Third Congressional UFO Hearing Bores with Same Old Stories, Little Evidence

​In a mostly empty congressional hearing room today, five witnesses offered evidence-free stories about witnessing UFOs or hearing about other people’s experiences allegedly examining otherworldly artifacts. It was the third House UFO hearing since 2022, when David Grusch claimed the government had alien “biologics.” When Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) directly asked U.S. Air Force veteran Jeffrey Nuccetelli to name a piece of solid evidence, Nuccetelli straightforwardly admitted, “There is no evidence.” (He was trying to imply the government is hiding it all.) He then cited the current hearing as his evidence. 

​Dylan Borland testified that he witnessed a giant triangular UFO made of a “fluid” or “dynamic” material hovering 100 feet above him at a military base for fifteen consecutive minutes, though no one else on the base saw it and it went unrecorded by any instruments. 

Witnesses testify in a mostly empty hearing room.

UFO podcaster and local TV reporter ​George Knapp offered stories about Robert Bigelow supposedly being told that Lockheed Martin had an alloy from a crashed object that had been forged in space, and he offered stories about Soviet UFO research that had been broadcast in a cable TV documentary decades ago. Knapp, however, had difficulty answer Rep. Nick Begich’s (R-Alaska) question about the “long game” for ufology since everyone has access to smartphones and can view UFO videos. Knapp concedes that “the secret is out” but could not make much of a case for why government endorsement of ufology claims is therefore essential.
 
The only real evidence offered during the hearing were some blurry videos of blobs alleged to be unknown aerial phenomena. One video, entered by Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Missouri.), shows a Hellfire missile fired at a so-called “orb” (possibly a drone or helicopter) off Yemen and failing to explode. Rather than concluding the missile was a dud, the witnesses imply that the UFO was made of a material that deflected the missile and the missile “split in half” (the video shows no such thing). The House members did not subpoena the crew involved to testify nor did they appear to have conducted any research, presumably because they know it is not a tiny alien craft.
 
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) spouted UFO conspiracies from the internet, such as the false claim that so-called UFO whistleblower David Grusch’s medical records were “leaked” to discredit him.
 
In short, the hearing was a pale echo of previous hearings, with more of the same stories unsupported by evidence and appeals to ignorance, with more of the same complaints about stigma and suppression. With nothing really new to offer, the hearing was something of a dud.