why I sit on the oversight committee.”
…Do I think those [UAP] are aliens? That is a different question. I do think there is something going on. I do think, I know… we have found defense contractors hiding things… we have documented evidence of defense contractors being shady. Do I think there are grounds to pull on that thread further? Yes, I do. I think it should be pulled further. Do I know what it is? No. … I’m always interested in corruption and cover ups. That’s my thing.”
Biggs, Andy
Arizona–Republican
Term: 2017-Present
Committee on Space, Science, and Technology (2017-2020); Oversight Committee (2021-Present)
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
July 26, 2023
From Representative Biggs questioning during the UAP hearing for the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Hearing.
I’m going to take you to specific instances around the Phoenix Valley because that’s where I live. In ‘97 we had the famous Phoenix Lights case. I don’t know if any of you are familiar with that. There were two things that went along with that, and the explanation was military training range off Luke [Air Force Base] and the Barry Goldwater range. Do you know anything different other than the official explanation of those lights?… If we wanted to find out more about that where would we go to find the files, and who would we address–and are you gonna tell me we need to go to a skiff so you can tell us in a skiff?”
“Do you believe that the 2019 classification guidelines for UAPs interferes with the federal government’s ability to be transparent with the American people, and do you think we need to be more transparent with the American people?”
David Fravor: in my opinion I will say things are over classified I know for a fact the video or the pictures that came out in the 20 things 2020 report that had the stuff off the east coast they were taken with an iPhone off the east coast a buddy of mine was one of the senior people there and he said they’re originally classified a tssci and my question to him was what’s tssci about these they’re an iPhone right literally off the vacapes that’s not tssci so they’re over classified and as soon as they do that they go in a vault and then you all have to look for them.”
“Over classification that may be one way. Are there other ways that the DOD or intelligence agencies are keeping this information from the American people or even from Congress?”
January 12, 2024
Rep. Biggs talking with Matt Laslo about attending today’s ICIG SCIF presentation on David Grusch.
“Moderately interesting. Like every good meeting, I'm left with even more questions than before.”
November 13, 2024
Rep. Biggs participates in the House Oversight & Accountability subcommittee hearing on UAP titled Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth.
Key quotes:
“Mr Elizondo, you said in your report and your testimony today government work on the UAP subject still remains classified, excessive secrecies 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. Fair?”
Biggs: “The ultimate question really becomes this: for what purpose is the federal government over classifying, because that's what they're doing, they're over classifying and forbidding the public from getting access to this? And if you know, if you have an explanation, I'm curious because I know what I've been told, I just want to know from your perspective why do they over classify?... I would suggest to you also along with [Imre] Lakatos and [Thomas] Kuhn [20th Century philosophers of science and economics], you also have a problem with Kenneth Arrow's ‘path dependence or increasing returns’--that's one reason why they won't disclose it, it's too painful to admit.”
“Let's talk about Kuhnian, Lakatosian type of scientific development, and the problem that we have here is you have institutional blockage of what would be normal development of scientific ideas, and if you want to expand that.”
Mike Gold: “all breakthroughs have been heretical at first and that's the challenge that we face particularly with something as extraordinary as this which is why gathering the data is so important.”
Biggs: “I just want to read a couple things from Mr Shellenberger, what he gave to us today [Immaculate Constellation report] because I think this is interesting stuff, and I just want to convey this to you: ‘On USG networks there exist infrared footage of and and imagery of a grouping of vessels engaged in SIGNT and MASNT collection at night in a specific area of the Pacific Ocean. This footage which was in close proximity to the vessels a large equilateral triangle UAP suddenly appears directly over the ships. These bright three bright points are seen at each bottom corner of the UAP which is observed to slowly rotate on its horizontal axis.” And he goes on to describe that, and I just want to read one more. And I'm doing this because I think it's interesting, this stuff is interesting as anything. So let's get this one here right here: ‘while performing a routine airspace surveillance and control mission in the Eastern Air Defense sector an F-22 fighter observed multiple UAP contacts at mission altitude. Moving to intercept the F-22 pilot noted multiple metallic orbs slightly smaller than a sedan hovering in place. Upon vectoring towards the UAPs a smaller formation of the metallic orbs accelerated at rapid speed towards the F-22 which was unable to establish radar locks on the presumed hostile UAPs. The F-22 broke trajectory and attempted to evade but was intercepted and boxed in by approximately three to six UAPs.’ And then I'll leave that there.”
December 6, 2024
Rep. Biggs interview with Matt Laslo.
Laslo: “What do you — I know people have been frustrated with AARO. Some of them think they’re not open enough with Congress. Do you sense a changing of their tune?”
Biggs: “I do actually. I think they're becoming a little bit more open with us, and that's good.”
Langworthy, Nicholas A
New York–Republican
Term: 2023-Present
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
July 26, 2023
From Representative Langworthy questioning during the UAP hearing for the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Hearing.
Asked a series of writness corroborate questions of David Fravor
“From what you saw that day and what you’ve seen on video did you see any source of propulsion from the flying object including on any potential thermal scans from your aircraft?”
“In your career have you ever seen a propulsion system that creates no thermal exhaust?”
“Now if the fastest plane on Earth was trying to do these Maneuvers that you saw would it be capable of doing that?”
“If the aircraft was armed do you believe that your aircraft or any aircraft in possession of the United States could have shot the Tic Tac down?”
“It looks like we have a problem here that needs further investigation.” [laughter in hearing room]
“In your belief is this flying Tic Tac, I mean is this is it capable of being the product of any other Nation on the Earth?”
Ogles, Andy
Tennessee–Republican
Term: 2023-Present
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
July 26, 2023
From Representative Ogles questioning during the UAP hearing for the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Hearing.
