What does Congress know about UFOs?

The mysterious crash of three unidentified flying objects over the weekend has brought renewed attention to an issue that has been the concern of Congress for the past few years: the existence of UFOs, also known as unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP).

As of 2020, a growing chorus of Democrats and Republicans are stressing the need to study and track UAPs, which can include everything from drones to other unidentified aerial objects, as a potential national security threat. The calls only grew louder after the military shot down the latest object, which was detected in US airspace after a Chinese surveillance balloon identified it in early February. At this time, the White House said it does not believe the unidentified object has an extraterrestrial origin.

Lawmakers’ hearings on UAP are expected to be public in 2022. Last May, the House of Representatives held its first hearing in 50 years on the issue, featuring testimony from military officials who presented videos and images taken by service members from different aerial objects- strange. . Past reports from UAPs have included sightings of objects with “unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities,” raising questions about whether they could have an extraterrestrial connection, although officials say they have yet to find evidence of such a connection.

Over time, Congress’s focus on UAP became more prominent as lawmakers like former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pushed for it to be a priority. In 2007, Reid helped secure $22 million in funding for a Pentagon program to study UFOs and UAPs, called the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program.

Since then, lawmakers including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) has spearheaded a policy that creates a new office run by the Department of Defense and the Office of Defense. from the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to further enhance this effort. Currently, this office – considered the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (ARRO) – is tasked with publishing an annual report and providing parliamentarians with two confidential summaries per year.

An unclassified report from ODNI and AARO was released in January 2023 and showed that the US government is investigating more than 360 recent UAP sightings, about half of which have an unusual explanation. This includes objects identified as balloons, debris, and drones. Officials are still searching for the unexplained object, however.

“I have sounded the alarm on this issue since I chaired the first open hearing on unidentified aerial phenomena in 50 years,” Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN) told Vox in a statement. “In January, an unclassified report was released to the public based on these findings. The important thing is that we continue to study and investigate these sightings.

Congress has demanded more information about UAP in recent years

There has been a congressional push for more information about UAP since the Pentagon released three fast-moving UFO videos in April 2020. The clips were published by the New York Times in 2017 and 2018 but were not verified by the Department of Defense until later. .

The lawmakers’ focus stems from concerns about competition and surveillance from foreign adversaries as well as a broader interest in understanding the source of the object, including whether it could be extraterrestrial in nature.

After the video was made public, Congress requested a report from the ODNI on the UAP sighting. A report released in June 2021, examining incidents between 2004 and 2021, showed that there were 143 incidents of unexplained aerial phenomena being investigated by the ODNI – including some that potentially had unique technological capabilities.

“Of these, 21 reports, which include 18 episodes, may indicate technological knowledge unknown to the United States, such as objects moving without observable propulsion or with rapid acceleration believed to be beyond the capabilities of Russia, China or other terrestrial countries. , ” reported Julian E. Barnes of the New York Times.

After the 2021 report, a group made up of defense and intelligence officials, called the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG), was established to examine the presence of the phenomenon in “special airspace”, which includes airspace close to the military. basic. In 2021, Congress approved an amendment that made the office focus on UAP and set reporting requirements as part of the annual defense bill. That agency, ARRO, has taken over the work of AOIMSG, and is intended to help streamline information sharing between DOD and ODNI.

In addition to the January 2023 report, parliamentarians also received a secret briefing beginning in May 2022, which was intended to document the progress made in detecting and tracking the origins of UAP. A House subcommittee also held a public hearing on the issue last May.

At the hearing, Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray said the military has yet to find anything “non-terrestrial in origin,” and that while most UAP reports can be explained, there are aerial phenomena that are still being tried. For example, during the panel, officials also showed pictures and videos of some sightings, including one of the orb taken through the plane window, which they could not give an explanation for.

Developments in Congress have made people, including pilots and other members of the military, more open to discussing UAPs and destigmatized the idea of ​​reporting.

“Importantly, these efforts have reduced the stigma around reporting, so service members can come forward without fearing negative consequences for their careers,” Gillibrand told Vox in a statement. In the August 2022 interviewGillibrand also said that the UAP office is in the process of gaining access to archival data and is working with the private sector to obtain more information about past incidents.

The update follows years of Reid calling on Congress to focus on this subject. The office he helps fund at the Pentagon studies reports of unidentified flying objects including run-ins with military aircraft. It was later replaced by another task force, called the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, dedicated to the problem. Then, as now, there is still much to be desired by lawmakers about the UAP, its origins, and its goals.

“There are still many unknowns,” Reid wrote in a 2021 New York Times op-ed. “I believe it is important to lead with science when studying UFOs”