The bipartisan House committee on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), more known as UFOs, is expected to hold a hearing Wednesday (July 26), with lawmakers promising to look deeper at UAPs following unproven allegations from a former intelligence official that the US military has recovered what was said to be crashed extraterrestrial spacecraft.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) said the committee was launched because the American public "deserves to know" the cause and origin of such UAPs.
"[I]t's a national security issue," added Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL). "Can't we tell the Americans it isn't China, it isn't Russia? And if it is...then it is even more questionable that other governments have this technology."
Discovery of UAPs Concerning, Witnesses Say
Witnesses to the hearing, all of whom are military veterans, are expected to tell lawmakers their discovery of UAPs is concerning enough to be divulged to the public.
Former US Air Force intelligence officer David Grusch is expected to testify at Wednesday's hearing. He earlier claimed the US federal government has found alien vessels.
Grusch would testify that he became aware of an alleged covert government program to recover and re-engineer crashed alien spacecraft as part of his duties. However, he also acknowledged he did not have firsthand knowledge of the alleged program.
He would also base his testimony on information he has been given by individuals with "a longstanding track record of legitimacy and service to this country." Many of the people who shared their evidence with Grusch did so in the form of "photography, official documentation, and classified oral testimony."
Meanwhile, a Pentagon spokesperson said the Department of Defense's UAP task force, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), "has not discovered any verifiable information to substantiate" the claims about crashed alien craft.
Other witnesses include US Navy veteran David Fravor and Americans for Safe Aerospace executive director Ryan Graves.
Fravor, who once flew fighter jets for the US Navy, planned to describe an encounter with UAPs and how it was not investigated properly. He added there was no "oversight" from elected officials on anything associated with the government "possessing or working on craft" which many believe to be from outer space.
"This issue is not about full public disclosure that could undermine national security, but it is about ensuring that our system of checks and balances works across all work done in our government using taxpayer funds," he would tell the committee Wednesday based on his opening statement.
Graves would also address his own concerns about UAPs as a former Navy pilot, especially as a "national security and an aviation safety problem," according to his opening statement.
"The bottom line is, why are we allowing objects in our sky, particularly objects displaying advanced technology, to go unidentified?" Graves planned to tell the committee. "I believe we should pursue these questions about the nature of UAP with a scientific method and an open mind."
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Congress vs. Pentagon on UAPs
According to Burchett, he recognized the credentials of the witnesses. "This isn't some good old boy who had too much to smoke or drink in the woods and thinks he spotted something. These are trained pilots," he recently told Fox News.
Lawmakers are promising the public the hearing would be the beginning of a long series of clashes between the House and the Pentagon in seeking new details on UAPs.
Reps. Burchett and Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) previously traveled to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida and had an argument with military officials over potential UAP evidence. The Pentagon denied the lawmakers' request to see any video and to speak with the pilots who might have shot them down because of the lawmakers' lack of security clearances as members of the congressional defense committee, a source told ABC News.
However, top Pentagon UAP investigator Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, told ABC News in a recent interview that "nothing has been denied" unto them and played down the possibility of a covert program.
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