“Is there any indication that these UAPs could be essentially collecting reconnaissance information? Is it possible that these UAPs would be
probing our capabilities, yes or no?”
“Do you feel based off of your experience and the information that you’ve been privy to that these UAPs provide an existential threat to the National Security of the United States?”
“Based off of the information that you’ve been privy to is there any indication that these UAPs are interested in our nuclear technology and capabilities?”
“Is there any indication that Department of Energy is involved in UAP data collection and housing?”
“There clearly is a threat to the national security of the United States of America. As members of Congress we have a responsibility to maintain oversight and be aware of these activities so that if appropriate we take action. I would encourage the chairman to demand that we have any and all, but in particular Mr Grusch, talk to us in a skiff and if that access is denied I will personally volunteer to initiate the Holmen rule against any personnel or any program or any agency that denies act access to Congress.”
August 22, 2023
Representative Ogles and five other members of the House submit a letter to the Intelligence Community Inspector General, requesting names and locations of any UFO crash retrieval and reverse engineering programs.
February 29, 2024
Rep. Andy Ogles interviewed by Project Unity: “These UAP seem to defy physics. They seem to have some sort of propulsion technology that is unknown to man as we understand it. So what does that do to the energy sector?… Not only are we in a renaissance when it comes to aircraft, but we’re in a renaissance in terms of propulsion and energy production and consumption. So, again, huge implications across the economic scale both domestically and internationally.”
March 12, 2024
Rep. Ogles signed Rep. Burlison’s formal request for a UAP Select Committee to Speaker Jonson and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Signed by seven other House members.
April 17, 2024
Rep. Ogles meet Maj. Gen. David W. Abba, the Director of Special Programs and the Director of the Department of Defense Special Access Program Central Office in the Pentagon, and Tim Phillips, Director of AARO present a classified briefing on UAP. Members were interviewed by Matt Laslo immediately following the briefing.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna: “It was a nothing burger.”
Rep. Tim Burchett: “There’s no reason any of that stuff was told in a SCIF.”
Rep. Andy Ogles: “Other than to get us not to talk about it.”
November 13, 2024
Rep. Ogles participates in the House Oversight & Accountability subcommittee hearing on UAP titled Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth.
Key quotes:
Rep Ogles: “This is an important hearing. I think we all know that there's something going on. Mr Elizondo based on your knowledge of UAP sightings do you believe it's fair to say that they are especially common near nuclear sites?...
“The reason why I pose that question and this has been one of my talking points from the beginning is you know Oak Ridge is in Tennessee…it obviously is a sensitive site both of interest to our adversaries and to whatever else this is, because we know that at military installations at sensitive locations such as nuclear facilities that we're seeing this take place, so the question is what is it? Do you believe they've caused an irregular activity, and why might they be interested in those sites?”...What role might the Department of Energy or its subsidiaries or affiliates have in this type of technology or possessing this type of technology whether it's ours or others?”
“I think it's reasonable to conclude that if there is a threat to our personnel who are serving our country faithfully that there be oversight.”
“I think we've seen over the decades that we have certain adversaries like China like Russia that technologically speaking are not as advanced as us, that they lack some of the lethality that we have and that we've seen that they've gone after our technologies and in some cases succeeded in particular with missile technology. And so again my concern, whether this technology emanates from us or otherworldly, that we know that we possess it. And where's the accountability, where are the stop gaps, what are the guarantees that if this were to fall in enemy hands that it isn't immediately weaponized against us? And I'll say this, it is clear from my experience and what I've seen that there is something out there. The question is, is it ours, is it someone else's, or is it otherworldly? And Madam Chairman I would posit that as the legislative body, as the regulatory body, we must know. And anyone who prevents us from gaining access to that information I would consider that criminality because we have us personnel who may very well be in harm's way, we have technology that ultimately may threaten our very existence.”
[after the gavel, Ogles approaches the witnesses to shake hands; says to Admiral Gallaudet “I appreciate you.”]
Jackson, Jeff
North Carolina–Democrat
Term: 2023-2025
House Armed Services Committee (2023-Present)
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
July 31, 2023
Representative Jackson delivers remarks to his constituents on the July 26 House UAP hearing. He was not on the committee, but chose to attend the hearing.
The number one question I’ve been getting from all of you is, ‘Hey Jeff, what’s up with the aliens?’ …The third witness was Mr. Grusch, and he’s become well known for making much larger claims… His big claim is that our government has retrieved UAP and has a whole program dedicated to reverse engineering the technology. He doesn’t claim to have seen any UAPs with his own eyes. He’s saying that he’s spoken to a lot of people involved in this program and that he has a lot of documents. The frustrating part of the hearing was that he didn’t provide any evidence or any details and said he could only do that in a classified setting. …
I’m a natural skeptic of extraordinary claims, as we all should be, but he’s a former military Intel officer and the way I see it, if he’s got more to say then the least we can do is put him in a secure room so he can say it. My bet is that will end up happening. As of now, the only new feature of his testimony is that it was under oath, which means if he’s lying, it’s a crime. …
On this day, the UAP day, the committee was almost totally nonpartisan. It was fascinating to see how members of both parties act when there was no clear partisan angle. Everyone was basically rational and respectful, even the members known for being pretty extreme. It was kind of great. Now you know everything I know about this, and I’ll keep you posted.
—Rep. Jackson left Congress, January 2025—
Burlison, Eric
Missouri–Republican
Term: 2023-Present
UFO Stance: UFO Skeptic (Disclosure Supportive)
July 20, 2023
Representative Burlison participates in a press conference that announces an upcoming House Oversight hearing on UFOs.
