Congress is Holding Hearings on UFOs for the First Time in 50 Years. Here's What They've Revealed So Far.
This week the elected representatives of these United States are making history. And by that I mean, they're doing something that is actually interesting. No, it's not looking into how their constituents can't afford the gas they need to drive the hundred miles it takes to find formula for their babies. They have neither the time nor the inclination for such trivialities. Instead, the US Congress has decided now is the right time to fry the biggest fish of all: UFOs.
Given that the country is staring at a Jenga tower of crisis piled upon crisis with no way to tell which one to try to pull on first, one can argue this isn't exactly the optimal time to be playing real life Space Invaders. And that's a fair point. But given that there hasn't been a public hearing on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena since 1966, this is long overdue. We should take it when we can get it. And given that we've seen the legislative branch waste the country's time on nonsense like whether John Denver was corrupting our children with "Rocky Mountain High," PEDs in baseball, and which networks could carry the 2007 Week 17 game between the Patriots and Giants, they can certainly clear their schedules to find out about the impossibly advanced flying objects that have been routinely encountered by our military.
And the issue here is that the Pentagon has not been cooperating with Congress as the law requires. In fact, they've been outright ignoring a mandate to report what they know about UAPs. But the high ups in the Department of Defense continue to keep secrets, stonewall, and flat out cover up the information:
Politico - [The hearing] comes five months after the National Defense Authorization Act required the military to establish a permanent UFO research office and take a series of other steps to collect and investigate reports. …
But dueling factions in the Pentagon and intelligence agencies are jockeying over how to carry out Congress’ direction and how much to reveal to oversight committees, according to four current and former officials. …
“They’re like, you know, five things out of 5,000, we weren’t sure what they were,” said an intelligence official who was not authorized to discuss internal deliberations, adding that his superiors want to treat all UAPs as “all air trash.”
The official feels the department is not addressing “the whole tapestry of the multi-tech problem that we have.”
“They really dragged their feet on this,” said the DoD official. “I don’t think they have taken it very seriously.” …
The intelligence official described another faction inside military and intel agencies “that … takes this subject very seriously” and is protective of UAP-related data.
“They fetishize their secret society,” the official said. “It’s kind of a Skull and Bones-type vibe. They take it seriously but they have no accountability. Zero. There is a whole group of us that know in great detail this subject, a lot of which has not been reported to Congress because of security issues.”
So congratulations are in order for any public official working to Kool-Aid Man his or her way through the wall of secrecy these shadowy people have built around this intel. Which is in direct violation of the law. And here's some of what we've learned in the hearing so far. Here's Jeremy Corbell, one of the leading experts on UFOs:
So they showed declassified footage Corbell obtained taken from the Navy Destroyer USS Russell of over 100 pyramid-shaped - and therefore non-aerodynamic - craft that "swarmed" 10 US warships. Furthermore, there was testimony that described these and other close encounters as "frequent and continuing," and discussed "11 near misses." The very fact that these matters are being openly discussed on the Congressional record is chilling, to be sure. But also deserves to be celebrated, because this information has been kept from us since forever. In fact, there's been a concerted effort to cover it up, dismiss all credible evidence, and discredit anyone reporting such phenomena.
Perhaps even more significantly, the committee recessed in order to be shown evidence that is still classified. Which, as reported by Saagar Enjeti of Breaking Points, includes footage of two military aircraft flying close together, and having a UFO buzz right between them, as the pilots understandably freak the fuck out.
And while this is a significant step forward in the government finally treating this universally important issue seriously, not everyone was happy with the progress:
Roll Call - Among the audience members streaming out of the hearing room was Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., who gave voice to the frustrations of those who want answers about life beyond Earth.
“We just got hosed, basically,” said Burchett, accusing the government of covering up information it should share with the public.
“Why would they not have pilots in here discussing?” he asked, saying that the public deserves to hear from pilots who have seen UAPs firsthand.
And I agree wholeheartedly. If you want the truth out there, why wouldn't you have Commander David Fravor who tracked the Tic Tac UFO and talked about it on Joe Rogan's podcast or the captain of the USS Nimitz Max Clark who's said it's his crew's duty to watch for these things?
But then again, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Sometimes, with a baby step. Which is what this has been so far. If nothing else, we've got DoD officials on the record acknowledging what we've all known: That there's some crazy shit flying around and they can't identify them or understand how they're able to do the things they do. For now, and until these hearings reveal something more substantial, that will have to do.