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For the first time in more than 50 years, a US House committee will hold an open congressional hearing on unidentified flying objects (UFOs) on Tuesday, May 17. According to CNN, the public hearing will be held by the House Intelligence Committee’s Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation in order to shed light on UFOs, also known as unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). The hearing will be presided over by Indiana Representative Andre Carson. Mr Carson stated on Twitter that Congress has not held a public hearing on UFOs in over 50 years. “That will change next week, when I chair a House Intelligence Committee hearing on this topic and the threat to the nation it poses.” “We need to learn more about these unexplained occurrences,” he added.
According to CNN, US Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security Ronald Moultrie and Associate Director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray will testify before Congress. The open hearing will be followed by a closed, classified hearing on the Pentagon’s Airborne Object Monitoring and Analysis Synchronisation Group programme.
According to the report, House Committee Chairman Adam Schiff stated that the public would be able to hear directly from subject matter experts and rulers in the Intelligence Agencies on “one of the greatest mysteries of our time” at Tuesday’s hearing. It would also break the cycle of excessive secrecy and speculation, according to Mr Schiff.
Notably, the upcoming session comes at a time when there is a renewed push to share government documents on UFOs, according to CNET. The US intelligence community released a preliminary assessment of 144 reports of “unidentified aerial phenomena” since 2004 last year, but could only explain one of them. In 2021, the Pentagon will also release a separate report highlighting how UAPs may endanger flight safety.
While closed-door briefings on the Pentagon’s progress in implementing the legislation have begun in over the last week, the upcoming session on Tuesday will be the first time Congress has convened a public hearing on the subject since the Air Force oversaw an inconclusive UFO investigation known as Project Blue Book, which concluded in 1969.