“I’ll start out by saying that I’m a skeptic on a lot of stuff. Um I come from a computer science background and finance background, so I tend to err on the side of things that I can see and touch. Um, and I don’t, I don’t give to, into conspiracies, but too often the federal government works outside of the public eye and in conspiracies and rumors tend to flourish in places where the federal government is silent or not transparent. The American people deserve to know what their tax dollars are funding and what the government knows. That’s just plain and simple. The other, the other thing I think is important is that our servicemen and women who are risking their lives for this country and are encountering these devices. We, we owe it to them to find out what, what is in the air that might potentially harm their lives. What’s disturbing is when you hear about the accounts of 14 near misses in air 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. Interviews. I was struck by the sheer amount of detail. So I was able to contact him and hear directly from him in a in AAA 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 a hearing so that we can ask questions and get the answers that the American people deserve. It is time for transparency and I’ll say one more thing, it’s the responsibility of members on oversight to do. This is our job.”
July 26, 2023
From Representative Burilson questioning during the UAP hearing for the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Hearing.
“Look I’ve been here for six months and I’m pretty skeptical I don’t trust anything in this town, and so I and I think that’s because I’m from Missouri. You’ve got to show me.”
“You’ve said that U.S and has intact spacecraft. You said that the government has alien bodies or alien species. Have you seen the spacecraft… Have you seen any of the bodies?”
“My my view has been that we are billions of light years away from any any other system, and the concept that an alien species that’s technologically advanced enough to travel billions of light years gets here and somehow is incompetent enough to not survive Earth or crashes is something that I find a little bit far-fetched. And with that being said you have mentioned that there’s interdimensional potential could you expound on that …but you have not seen any documentation that that’s what’s occurring?”
“Occam’s razor—is that these aircraft, have they been identified that they are being produced by domestic, you know military and contractors? Is there any evidence that that’s what’s being recovered?”
August 22, 2023
Representative Burlison and five other members of the House submit a letter to the Intelligence Community Inspector General, requesting names and locations of any UFO crash retrieval and reverse engineering programs.
October 26, 2023
Representative Burilson was interviewed after a classified UAP briefing in a SCIF.
Burilson: “Tim [Burchett] and I may have have different views on what we are seeing. But people are seeing something. What is it? How much money are we spending on this technology? And what concerns me is that, what it appears to be is somebody has discovered something—some advanced form of propulsion or technology—that might actually change all of our lives, maybe for the better. But clearly it’s in an experimental phase or we’re experimenting with it. And I want to know to what extent and how much we are spending.”
The Daily Wire interviewed Burlison and reported the following:
Asked if “some degree of answers were provided based on what was alleged,” Burlison replied, “Some degree — but, and it’s really frustrating because I can’t say what was said, but I’ll just say, my viewpoint about the UAP phenomenon has not changed. My worldview of what we’re seeing, what we’re experiencing, is that it’s likely U.S. experimental, whether it’s from the private sector or being done through a black operation within the Department of Defense or Energy.”
He also commented: “I’ll just say this: UFOs are not keeping me up at night. They weren’t before, and after this meeting, they weren’t. They aren’t now. I told a constituent that what keeps me up at night is the national debt, the war in Ukraine, and the war in Israel, and the potential for World War III. And so there’s nothing that shattered my worldview today.”
November 8, 2023
Represetnative Burlison introduced an amendment to allow UFO Whistleblower David Grusch to renew his security clearance, which has lapsed. He said in part: “We need to cover all possible angles here. If we can get Mr. Grusch in a SCIF with an active security clearance that would go a long way.”
Burilson then did an 30 minute interview with John Michael Godier’s Event Horizon You Tube show:
“There’s generally the sense of no one is responsible for UAPs, no one is responsible for tracking down reports, and what we continually hear is ‘it’s not in the mission of our agency to do that.’
“Of all the things that Grusch said, one of the things that I can believe for certain–and I’m not saying I don’t believe everything he said, what I am saying is I’m a skeptic. But what Im not a skeptic about is government waste and government spending. It’s very easy to see, one of the things he talked about is some of the contractors overbill and are allowed to over bill so they can work on the next projects. I have a feeling that that’s probably likely happening.”
“Based on what I have, from my worldview, so far seen and heard, I am yet to be convincned that what were seeing is an alien species from another solar systems somewhere lightyears away. I have a hard time believing that. I think it’s more likely what we are seeing is more advanced technology that is being generating here on Earth… That’s what I suspect it is. I think there is a reluctance to–look if they discovered a way to manipulate the Higg’s field, and use an aircraft to do it, that would be a game changer, and you would not want that technology to end up in the wrong hands. I would see why you would want to keep that under sever lock and key.”
“We have not been able to identify who might know what is going on. We’ve got another Inspector General hearing that’s coming up. And then additionally, the Inspector General for the Department of Defense now is going to have another meeting in the SCIF with us where they are going to allow us to read the Grusch report.”
“I do not discount and I do not discredit the videos that these pilots have taken and the footage that they have. And if you watch those videos, for example the Tic Tac, it is clearly operating and moving through airspace in a different way than a jet engine would. To me that suggests there has been some advancement. You’d have to come to the conclusion that that is real, that thing is real, and that footage is real. Clearly, it’s alien advanced technology or it’s us. And I’m of the latter. I believe it’s probably us.”
One of the interesting things that I have learned being up here, as a member of Congress we qualify for the highest level of security clearance, but no matter who you are or how qualified you are, you still have to be a need-to-know.If you don’t have a need-to-no, they’re not required to disclose anything to you.”
“It could be an effort to convince Congress to spend more money to catch up. You never know.”
“I think people should know. Anything this life changing that alters people’s worldview, I think it’s unacceptable to withhold that from the American people…. If we do discover that this points toward some extraterrestrial being, then I think that we owe it to the world to tell them.”
