Whistleblower claims about unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) have some observers concerned as to the timing and motives behind the release of this information.
Ryan Graves, executive director of Americans for Safe Aerospace; David Grusch, a veteran of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office; and David Fravor, a former commanding officer for the U.S. Navy, testified Wednesday before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability about recorded encounters and experiences with these alleged “non-human” aircraft.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), who led the hearing, has stated previously that unidentified anomalous phenomena are a potential threat to national security. He has expressed concern that the technology apparently demonstrated by these phenomena is superior to current U.S. technology, and the nation has no prepared responses, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
“The objects that are being seen by commercial pilots are performing maneuvers that are unexplainable due to our current understanding of our technologies and our capabilities as a country, and that applies to our military as well,” Graves testified at the hearing.
Eyewitnesses across the globe have reported encounters with UAPs. Graves said reports from pilots shared certain commonalities, and the unidentified objects were often “dark grey or black cubes inside of a clear sphere.”
Grusch said he had interviewed over 40 witnesses over four years, leading him to believe that the United States is in possession of some of these objects. He also claimed to know the exact location of some of them.
Burchett asked Grusch if the U.S. government had become aware of non-human intelligent life. Grusch responded that it had, as early as the 1930s.
Burchett asked Graves how they knew these crafts did not belong to the United States. Graves responded that some of these objects were able to remain in the air in “category 4 hurricane-force winds” and were able to accelerate to supersonic speeds from that position.
The objects produced no discernible sound while achieving these speeds, the men claimed. The whistleblowers agreed that no human could survive the g-forces that would be created when these aircraft accelerated to supersonic speed.
Some of the objects that have been sighted were reportedly shaped like a “tic-tac” and were completely smooth, with no visible windows.
Fravor said a crew sent to investigate one of these “tic-tacs” reported damage to a government radar during the encounter. He also said that, to his knowledge, no known enemies of the United States have aircraft with such capabilities.
Graves recounted a particular instance at Vandenburg Airforce Base in 2003 when Boeing contractors reportedly observed a large “red square” approaching the base from the ocean. It remained in the area for nearly a minute, hovering at a low altitude, before “darting” away toward the mountains. A day later, more sightings were reported, some of which were described as “aggressive” encounters.
Graves said he did not personally see the reported object, but observers estimated it was nearly the size of a football field.
Grusch claimed during the meeting that he had been subject to “brutal” and “unfortunate” personal and professional retaliation from “certain senior leadership” after he revealed information about UAP sightings. He described the actions allegedly taken against him as “administrative terrorism.”
Fravor, however, reported that he had been treated well since coming forward.
Graves testified that some corporations are valuing their own reputations over the safety of the American people. He noted that some pilots who reported UAP sightings were given cease and desist letters to prevent them from discussing these encounters.
The whistleblowers testified that they had further knowledge on the subject of UAPs that they could only reveal in a closed meeting. They expressed hope for more transparency as pilots report sightings in the future.
Not all commentators take the whistleblowers’ claims at face value, however.
Writer and researcher Whitney Webb commented, “Won’t it be fun to watch people believe whatever some former intelligence agents say with no evidence and then panic and demand that all of humanity bands together to make a global [government] just like in Star Trek and Mass Effect bc of ‘the aliens’?”
“If you think the imminent massive increase in the Space Force budget will be used to deal w these alleged UFOs and not to build a satellite surveillance grid to power the digital ID/cbdc technocracy to control everybody, you might be really gullible,” Webb continued.
The Biden administration has requested $30 billion in taxpayer spending on the U.S. Space Force, which is responsible for “protect[ing] the interests of the United States in space,” in fiscal year 2024. This budget request, the largest in the service’s brief history, marks an increase of $3.7 billion, or roughly 14%, over last year’s appropriations. The largest spending increase is planned for research, development, testing, and engineering, according to Space News.
Webb concluded that the UAP hearings are “happening in Congress right now for a specific purpose and critical thinking is important. It’s a controlled release of info (whether true or false is irrelevant) with an ulterior motive.”