On Tuesday, the US Congress will hold its first public hearing on UFOs since the 1060s, Live Science reports . Congressmen will interview two US Department of Defense experts about data released in a Pentagon report in June 2021. The report said that since 2004, there have been 144 UFO sighting reports from US Navy pilots, most of which "probably represent physical objects." In 18 cases, the objects exhibited highly unusual behavior: "remaining still despite the wind, moving against the wind, maneuvering sharply, or moving at considerable speed, with no visible means of movement." The authors of the report were able to explain only one of the observations - the potential UFO turned out to be a large deflating balloon.
Congressional oversight committees have been investigating the allegations since 2017, after stories about the Pentagon's secret UFO agency and testimonies from Navy pilots appeared in Politico and the New York Times. At a public hearing starting live at 1300 GMT, Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security Ronald Moultrie and Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray will answer congressmen's questions about whether UFOs could be satellites, belong to foreign nations, or represent are fakes. After that, Congress will hold closed, classified hearings on the activities of the Aircraft Control Identification and Synchronization Group (AOIMSG), which was tasked with finding explanations for what is happening.
Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the hearings "will allow the public to hear directly from experts and leaders in the intelligence community about one of the greatest mysteries of our time" and "break the vicious cycle of over-secrecy and speculation." However, not everyone agrees with this. Rick Crawford, member of the House Intelligence Subcommittee, thinks UFO's priority over other national security issues is ridiculous:
“With China and Russia developing hypersonic weapons, and with the Biden administration publicizing alleged US military operations in Ukraine, we have far more serious intelligence threats than flying saucers.”