November 9, 2023
Representative Burlison tweets a link to his Event Horizon interview: “The American people deserve to learn the truth about what UAPs are and I’m going to do everything in my power to shine a light on the darkness.”
November 13, 2023
Representative Burlison interviewed by News Nation: “If we continue to get pushed on getting Grusch into a SCIF, then I’m going to think there is a red flag there… We may be in a situation where there are no alien bodies, there is no spacecraft, and to continue to pursue it is to put us in a position where we are today, the different departments denying that they are involved in these programs, that they don’t know what we’re referring to… I haven’t seen anything that’s compelling me to believe that they’re trying to deny us access…. But if they don’t allow us to see the report, they don’t allow us to have access to bring Grusch into a SCIF, then I’m going to start raising alarms that something is being hidden from Congress.”
January 12, 2024
Representative Burlison talking with Matt Laslo after today’s ICIG SCIF presentation on David Grusch.
“You know my worldview. My worldview has not changed. I brought forward an entire list of questions, and I feel like the Inspector General was doing his best to answer and wanted to provide as much information as he could. He [ICIG} was not investigating some of the things that they wanted to hear. There’s certainly clarity on some things. … Muy worldview from the beginning of this has not changed. … There is certain locations that they’ve provided that we can look into…. It appears based on conversations that it’s not going to be easy to get access.”
January 2024
Rep. Burlison says on That UFO Podcast: “What I think is the least likely probability is that we're being visited by some alien race from another planet that is light years away,”
February 14, 2024
Rep. Burlison tells Matt Laslo:
Burlison: “He [Lue Elizondo] was in town for the Conservative Opportunity Society breakfast with Ralph Norman. So you might talk with Ralph Norman about it. It was really good. Those guys, from what they presented — of course, this is not in a secure setting, they're not under oath — but what they presented is very similar to what David Grusch was presenting.”
Laslo: “Yeah? Why not hear from more of those folks?”
Burlison: “I'm working on it. Right now, I've got something up my sleeve. I don't want to talk. I’ll keep you informed, because I got a big thing that I'm gonna announce.”
March 7, 2024
Rep Burlison explains to Matt Laslo that he is still asking House leadership for a UAP subcommittee.
Burlison: “And give it the authority, because that would be the key thing is that it would have the ability to call into a SCIF [sensitive compartmented information facility], you know?”
Laslo: “Yeah. Because Comer’s kinda told me that he was — or he said he was fine with a Select Committee, he just didn’t want to devote resources from Oversight to it. He said…”
Burlison: “He can’t. Yeah. He shouldn’t, and I don’t want him to. I don’t want him to do it. That’s why I want the Speaker to hire up whoever is needed to staff that [sub]committee.”
Laslo: “Oh, interesting. And they haven’t said ‘No’?”
Burlison: “Because Comer’s staff is very into the Biden administration stuff.”
Laslo: “Yeah. And they haven’t said ‘No’? They’re open to it?”
Burlison: “I haven’t heard a definitive ‘No’ yet.”
On March 12 he shared a draft Letter requesting the subcommittee with Laslo, which raised these concenrs with the current process:
March 12, 2024
Rep. Burlison submitted his formal request for a UAP Select Committee to Speaker Jonson and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Signed by seven other House members.
March 22, 2024
Rep. Burlison sits for extended interview on UAP with Matt Laslo.
April 10, 2024
Rep. Burlison reveals upcoming AARO briefing in response to Matt Laslo question: How do you guys make it [UAP investigation in Congress] a priority?”
“I don’t know. I’m just trying to plow forward with what tools I have, which is why I’m organizing this briefing from AARO in a SCIF. I’m doubtful that we’re going to hear the truth from them, but at least, I think, that we just need to keep the ball rolling. We need to keep moving the ball forward.”
April 17, 2024
Rep. Burlison met Maj. Gen. David W. Abba, the Director of Special Programs and the Director of the Department of Defense Special Access Program Central Office in the Pentagon, and Tim Phillips, Director of AARO present a classified briefing on UAP.
Burlison tells Matt Laslo after leaving AARO SCIF briefing: "My skepticism was probably more validated. I went into the hearing to confirm the extent of which they investigated, how far did they go [in the AARO Historical Report], and I feel we got some good answers.”
May 1, 2024
Rep. Burlison to Matt Laslo: “I think I've been consistent. Like my attitude is, I'm gonna be a skeptic until you can prove, until you can show me. I'm a Missourian, I'm gonna be that way. And I walked out of that room [AARO SCIF briefing in March]. They didn't, they didn't — there was nothing. And I didn't anticipate that they would, but I do think — if anything, I think that there was quite a few things, sightings that we've seen that have made their way to the public that they were able to dispel to me in such a way that I feel fairly certain that they're probably right. ...probably the vast majority of this, of the photos and videos, the vast majority are fake. Or are photos of things that are not necessarily UAP. And so that being said, I think that AARO is not done, they still have some stuff to do. And I don't think that our job should be done either. And at the end of the day, we still have dark programs that are spending money that we don't have an answer for. …I'm gonna continue to go about it the way that I am. But I think that what that does, what it does do is for the community is that a guy — I think that you guys want a guy like me. Because at the end of the day, I'm going to shoot you straight. And if I see something that changed my worldview, you're gonna know. And people will hopefully find that with credibility.”
July 11, 2024
Rep. Burlison to Matt Laslo: “I would, I hope that we get — I think we need to go, we need a better committee, a committee that has dedicated staff. Otherwise we’re gonna continue to just fumble around in the dark.”
Laslo: “Last we spoke, you seemed to be showing confidence in AARO. Do you still have that same level of confidence or…?”
