US military is in possession of UFOs and non-human bodies, ex-intelligence whistleblower tells Congress
27 July 2023, 06:48
The United States is concealing a long-standing programme that retrieves and reverse-engineers unidentified flying objects, a former Air Force intelligence officer has told Congress.
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Speaking yesterday before a House Oversight subcommittee, retired Air Force Major David Grusch claimed the US government has long been concealing a program that recovers and reverse-engineers unidentified flying objects (UFOs).
One witness went so far as to claim that the US government is in possession of UFOs, although these claims have not been substantiated.
Grusch said that in 2019 when he was assigned to the National Reconnaissance Office, the head of a government task force on UFOs asked him to identify all highly classified programs related to the mission.
"I was informed in the course of my official duties of a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse-engineering programme to which I was denied access," Grusch stated.
When asked if the US government had information about extraterrestrial life, Grusch responded that the US has likely been aware of "non-human" activity since the 1930s.
The Pentagon has denied Grusch's allegations of a cover-up. Defense Department spokesperson Sue Gough said investigators have not found "any verifiable information to substantiate claims that any programmes regarding the possession or reverse-engineering of extra-terrestrial materials have existed in the past or exist currently."
Former Navy pilot Ryan Graves was one of three military witnesses who testified that he had observed unidentified flying objects during his time in service.
Read more: US asks UK for help with UFO investigations as Pentagon says alien life has not been ruled out
Among the objects that Mr Graves saw was a “dark grey or black cube inside a clear sphere” that he encountered during a training session off the coast of Virginia in 2014.
The object came within 50 feet of his aircraft and had a diameter of around five to 15 feet, he said, adding that he reported the incident but it was not investigated.
“These sightings are not rare or isolated,” said Mr Graves, who served in the Navy for more than 10 years. “Military aircrews and commercial pilots, trained observers whose lives depend on accurate identification, are frequently witnessing these phenomena.”
Another witness at the hearing, retired Navy pilot commander David Fravor, recalled observing a "small white Tic Tac object" with no wings while on duty off the coast of San Diego in 2004.
Fravor described the object as "moving very abruptly over the white water, like a ping-pong ball." When he flew closer in his F/A-18F Super Hornet, "it rapidly accelerated and disappeared," he said.
A video of the incident was declassified in 2020 along with two other videos showing what the US government refers to as UAPs, or "unidentified anomalous phenomena."
Fravor stated that the mission's air controller had told him the object had been spotted over the previous two weeks dropping down from 80,000 to 20,000 feet.
Grusch claims he became a whistleblower after his discovery and has since faced retaliation. "It was very brutal and very unfortunate, some of the tactics they used to hurt me both professionally and personally," he said, declining to provide specifics due to an ongoing investigation.
At the hearing, Republican Glenn Grothman joked, "Welcome to the most exciting sub-committee in Congress this week." Members of both parties asked Grusch about his research into UFOs and the consequences he faced.
"I take it that you're arguing what we need is real transparency and reporting systems so we can get some clarity on what's going on out there," said Democrat Jamie Raskin.
Some lawmakers criticised the Pentagon for not providing more details in a classified briefing or releasing images that could be made public. In previous hearings, Pentagon officials showed a video taken from a military plane showing a balloon-like object.
The Pentagon said in December it had received hundreds of new UFO reports since relaunching an effort to study such sightings. But officials said they had not seen anything to suggest the objects were alien in origin. "Any unauthorized system in our airspace we deem as a threat to safety," said Ronald Moultrie, undersecretary of defense for intelligence.