U.S. Congress Holds First Public UFO Panel Tuesday in More Than 50 Years

A congressional hearing will take place Tuesday in Congress, 11 months after the US Government report detailed 144 UFO- or as they are officially called “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” (UAP) sightings by the military since 2004.

It’s an interesting take as many folks believe this is yet another government ploy to scare, spread fear and control the populace not just in America, but around the world.

Two top United States military officials are set to testify in the first public congressional hearing on “Unidentified Flying Objects” UFOs in more than 50 years.

The two testifying will be Ronald Moultrie, The US Defense under-secretary for intelligence and security who oversees the department’s Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group, and Scott Bray, the Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence.

Sightings of such aircrafts do not appear to match known technology and appear to defy the laws of physics have long been sited by observers as evidence of extraterrestrial life, with many speculating the US government has more evidence of alien visitors than it is letting out.

The United States government has commissioned several programs and commissions in recent decades, sometimes secretively, to look into the confounding events.

Tuesdays hearing, to be conducted by a subcommittee of the US House of Intelligence, will mainly focus on the findings of last year’s report, which focused less on the possibility of alien life, and more on the implications that it hurts US National Security and aviation safety.

It will be led by House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff, who’s been caught lying more times than Cartman on an episode of South Park pretending he didn’t eat all of the Cheesy poofs.

There’s much to learn about unidentified aerial phenomena. But one thing is sure – the American people deserve full transparency. Next week, @HouseIntel will give the public a chance to hear from experts on one of the greatest mysteries of our time.

But give Schiff credit, at least he’s asking the questions. That’s more than we can say for most Republicans and Democrats. They won’t even have the hearing. I’m no Schiff fan, but this is a step forward in being transparent with the American people who voted them into office and pay for their life.

The report included some UAP sightings that had been previously revealed in Pentagon-released video footage showing enigmatic airborne objects exhibiting speed and manoeuvrability exceeding known aviation technology and lacking any visible means of propulsion or other hardware needed to operate in the air.

The report said further data and analysis were needed to determine whether the sightings were of aerial systems developed by a classified US government project, a commercial entity, or by a foreign power such as China or Russia, according to the report.

At the time of its release, senior US officials told reporters that while the report avoided any explicit reference to the possibility of extraterrestrial life, defence and intelligence analysts have yet to rule out the possibility.

The public hearings will be the first on the subject since the US Air Force terminated an inconclusive UFO programme code-named Project Blue Book in 1969.

During its 17 years in existence, Blue Book compiled a list of 12,618 total UFO sightings, 701 of which involved objects that officially remained “unidentified”. The Air Force later said it found no indication of a national security threat or evidence of extraterrestrial vehicles.

In 1966, nearly a decade before he became president, then-US Representative Gerald Ford of Michigan, who was House Republican leader at the time, organised a hearing in response to dozens of witness accounts of strange glowing lights and large football shapes at low altitude around Dexter, Michigan. Air Force officials famously explained away the mysterious sightings as “swamp gas”.

Thanks to our friends at Al Jazeera and other News Agencies for contributing to this article.