Rep. Burlison: “I don’t know that I trust anybody in this town. And so — but, I think from that meeting [April 17 AARO briefing in congressional SCIF]. And I kinda, the more I reflect on it, the more I realize that the key takeaway is that they didn’t have answers and they didn’t have data for two of the biggest UAP events in recent history. And so while they, I feel like, did a very good job. In my mind — and I think that when I talk to people who are in the UAP community, especially after that hearing, they generally agree with this — that what they did was they showed us a lot of known UAP events and they debunked them. And I felt like they adequately, in my mind, I felt like they adequately did that. But enough that, like, many of them they were public things that I’ve seen, that you’ve seen. But, and they’ve investigated thousands and thousands of things. Now, is their claim — I found it interesting that they say that there’s nothing top secret about extraterrestrial UFOs. The only thing that is top secret is any of our technology that might have been involved. And if that technology — so if we had devices that recorded it or, you know, captured the footage or there was radar or whatever, all of that is top secret. But the item itself is not. And so, I don’t know — they were pretty adamant about that and that their attitude is, ‘Look, if we find something we’re gonna make it public, but so long as it doesn’t compromise our technology.’”
“Well and I think that — and this is where I come down to is that we don’t know and I don’t think that we should jump to a conclusion of what it might be. So, to me, I think that we should continue to investigate. I’m not closing the door completely that this is extraterrestrial or — but, I would say, I’ve said this multiple times throughout this process, my worldview has not changed and I tend to… My worldview hasn’t changed, but in a way I kind of want it to. Right? It would be amazing and, you know, it would be the biggest news in the history of the planet since Jesus Christ. And I, but yeah. So it would be — so certainly I’m seeking it but I’m also, I feel like you have to do it with a sound and critical mind.”
Laslo: “Does it come up, do constituents bring it up?”
EB: “All the time. Mostly in a fascinated way and sometimes though in a kinda — there’s some people that will bring it up as a joke to say, ‘Why are you —?’ In a way they’re suggesting that I’m doing trivial things. Right. And I just remind them that, ‘Hey, I’m on Oversight [Committee]. It’s a responsibility and you have a whistleblower that came forward. It’s a responsibility to Congress.’”
November 13, 2024
Rep. Burlison participates in the House Oversight & Accountability subcommittee hearing on UAP titled Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth.
Key quotes:
“If we were in a secure setting if we were in a SCIF, would you be able to provide or get access to something whether it's a visuals or material that we can put our hands on or biologics that would convince me that would show me that we have non-human Origins?... so if you were in our shoes where would you go from here how would you get that information how would where you know a lot of times we just don't know who to ask because we don't know where to go next. So if you were in our shoes where would you go?”
November 19, 2024
Rep. Burlison to Matt Laslo on the House UAP hearing:
“I thought it was good. You know, we got more witnesses to come forward. They all have very reputable backgrounds. I think that underscores what has already been said by Grusch and some of the other pilots that testified. So…”
ML: “Do you think we got anything new there? Any new leads on where...”
EB: “I have — I'm going to pour over the documents that were released from the Immaculate Constellation. But like in just first, first blush, it appears that there's nothing new other than the fact that you're getting a report that is supposedly being worked on by somebody in the Pentagon.”
“I think the Trump Administration is going to be very transparent. I think that the disclosure is the name of the game when it comes to Trump. He’s already talked about the Kennedy files — making all of it released. He’s talked about getting the Jeffrey Epstein list out there. So I think that you got Matt Gaetz now as the AG. “You've got Marco Rubio, Secretary of State. There’s a lot of key people that will have Trump's ear that are all for UAP disclosure. Gaetz, for example, would be the one that would prosecute a whistleblower, right?”
Lieu, Ted
California–Democrat
Term: 2015-Present
UFO Stance: UFO Skeptic
July 29, 2023
Representative Lieu tweeted:
NSA can’t even keep basic secrets when employees go rogue that I highly doubt the government could keep spaceships and alien bodies a secret. Still waiting for any whistleblower to disclose the address of where the aliens are. Also, why are aliens always showing up in America?
McCarthy, Kevin
California–Republican
Term: 2007-December 2023
UFO Stance: UFO Skeptic (Disclosure Supportive)
July 17, 2023
Speaker McCarthy responds to a UFO question at his weekly press conference: “If we had found a UFO I think the Department of Defense would tell us, because they’d probably want to request more money. So I’d love to see whatever facts and information we have. I’m very supportive of letting the American people see what we have.”
—Kevin McCarthy resigned from the House December 2023—
Bacon, Don
Nebraska–Republican
Term: 2017-Present
House Armed Services Committee (2017-2022)
UFO Stance: UFO Skeptic
July 24, 2023
Representative Bacon responding to a question about UFOs: “I don’t believe in them. I’ve never seen one. If I did, I’d have shot it down,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a former Air Force pilot and retired brigadier general, with a laugh.
Fox, Virginia
North Carolina–Republican
Term: 2005-Present
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
July 26, 2023
From Representative Fox’s questioning during the UAP hearing for the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Hearing.
“Mr Grusch, in your sworn testimony you state that the United States government has retrieved supposedly extraterrestrial spacecraft and other UAP related artifacts. You go so far as to state that the U.S is in possession of quote “non-human spacecraft” end quote, and that some of these artifacts have circulated with defense contractors. Several other former military and intelligence officials have come forward with similar allegations albeit in non-public settings, however Dr Sean Kirkpatrick the director of AARO previously testified before Congress that there has been and I quote “no credible evidence thus far of extraterrestrial activity” or of quote “off-world technology” brought to the attention of the office. To your knowledge is that statement correct? … this contradiction is a perfect example of why we need to inject transparency into our government. And for another example look no further than the pitiful response to the Chinese spy balloon debacle… It’s my Hope Mr chairman that this sort of confusion will not be repeated. We should investigate the extent to which elements of our government possess or do not possess information that is of critical value to the American people. We owe it to the citizens of this nation to make sure that our government is transparent and accountable. We must make sure that our government provides answers, and Congress must do its duty to solicit those answers.”
