Forthcoming Congressional Hearings into Unidentified Aerial Phenomena
17th MAY, 2022, will become another landmark date in the history of UFOs and Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP). It was announced yesterday, (10th May, 2022) that open Congressional hearings into UAP will be heard next Tuesday by the House Intelligence Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence and Counterproliferation Subcommittee. This announcement caught many commentators by surprise and set social media alight with the prospect of further revelations regarding UAP. But what will actually transpire next week?
For the avoidance of doubt, these Congressional hearings, which are scheduled for Tuesday, 17th May at 1000 hours Eastern Standard Time (set your alarms!) are not going to see ordinary members of the public giving testimony about UFOs they’ve witnessed. Nor is Lue Elizondo, former head of the Pentagon’s UFO program, going to appear in front of the House Intelligence subcommittee and give up all he knows – especially whatever his non-disclosure agreement forbids him from speaking about. Christopher Mellon, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence in both the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, isn’t going to take the stand and do a “show and tell” about what Clinton, Bush Jr. or Obama may or may not have known. It’s time to dial down those expectations of “full disclosure”, otherwise you’re going to be sadly disappointed and probably very angry, disillusioned, or both. The history of Ufology is paved with tantalising glimpses of that one irresistible breakthrough everyone is searching for. Unfortunately, this announcement probably isn’t going to be it.
Two Pentagon officials will give testimony to members of a subcommittee of the House Intelligence Committee. They are Ronald S. Moultrie, Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, and Scott W. Bray, Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence. Among Moultrie’s various responsibilities is oversight of AOIMSG, which inevitably will become a major focus of the hearings. AATIP was never a huge part of anyone’s remit. This new organisation is the first major investigation program into UFOs since the termination of Blue Book back in 1969. Moultrie oversees all intelligence and security organisations within the Department of Defense, so the National Security Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency and National Reconnaissance Office all fall under his gaze. Another hat worn by this official is that of Director of Defense Intelligence in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). Moultrie therefore reports to the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin III. Scott Bray, who is also the Director of Naval Activity, approved the creation of the “Security Classification Guide” for UAP which was prepared back in April 2020 by the Office of Naval Intelligence (much of which was redacted when it appeared in the public after being the subject of a FOIA request).
Dan Zetterström from UAP Media UK reached out to Department of Defense spokesperson Susan Gough for official comment on this announcement, who replied:
“The Department is committed to being transparent with Congress and the American people on the subject of UAP. We look forward to the upcoming opportunity to engage Congress to facilitate their oversight on this important matter.
Mr. Moultrie and Mr. Bray are being briefed by personnel who have knowledge and expertise in the areas that Congress asked the Department to address in the hearing. We are not going to comment on the details.”
Representative Andre Carson reflected upon the lack of Congressional hearings when he commented on the announcement earlier today:
“Congress hasn’t held a public hearing on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in over 50 years. That will change next week when I lead a hearing in the @HouseIntel on this topic and the national security risk it poses. Americans need to know more about these unexplained occurrences.”
Representative Adam Schiff, Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, added the following:
“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 for 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.”
Schiff also commented on the purpose of the forthcoming hearings:
“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.”
Whilst it’s true that the hearings are open to scrutiny by taxpayers and voters, a closed, classified briefing will follow for members of the subcommittee. This of course is where the “good stuff” will be divulged, and we, the public, will probably still not get to hear much, if anything, about what is actually happening regarding US military encounters with UAP. The unclassified side of the hearings will no doubt provide some tempting morsels of information which we can pick over until the next major announcement occurs, but detailed information – and maybe even that much-talked-about 23 minute long video – will still no doubt elude us.
Representative Tim Burchett mentioned in an interview only the other day that he was privy to information that he could not divulge. He also made the following comment in a Twitter post on 10th May 2020:
“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.”
The former director of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), Luis Elizondo, was approached for comment and gave us the following statement regarding today’s development:
“The time has come for the American People and our elected officials to have complete transparency into this topic, including any historical efforts and the results of those endeavours that the tax payer has funded. We should welcome anyone who can provide insight to provide that information to Congress without fear of reprisal or retribution.”
