A congressional hearing centred around reports of unidentified aerial phenomena and unidentified flying objects – or UFOs – was held in Washington Wednesday morning (July 26).

The House panel heard from three witnesses, who are former members of the military, with knowledge of UFOs and how the government has handled reports about such objects.

Key witness David Grusch, a former intelligence officer who was part of the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Task Force, is a whistleblower who claimed the US government has been hiding evidence of at least a dozen alien crash sites.

Second witness David Fravor, former commanding officer of the US Navy’s Black Aces Squadron, said he circled a UFO while flying his F/A-18F Super Hornet over the Pacific in 2004. He described the object as a smooth Tic Tac or propane gas tank, a cylinder with no wings. The video of the incident was declassified in 2020 along with two other videos involving UAPs.

Ryan Graves, a former navy fighter pilot, was the last witness and said he squadron repeatedly encountered flying objects that could remain stationary despite hurricane-level winds.

All three witnesses acknowledged that UAPs and UFOs were a potential national security threat.

The hearing explored what the US government knows about UAPs and if there are any implications for national security or a need for more transparency, and congress openly acknowledged a commitment to investigate UAPs.