Frost, Maxwell Alejandro
Florida–Democrat
Term: 2023-Present
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
July 26, 2023
From Representative Frost questioning during the UAP hearing for the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Hearing.
“NASA administrator Bill Nelson stated that NASA would begin to investigate these events. In fact I sit on Science and Technology committee and when we were doing a hearing with the NASA administrator Bill Nelson I asked why NASA needed to be fully funded, and there were many great reasons but one of them was actually had to do with UAPs. I mean he actually mentioned you know is there life out there, I don’t know. And so either way these actions ultimately led NASA to assemble the independent study team that I mentioned earlier. Also in 2021 Harvard University stood up the Galileo Project to research and examine the origins of UAP so it seems like both you know from NASA and in the higher education Community because of the work that you all have done and people standing up you know I think we’re seeing some of that stigma slowly going away.”
I couldn’t imagine–you know I’m not a pilot, but I used to fly gliders in Civil Air Patrol–I mean I couldn’t imagine you know being in the glider and seeing something and then not feeling like I had the agency to talk about it.”
“I think it’s important that we keep our top scientific Minds focused on this issue and look for ways to increase collaboration.”
November 13, 2024
Rep. Frost participates in the House Oversight & Accountability subcommittee hearing on UAP titled Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth.
Key quotes:
Rep. Frost: “If the government doesn't have the data it needs on UAP because say someone who saw something is concerned about stigma, public backlash, etc. or maybe there's just not good systems in place, how are we supposed to ultimately figure out what's going on?”
“It was about a year ago I was touring a facility with a pretty senior government official. We went by a certain hanger and they said yeah that's you know a company leases that out we don't really know what's going on in there we have no way of knowing what's going on in there um and there was a few of those in fact while we were driving around this facility. To what extent do you think that some of the UAP out there comes from off-the-books or unauthorized experimental aircraft?”
Rogers, Mike
Alabama–Republican
Term: 2003-Present
Armed Services Committee 2013-Present; Chairman 2023-Present
UFO Stance: unclear
February 21, 2023
Eglin AFB incident: According to Matt Gaetz, Tim Burchett, and Anna Paulina Luna, Chairman Rogers personally intervened to ensure Gaetz was showed evidence of the Eglin UAP.
November 29, 2023
Responding to Matt Laslo about the Schumer UAP Disclosure Act now in conference: “I understand a lot of the language is duplicative of existing language. We’re sorting through it. We’ll figure it out.”
May 7, 2024
Chairman Rogers responds to Matt Laslo’s question about the House opposition to the Schumer/Rounds UAP Disclosure Act.
Laslo: “Was curious: do you know what happened toChuck Schumer's UAP amendment in the NDAA last year? Was that you who was working on the reforms?”
Rogers: “No, it wasn't me working on it. I can't remember. I can't remember how it ended up.”
Laslo: “Was it Turner — Chair Turner?”
Rogers: “I don't remember. I mean, I just don’t.”
Khanna, Ro
California—Democrat
Term: 2017-Present
House Armed Services Committee (2017-Present); House Oversight Committee (2019-Present)
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
February 1, 2024
Rep. Ro Khanna tells Matt Laslo why he attended the January 12 ICIG SCIF briefing about Grusch.
Lalso: “What do you glean from that?”
Khanna: “I just ended up with more questions. Unanswered questions that need to be pursued.“
Laslo: “I was kinda surprised to see you there, because you weren’t at the previous SCIF briefing. What made you — what put that one on your radar?”
Khanna: “Umm. The gist would be, I’m on Oversight [Committee]. There’s been a lot of interest in it from the media and my constituents, so I wanted to hear about it. I think we need to have more hearings and more briefings on it. It’s a bipartisan issue, and I’m pretty confident we will.”
Norman, Ralph
South Carolina—Republican
Term: 2017-Present
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (2019-2020); House Oversight Committee (2019-2022)
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
February 15, 2024
Rep. Ralph Norman interviewed by Matt Laslo about the briefing the Conservative Opportunity Society received Wednesday, February 14, from Lue Elizondo, two pilots — one who’s a veteran combat pilot who “took pictures,” according to Norman — and a scientist.
“It’s been portrayed by the media as crazies that are identifying unidentified flying objects, but it’s not. He’s been doing this 30-some years. Combat veteran. Very qualified. I’m gonna have him back. In fact, we may open it up. Everybody ought — y’all ought to know it — everybody should.”
Courtney, Joe
Connecticut—Democrat
Term: 2007-Present
House Armed Services Committee (2011-Present)
UFO Stance: unclear
March 6, 2024
Rep. Courtney provides new insight into the Schumer/Round UAP Disclosure Act negotiations from 2023:
Laslo: “Do you — has it ever come up, the UAP issue or UFOs?”
Courtney: “I mean, it comes up in a general committee during markup — on the NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act] — but that’s as close as I really, you know, get.”
Laslo: “’Cause that’s where we’re curious whether it’s [HASC] Chair Rogers or [HPSCI] Chair Turner who took umbrage with Sen. Schumer’s UAP amendment?”
Courtney: “I think it’s both. ‘Cause, I mean, as you know, Navy and Air Force, you know, their pilots are sort of involved. And Intel. because of — its national whatever…”
Laslo: “But it’s never been a robust discussion on HASC?”
Courtney: “Not, not in public.”
Laslo: “In private?”
Courntey: “Yeah.”