Sean Cahill, one of the witnesses in the 2004 Nimitz Encounters and a founder member of Skyfort, was also approached for comment:
“I was moved by the words of Representative Andre Carson when he said, ‘This may be the very thing that brings Democrats and Republicans together.’ It has been a pivotal goal of my colleagues and myself to ensure that UAP is perceived in a dignified, non-partisan and ultimately bi-partisan fashion. I’m heartened that leadership is seeing the forest for the trees; that UAP is far more important than previously perceived. We have come a long way.”
Adam Goldsack, one of the founders of UAP Media UK and one of the first activists to emerge on #ufotwitter following the release of the 2017 videos, replied to news of the hearings as follows:
“For over four years those working behind the scenes on the UAP initiative have fought to get information to the right people in Congress. What we are seeing now with Congressional Hearings is another step on the ladder towards societal acceptance. Ending UAP secrecy was never just about governments and defence contractors hiding away difficult truths: it was about ending the psychological stigma within society that safely sustains the issue within the realms of fringe thinking. Now at last the secrecy is ending and people can have the conversation openly.”
UAP Media UK’s Dan Zetterström provided the following observations regarding this news:
“After passing laws enabling them to hold the US Government organisations accountable for their work (or lack thereof) on the UAP issue, it appears officials are not satisfied with what they’ve been presented with. I am pleased to see the new levers established through recently-enacted legislation being used to signal a sea change in the approach to this topic. US officials are eager to see their airspace secure, their concerns taken seriously and this issue tackled head-on without the stigma of the past. I hope to see other countries follow suit so we can all start putting this puzzle together.”
Vinnie Adams of UAP Media UK had the following to say regarding the news:
“Today’s announcement of the public hearings is another step in the right direction with regard to the UAP subject. It’s probably wise to temper our expectations and remember that this is a process that will hopefully begin to reduce the secrecy and stigma surrounding this issue inside the ranks of the Government and the Intelligence community.”
Dave Partridge, editor of Shadows of Your Mind magazine and also a member of UAP Media UK, commented thus:
“While this announcement is a huge positive step, we are not expecting any bombshell announcements at this early stage. We do hope however that it encourages other national governments – such as the UK and Australia under their AUKUS intelligence sharing partnership – to follow suit and begin open conversations of their own.”
It’s probably worth taking a quick look back at what happened fifty-odd years ago when the previous hearings commenced. 1966 saw England win the World Cup, the death of Walt Disney, Frank Sinatra recording Strangers in the Night, the launch of NASA’s Lunar Orbiter, the Beach Boys releasing Pet Sounds, the birth of one Graeme Rendall – and the first time that public hearings into UFOs were organised in America. House Minority Leader and Representative from Michigan’s 5th Congressional District Gerald Ford (who would later go onto become President in 1974 after Nixon resigned in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal) called for Congressional hearings on the topic of UFOs:
“…the Air Force has been explaining away UFO’s for years, and I don’t believe the American people generally are satisfied with its statements. For that reason, I have proposed that there be a congressional investigation of UFOs.”
The witnesses for these first set of hearings were connected to Project Blue Book, the third official USAF investigation into the issue of “flying saucers”. They recommended that there should be an outside, independent review into the subject – which led to the University of Colorado’s Scientific Study of UFOs, better known as the Condon Committee.
A second set of hearings occurred two years later, the House Science and Astronautics Committee convening to review the scientific evidence for UFOs. This was a symposium comprising testimony from the following six scientists:
Doctor J. Allen Hynek, Chairman, Department of Astronomy, North-western University, Illinois
Professor James E. McDonald, Department of Meteorology, and Senior Physicist at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, University of Arizona
Dr. Carl Sagan, Associate Professor of Astronomy, Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University, New York
Dr. Robert L. Hall, Head, Department of Sociology, University of Illinois
Dr. James A. Harder, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering, University of California
Dr. Robert M. L. Baker, Jr. Senior Scientist, System Sciences Corporation
Dr. Hynek had been a scientific consultant to the USAF on UFOs via Projects Sign, Grudge and, most notably, Blue Book. Prof. McDonald had conducted a multi-year full-time investigation of the UFO problem, interviewing witnesses by telephone and personal visits. Dr. Baker had carried out extensive analysis of various UFO footage supplied by witnesses.
