Congress conducted a hearing yesterday into UFOs–or, in the words of the people who testified before a House of Representatives Oversight subcommittee, “unidentified aerial phenomena” (“UAPs”)–and the very tantalizing claims made during the hearing are going to give a big shot in the arm to conspiracy theorists.
One witness, a former U.S. intelligence official testified that he is ‘absolutely” certain that the U.S. government is in possession of UAPs, and that the government redirected money from other programs to fund a secret, decades-long effort to recover and rebuild crashed UAPs. Although the witness admitted he has not personally seen a UAP, he says he has interviewed people who were injured by UAPs and people who have recovered “nonhuman biologics” from crashed UAPs. The witness also said he and his wife saw things that were “very disturbing.” The Pentagon has said that the witness’ claims are false.
Other witnesses said that both military and commercial pilots have seen UAPs, that we need a transparent program for reporting the incidents, and that briefing pilots about prior UAP incidents will help to prepare them for potential encounters. Another witness, a former Navy pilot, related his 2004 encounter with a UAP that looked like a gigantic Tic Tac in the sky and maneuvered and traveled using technology beyond our capabilities. In connection with the hearings, other individuals have claimed that the U.S. government is in possession of technology “that did not originate on earth” and have described encounters with other strange airborne craft.
So, will Congress take steps to the bottom of the UAP issues, tell us whether a government installation like the legendary “Area 51” actually exists, and investigate to the point where it can either confirm or debunk these claims and let the American public know what the government is doing? I’d like to see more transparency from the government generally, but I’m not holding my breath about the disclosure of UAP information–whatever it actually is–from official sources, even if the hearing indicated that there is bipartisan support for doing something. Experience teaches that the federal government often concludes that we would be better off if we were blissfully unaware of things that have really happened. When it comes to a conspiracy-rich topic like UAPs, I just don’t think that patronizing attitude is going to change.