United States House panel scheduled to hold first hearing on UFOs since 1969

The House Intelligence Committee’s subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence and Counterproliferation is scheduled to hold a hearing on a series of unidentified flying objects that remain unexplained on May 17.

The hearing will mark the first time in over 50 years Congress has held a public hearing on UFOs, following the last one in 1969 at the end of the Project Blue Book hearings, which sought information on an Air Force report of mysterious aerial phenomena. 

“The American people expect and deserve their leaders in government and intelligence to seriously evaluate and respond to any potential national security risks — especially those we do not fully understand,” said panel chairman Rep. André Carson in a statement on Tuesday. “Since coming to Congress, I’ve been focused on the issue of unidentified aerial phenomena as both a national security threat and an interest of great importance to the American public.”

The hearing will focus on a series of 144 unexplained aerial phenomena that have occurred since 2004, and, Carson says, “will give the American people an opportunity to learn what there is to know about these incidents.” Of the 144 incidents, 18 of them are referred to as “reported unusual UAP movement patterns or flight characteristics.”

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) said the hearings will “give the public an opportunity to hear directly from subject matter experts and leaders in the Intelligence Community on one of the greatest mysteries of our time, and to break the cycle of excessive secrecy and speculation with truth and transparency.”

The two witnesses who are scheduled to testify at the hearing are Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security Ronald S. Moultrie and Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Scott W. Bray. The hearings will begin at 10AM on May 17.