Another six scientists did not appear before the Committee but were permitted to submit prepared statements. These individuals were:
Dr. Donald H. Menzel, Director, Harvard University Observatory
Dr. R. Leo Sprinkle, Division of Counselling and Testing, University of Wyoming
Dr. Garry C. Henderson, Senior Research Scientist, Space Sciences, General Dynamics
Stanton T. Friedman, Westinghouse Astronuclear Laboratory
Dr. Roger N. Shepard, Department of Psychology, Stanford University
Dr. Frank B. Salisbury, Head, Plant Science Department, Utah State University
Dr. Menzel was a noted sceptic on the subject of UFOs and had published several books and magazine articles on the subject. Stanton Friedman will be of course a recognised name among those who have a long-standing interest in UFOs, as he was a tireless researcher and prolific author. Dr. Salisbury was a consultant to NASA and had written several articles regarding UFOs.
Unfortunately, any progress that might have resulted from these developments was undermined by the findings of the Condon Committee. In 1969, it recommended the termination of Blue Book due to a belief that no scientific basis existed for continued study into UFOs. This neatly dovetailed with the United States Air Force’s long-standing desire to kill the project.
Fifty-four years have now passed by since those second hearings without much in the way of recognition from the US government in respect of the UFO subject, or to use the current term, UAP. However, since 2017, there has been something of a sea change across the Atlantic. The release of the three US Navy Forward-Looking Infra-Red videos in December 2017 changed the UFO conversation overnight. Suddenly there was interest across the board, from newspapers to TV news programs, pop stars to celebrities, and – more importantly – a small group of lawmakers in the US government who bravely stuck their heads above the parapet to argue that UAP were a real thing, something that was not only a potential air safety risk, but also a national defence issue too.
Over the years since that bombshell announcement in December 2017, there has been a growing clamour for official recognition of the UAP issue. Behind the scenes, a small group of people – including but not restricted to Luis Elizondo, former head of the Pentagon’s UAP investigative program between 2010 and 2017, and the aforementioned Chris Mellon, have been working tirelessly to persuade and inform influential individuals and groups within government that they should devote more time and resource to investigating UAP. This appeared to culminate in June 2021 with the release of the UAP Task Force’s Preliminary Assessment, a nine-page document which referenced 144 observations from 2004 until 2021, of which only one had been explained.
The Department of Defense took onboard the Task Force’s recommendations and announced the creation of its own study group, the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG). Whilst AOIMSG’s parameters weren’t exactly in tune with what some commentators and onlookers would have liked to see in terms of UAP investigation from the US military, it appeared to be a step in the right direction – although as it turned out, it essentially duplicated the proposed Anomaly Surveillance, Tracking & Resolution Office (ASTRO) by the so-called “Gillibrand Amendment” to the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Given that it was also suspected at the time as being a DoD-inspired “shot across the bows” of the proposed ASTRO, it was suggested that AOIMSG actually stood for “An Office Intended to Mainly Stop Gillibrand”!
“Given that it was also suspected at the time as being a DoD-inspired “shot across the bows” of the proposed ASTRO, it was suggested that AOIMSG actually stood for “An Office Intended to Mainly Stop Gillibrand”!”
This behind-the-scenes work has continued to persuade those in positions of power that the UAP issue needs not only to be addressed in private, classified briefings, but also in the public spotlight, where taxpayers questions and fears can be seen to be addressed. It is not clear how much of this pressure has influenced those in a position to recommend that new hearings are convened – but according to a report published today by the New York Times, this is exactly what will happen on 17th May 2022.
It remains to be seen whether Tim Burchett’s predictions will come true. Whether any of the remaining 143 observations from last year’s Preliminary Assessment have since been identified due to further information being received or as a result of further investigation is unknown at this time. It is even unclear whether any of those that ended up in the so-called “Catch-all Other Bin” classification for sightings will be mentioned in the open session of next week’s hearings.
However, the announcement of these UAP hearings is still a step forward, even if the public may well remain largely in the dark afterwards. Congressional hearings are essentially a big stick being wielded by politicians who clearly aren’t impressed by the lack of progress achieved by the military and intelligence communities in resolving the thorny issue of UAP – just as Gerald Ford had intended back in early 1966. What that big stick will bring to the table is anyone’s guess.
Should any journalist, current member of the UK Parliament, or member of the House of Lords, wish to reach out and discuss how we can help them understand how the UK could play their part, you can reach us securely and confidentially at this email address.
