Witnesses say UFOs no joking matter; technology poses serious danger

Objects that can maintain Mach 1 speeds even in the face of gale-force winds. Aircraft with no visible means of lift or propulsion, and no wings or engines. Phenomena that seem to operate outside the “known aerodynamic principles that we expect for objects that fly in our atmosphere.”

Those are some of the striking descriptions that former U.S. military personnel used when recounting their encounters with UFOs. Witnesses told lawmakers Wednesday that the unexplained phenomena in American skies pose significant national security threats and the federal government must share more information with the public. In a worst-case scenario, they said, an adversary — human or otherwise — could use technology to conduct surgical military missions at a level that is difficult to imagine with today’s understanding of science and aviation.

“The technology we faced was far superior than anything we had,” David Fravor, a retired Navy commander, told lawmakers on the House Oversight and Accountability subcommittee on national security, the border and foreign affairs. Mr. Fravor recounted his 2004 encounter with a UFO, which was captured in what is widely known as the “Tic Tac” video. Navy aircraft from the USS Nimitz grabbed footage of the oblong object.

He said the potential ramifications of the technology he witnessed would be enormous.

“You could put that anywhere. If you had one, you captured one, you reverse-engineered it and got it to work, you’re talking about something that can go into space, go someplace, drop down in a matter of seconds, do whatever it wants and leave,” he said. “And there’s nothing we can do about it.”

The hearing gave a rare public forum on the once-taboo subject of what the government now calls “unidentified aerial phenomena,” or UAP, and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Video footage of close encounters, media reports, eyewitness testimony and federal investigations have helped bring the issue to light.

Lawmakers of both parties also expressed frustration, sometimes bordering on anger, with branches of the federal government that they said were stonewalling efforts to reveal more information about UFOs. They condemned any retaliation against witnesses who came forward.

“I hope you understand that there would be bipartisan rejection of any attempt to vilify, demonize or engage in other reprisals against our witnesses, who are telling the truth from their perspective,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, Maryland Democrat.

Finding the truth

Until recently, the testimony would likely have been met with mockery. That may be understandable to some degree. The details that the witnesses described are chilling.

“The UAP we encountered and tracked on multiple sensors behaved in ways that surpassed our understanding and technology,” said Ryan Graves, a former Navy pilot with more than a decade of service. He recounted his experience in 2009 while stationed at Virginia Beach as part of a Navy fighter/attack squadron.

“The UAP could accelerate at speeds up to Mach 1, hold their position against hurricane-force winds, and outlast our fighter jets, operating continuously throughout the day,” he said. “They did not have any visible means of lift, control surfaces or propulsion — nothing that resembled normal aircraft with wings, flaps or engines.

“I am a formally trained engineer, and I have no explanation for this,” he said.

If the unknown objects “are foreign drones, it is an urgent national security problem,” Mr. Graves told lawmakers. “If it is something else, it is an issue for science. In either case, unidentified objects are a concern for flight safety.”

Mr. Fravor told lawmakers that the oblong object he saw behaved in ways that violated the “known aerodynamic principles” of flight.

“The Tic Tac object that we engaged in November 2004 was far superior to anything that we had at the time, have today or are looking to develop in the next 10 years,” he said. “If we in fact have programs that possess this technology, it needs to have oversight from those people that the citizens of this great country elected to office to represent what is best for the United States and in the best interest of its citizens.”

Details of the hundreds of UFO encounters documented by military personnel and commercial pilots often differ. Some say they witnessed orbs, others lozenge-shaped objects. Some described strange lights.

A federal government report released in January examined 366 UFO sightings, including a stunning 247 UAP incidents from March 2021 through August 2022.

Of the 366 objects, officials said, 26 were likely drones, 163 were “balloon or balloon-like entities” and six were just “clutter.”

That leaves 171 sightings without any clear explanation.

Mr. Graves said he heard numerous accounts from military colleagues who described “dark gray or black cubes in a clear sphere,” with tips on the ends of the cubes. U.S. officials have no known explanation for such objects.

Lawmakers say Congress must determine whether individuals or federal government agencies are concealing information about UFOs.

“We should investigate the extent to which elements of the government possess, or do not possess, information that is of critical value to the American people,” said Rep. Virginia Foxx, North Carolina Republican.

Alien life?

The hearing went beyond reports of unexplained objects in the skies.

David Grusch, a former Air Force intelligence officer and Pentagon UAP task force representative, told lawmakers that he learned of a longtime government effort to retrieve parts of crashed UFOs and study their technological makeup.

“I was informed, in the course of my official duties, of a multidecade UAP crash retrieval and reverse-engineering program to which I was denied access” to “additional” materials about the effort, he said.

The federal government has denied such efforts and has repeatedly rejected the notion of reverse-engineering UAPs at Nevada’s Area 51 or elsewhere.

Mr. Grusch said he is aware of such programs. Pressed on the specifics by Rep. Tim Burchett, Tennessee Republican, Mr. Grusch would reveal little in a public setting.

He did say he has privately given committee members the names of specific corporations, presumably major defense contractors, that are aware of such programs and have worked with the federal government.

“The specific corporations I did provide to the committees,” he said.

Mr. Grusch said he knows of others who suffered retaliation, including physical harm, after trying to come forward with their stories of UAP encounters.

Lawmakers mostly seemed to keep open minds Wednesday, but some seemed to draw the line at allegations that the government has recovered alien life and kept it hidden from the public for decades.

“My view has been that we are billions of light-years from any other system,” said Rep. Eric Burlison, Missouri Republican. “And the concept that an alien species that is technologically advanced enough to travel billions of light-years, gets here, and somehow is incompetent enough to not survive Earth or crashes, is something I find a little bit far-fetched.”