House Oversight UAP Hearing: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency, 2023-07-26

The 2023-07-26 House Oversight UAP Hearing was a public hearing convened on 26 July 2023 by the Subcommittee on National Security Border and Foreign Affairs of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. It was held at 10:06 a.m. in Rayburn House Office Building Room 2154¹ before the 118th Congress, First Session.² Glenn Grothman chaired the subcommittee³ and Robert Garcia served as Ranking Minority Member.⁴ James Comer was Chairman and Jamie Raskin Ranking Minority Member of the full committee. The three witnesses were Ryan Graves, Executive Director of Americans for Safe Aerospace; David Grusch, a former National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency senior official and representative to the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF); and David Fravor, a retired Navy Commander.⁵ Tim Burchett submitted into the record Jeremy Corbell’s Corbell Jeremy UAP Puzzle Report, George Knapp’s Knapp George Statement for Record 2023, and the Defense Intelligence Reference Document Advanced Space Propulsion.⁶ Anna Paulina Luna submitted the NewsNation We Are Not Alone Article.⁷

Graves, a former F-18 pilot who founded Americans for Safe Aerospace, testified that UAP sightings by military and commercial aircrew are routine and grossly under-reported.⁸ He described how, after radar upgrades to his squadron in 2014 whilst stationed at NAS Oceana with Fighter Attack Squadron 11 (VFA-11), Fighter Attack Squadron 11 (VFA-11) began detecting unknown objects in its operating area.⁹ During a training mission in Warning Area W-72, two F-18 Super Hornets were split by a UAP Cube-in-Sphere Object described as a dark gray or black cube inside a clear sphere that came within approximately 15 metres of the lead aircraft.¹⁰ The object was estimated at approximately 1.5 to 4.5 metres in diameter.¹¹ The Virginia Beach UAP Near-Miss and related sightings became so frequent that aircrew incorporated discussion of UAP risk into regular preflight briefs.¹² Graves also testified that since 2021 all UAP videos have been classified secret or above.¹³ He estimated that approximately 5 percent of UAP sightings by pilots were being reported, and that the Federal Aviation Administration had no official process to receive such reports.

Grusch, who held a GS-15 civilian rank equivalent to a full bird colonel at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and served as his agency’s co-lead for UAP and transmedium object analysis, reporting to the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) and later to the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO),¹⁴ filed a Presidential Policy Directive 19 urgent concern with the Intelligence Community Inspector General in 2022-05.¹⁵ His filing followed reports from multiple current and former military and intelligence community personnel that the US government was operating with secrecy above congressional oversight with respect to UAPs. He testified that during his official duties he was informed of a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse engineering programme and was denied access when he requested additional read-ons.¹⁶ Grusch stated he suffered retaliation for becoming a whistleblower¹⁷ and characterised the tactic used to silence UAP witnesses as Administrative Terrorism — threatening an individual’s career, security clearance, and reputation to prevent disclosure.²⁸ He testified that he has personal knowledge of individuals who have been harmed in efforts to cover up or conceal extraterrestrial technology,²⁹ and that biologics recovered alongside UAP craft were assessed as nonhuman by individuals with direct knowledge who were still active on the programme.³⁰ Grusch also testified that he spent 11.5 hours providing classified testimony to both congressional intelligence committees, providing the names of specific corporations and their divisions involved in UAP-related programmes, and that undisclosed programmes are funded through misappropriation of funds and via contractors overcharging the government through Independent Research and Development.

Fravor, who in 2004 was commanding officer of Strike Fighter Squadron 41 (VFA-41), the Black Aces, tasked to Carrier Air Wing 11 aboard the USS Nimitz,¹⁸ provided first-hand testimony about the 2004 Nimitz UAP Encounter. During the Tic Tac Sighting on 2004-11-14, the USS Princeton controller told Fravor’s flight that the objects had been observed descending from above approximately 24,000 metres to approximately 6,000 metres over more than two weeks.¹⁹ All four crew members in the two F/A-18F aircraft observed a white Tic Tac-shaped object with its longitudinal axis pointing north-south,²⁰ which had no rotors, no rotor wash, and no visible control surfaces.²¹ When Fravor manoeuvred to close within approximately 800 metres the object rapidly accelerated and disappeared.²² The USS Princeton subsequently reported it reappeared at the aircraft’s combat air patrol point approximately 100 kilometres away in less than a minute.²³ A radar tape showing the object actively jamming an APG-73 Radar was never publicly released and its location remains unknown.²⁴ Fravor testified that the encounter was never officially investigated and none of his crew were ever questioned.²⁵ He stated that the Tic Tac appeared perfectly white and smooth with no visible windows, seams, or markings, and described its flight capabilities as far beyond anything possessed by the US at the time, at the time of the hearing, or likely to be developed in the next ten to twenty years.

The hearing elicited a number of significant statements bearing on government transparency and Special Access Programs. Grusch testified that he absolutely believes the US government is in possession of UAPs, based on interviewing over 40 witnesses over four years,²⁶ and that he knows the exact locations where the US government holds UAP-related craft or materials, some of which had been provided to the Intelligence Community Inspector General and to intelligence committees.²⁷ He stated that decision-making authority over undisclosed UAP-related programmes rests with a group of career senior executive officials both inside and outside government, and that certain elected leaders had more UAP information than some Gang of Eight members. All three witnesses confirmed they believed UAPs pose a potential existential threat to US national security,³¹ and that UAPs were possibly collecting reconnaissance information on the US, probing capabilities, and testing for system vulnerabilities. Robert Garcia noted the bipartisan character of the session, and Glenn Grothman indicated that follow-up hearings in a more confidential setting were anticipated. The hearing was adjourned at 12:22 p.m.³²