Nehls, Troy
Texas—Republican
Term: 2021-Present
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
March 12, 2024
Rep. Nehls signed Rep. Burlison’s formal request for a UAP Select Committee to Speaker Jonson and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Signed by seven other House members.
Lynch, Stephen
Massachusetts—Democrat
Term: 2001-Present
Committee on Oversight and Accountability (2011-Present)
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
Week of January 7, 2024
Rep. Lynch responds to question about UFOs from a local Massachusets NBC News affiliate:
Q: “Why should people at home care about what you are going to learn at your classified [UFO] briefing coming up?”
Rep. Lynch: “Well, I’ve already had several, and I have to say the one that was done for myself and former Congressman Jim Langevin from Rhode Island was notable [circa. ~2020 Office of Naval Intelligence briefings]. I thought that the Navy officials who came in and described the technology that they identified--so these were Navy fighters operating off of I think Pensacolla, Florida, and they picked up objects on that--I think a lot of this has been made public. But they said that basically they said the movement and the tracking that these new navigation systems picked up was something that no country, including the United States, on this Earth has. So they were questioning the ability of these aircraft to travel at these speeds, and turn, change direction, and then basically go off the radar screen so quickly, they had real concerns that they brought to Congress. And so there’s tangible evidence of something’s going on, I’m not sure what it is, but we certainly have a responsibility to investigate it further.”
January 12, 2024
Rep. Lynch attends a SCIF briefing with the Intelligence Community Inspector General about David Grusch allegations.
November 13, 2024
Rep. Lynch to Matt Laslo after the House UAP hearing:
ML: “What do you make of the [UAP] issue?”
Rep. Lynch: : “Well, I think we’re getting conflicting briefings from parties that are supposed to be informing Congress. So, some of those briefings seem to confirm sightings and raise more questions, other briefings seem to downplay. So, when you think about it, it’s supposed to be to inform Congress, and they’re giving us conflicting information.”
ML: “And that's what some members in there have told me, that they have been a little frustrated because they've had to learn how to ask the right questions where it kind of feels like the administration's been withholding...”
SL: “Yeah, but you can even ask the same questions and get different answers. Yeah, it's not good. Not good. So I share their frustration. And I think we need more transparency and more accountability in terms of our information sources.”
December 6, 2024
Rep. Stephen Lynch attends classified AARO briefing in Capitol SCIF, speaks to Matt Laslo after.
“It’s more of an update, I would call it. They continue to collect information, and then periodically they’re going to do a dump, and tell us this is what’s going on next.”
Timmons, William
South Carolina-Republican
Term: 2019-Present
Committee on Oversight and Accountability (2023-Present)
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
November 13, 2024
Rep. Timmons participates in the House Oversight & Accountability subcommittee hearing on UAP titled Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth.
Key quotes:
“I’m trying to think how to say this because I wear two different hats. I'm still in the Air Force. So I mean it seems that they're [UAP] becoming increasingly brash and the question that we really have to figure out is, is it China or is it non-human, and I think that's the biggest question the American people want to know. If it's China it's scary because they have a lot of technology that we cannot explain and if it's nonhuman that's scary because we don't know the intent. Would you say that's fair?”
Are you all aware of any Task Force at the Pentagon or in the National Security apparatus that's trying to assess the answer to that question?”
November 13, 2024
Rep. Timmons to Matt Laslo:
“Here's the thing. I do think that the government is trying to assess whether it's China or non-human. I think that's really the underlying question. ‘Cause if it's China, it's bad because they have technology that we don't understand. And they're, they have advancements that we don't have, which is not good. But if it's non-human, then, well, we don't know why they're here. So, you know, both of those deserve additional resources to figure out the answer to.”
“But, you know, this is the thing: the patterns in sightings can easily be predicted, and I actually think there's a coordination between — a correlation between military training, military activities in the US and these sightings. So it would not be difficult to figure out if it's China because if it is indeed China, they're using their technology to assess our military capacity, and we can create the systems through which they would then respond, and we'll be like, ‘Okay, it's China.’ Or maybe they don't take the bait and then it's not China — or it might not be China.”
ML: “Have you entertained any idea of military contractors? Do you feel like that part of it?”
WT: “Yeah, I mean, that's definitely a variable because we have a lot of — we spend a lot of money to allow the private sector to develop technologies because we don't have the expertise. So, absolutely. But, again, this is next level. I mean, this isn't like 10 years ahead of where we are. This is like 50 or 100 years ahead of where we are. And, you know, we've all seen — I mean, six years ago, I remember seeing what the world then saw on 60 Minutes, like a year or two later. And, I mean, look, I got my private pilot’s license, I understand physics, I understand propulsion. I'm not Elon Musk, again, but I have a pretty good grasp of that. We have nothing that can do what I've seen. So if you have no existing technology, either the Chinese are kicking our ass or it's something else. Either way, we need to know, because if the answer is brought to us, it might be too late.”
ML: “Yeah? And how worried are you just the idea of SAPs [Special Access Programs] hidden from Congress? Like the Constitution gives you guys the power...”
WT: “I actually don't care about that at all. Yeah, I mean, you know, I get it, some people want information. There's a lot of information that government has my colleagues should not have. I shouldn’t have. You know, I am one of five members of Congress still in the Air Force. So, I mean, you know, there's information that Congress might eventually get, but also might never get. And we have systems in place, checks and balances, and then you go to the — you know, I mean, the example I use is — you know, if the intelligence community has an asset in a foreign government, should we know that? F— no! Absolutely not. You know, these people can't go through a meeting without tweeting about it. We're gonna give them, like, highly classified information? No. So, no, that doesn't bother me at all. But, I mean, there is a role for that because we are responsible to our constituents. And when Langley Air Force Base has 19 days of consistent UAP activity, I have to answer questions to my constituents. And that's where the interplay becomes a little more complicated.”
December 6, 2024
Rep. Timmons attends classified AARO briefing in Capitol SCIF, speaks to Matt Laslo after.
Timmons: “I mean, I thought it went well. I thought they answered all our questions.”
Laslo asks about New Jersey drone sightings: “But it sounds like that didn’t come up at all?”
Timmons: “You know, I guess one of our big challenges is that they're [AARO] UAPs, so, if it’s a drone, that’s really not their purview.”
Laslo: “But so, have they identified those as drones?”
Timmons: “Well, we didn’t talk about that specific situation. I don’t know. I’m not familiar with it, but, you know, I think that...it needs to be more holistic. I mean, the biggest issue is sensors and data. We’ve got to get better data. We’ve got to have more... In order to have a better understanding, well, we need to have better imagery, better sensors. We don’t have it.”
Higgins, Clay
Louisiana-Republican
Term: 2017-Present
Committee on Oversight and Accountability (2021-Present)
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
November 13, 2024
Rep. Higgins participates in the House Oversight & Accountability subcommittee hearing on UAP titled Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth.
Key quotes: Rep. Higgins took a line of questioning meant to draw out of journalist Shellenberger whether the DoD is the departmental owner the the UFO records he published in his Immaculate Constellation report. He reads several experts from the report in his question.
“You reference several types of allegedly alien craft or possibly alien craft or unknown aerial phenomena, what we used to call UFOs, or describe spheres and orbs, disc and saucers, oval or Tic Tac, triangular shape, Boomerang and Arrowhead and irregular or organic …we're just referencing it for descriptive purposes for the American people. Mr shellenberger in this report it is striking to me that regarding the descriptions of experiences with these various craft several of them include biological effects and several do not, are you familiar with what I'm talking about? Yes okay so spheres and orbs triangular craft and irregular or organic craft includes some descriptions of biological effects including feelings of unease, electronic device malfunctions, long term psychological effects such as anxiety or insomnia have been noted, feeling of being watched, a shared awareness with the triangle craft, and under the irregular and organic craft biological effects effects include physical sensations of warmth or cold and unexplained smells and psychological distress.
So these are very specific descriptions of the reactions of human beings which allegedly have been noted from a study here, a report, did all of those experiences, would have been described by the sources that the author used? This a very broad description of biological effects and it's striking to me that they are present with relation to some types of craft but absent in others, this would require a great deal of research and study can you explain that?”
Shellenberger: “my understanding is that this is the database is very large it includes both the images the videos the still images as well as the human intelligence the reports the raw data from individuals having these experiences so in answer your question yeah I mean I think we're looking at a very large amount of data collected over many decades.”
Rep. Higgins: “And that data is held by the Department of Defense?’... Thank you sir I did my best to trick an answer out of you but I was partially successful.”
November 16, 2014
Rep. Higgins tweets a video of his questioning during the House UAP hearing under the heading “Declassify everything…”
Boebert, Lauren
Colorado-Republican
Term: 2021-Present
Committee on Oversight and Accountability (2023-Present)
UFO Stance: UFO Agnostic (Disclosure Supportive)
November 13, 2024
Rep. Boebert participates in the House Oversight & Accountability subcommittee hearing on UAP titled Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth.
Key quotes:
Rep. Boebert: “So there are rumors that have come up to the Hill of a secretive project within the Department of Defense involving the manipulation of human genetics with what is described as non-human genetic material potentially for the enhancement of human capabilities. Hybrids. Are any of you familiar with that?”
“okay I would like to know with Immaculate Constellation how does this relate to UAP activities Mr Schellenberger in oceanic environments, are there any instances where the Navy or other maritime forces have encountered UAPs that could not be explained by known technology or natural phenomena?”
“And do you believe that there is a concerted effort by the Pentagon to keep Congress out of the loop regarding these UAP activities specifically in our Waters?... I think it's about 5% of our ocean that's actually been studied in detail by man and we've studied more of space than we had of our own oceans and so are there any accounts of UAPs emerging from or submerging into our water which could indicate a base or presence beneath the ocean's surface?...some would say that there's multiple hotpots where we see frequent activity so in in your investigations have you come across any data or visual evidence like sonar readings or underwater footage of these UAPs?... You've written about UAPs not only in the air but in underwater, are there any specific specifics on what you've learned about the UAP activity in our oceans particularly have you spoken with sources who have provided any evidence or eyewitness accounts of these UAPs interacting with our Naval forces or being detected by our underwater surveillance systems?...Are there any technological capabilities in these oceanic UAPs that seem to defy our current understanding of physics or our engineering capabilities?”
Shellenberger: “It seems like they all do.”
Boebert: “Yes I would agree with that. And my time is up but I do appreciate your bravery, your courage for coming here and speaking today and seems like there's still some questions that we need answers to and we will not relent until we get those to the American people. Thank you all.”
[more to come…]
Search and selection criteria: I have used Google search tools to locate UFO/UAP-related quotes, articles, clips, etc. for each member of Congress named in this archive during each year dating back to 2018. There were virtually no such public statements by currently serving members of Congress prior to 2018. Starting in June 2023, the indefatigable Capitol Hill reporter Matt Laslo generated a deluge of statements, many of which are reproduced here. Not every statement is included. Repetitive statements by some members who frequently speak out on this topic are not all included. Statements are prioritized if they convey meaningful information and insights regarding a member’s thinking, state of mind, or activity. This archive strives to be comprehensive.
I began compiling these statements in 2022, and the archive was originally launched on my blog on September 23, 2022. I migrated the archive to Substack on May 6, 2024.