For the first time in over 50 years, on May 17, Congress held a public hearing for Pentagon officials to discuss the nature of UAPs, or unidentified aerial phenomena, and the effect of these occurrences on national security. 

A subject shrouded in mystery and commonly dismissed as fiction, the existence of UAPs has been acknowledged by the federal government for longer than most realize. Only recently have officials made footage of said phenomena available to the public and dedicated the House Intelligence subcommittee to the research and potential legislation of UAP information.

“This hearing and oversight work has a simple idea at its core,” Representative and Committee Chairman André Carson said during the hearing. “Unidentified aerial phenomena are a potential national security threat, and they need to be treated that way.” 

The goal of the committee is, in short, to reintroduce the topic of UAPs as an issue of defense that needs to be investigated rather than a supernatural hoax. Through events such as the May 17 hearing, representatives hope to garner the attention of policymakers and begin to make real headway on the problem.

“When we spot something we don’t understand or can’t identify in our airspace, it’s the job of those we entrust with our national security to investigate and to report back,” Representative Adam Schiff said. “That is why it’s important that we hold this open hearing for the public to hear directly from the Department of Defense on the steps it’s taking to track, analyze, and transparently communicate the work that is being done on this issue.”

Naturally, the possibility of extraterrestrial life in relation to the UAPs is something that the committee plans to explore in an effort to approach security concerns holistically. The existence of alien life is something that federal intelligence workers have been researching since the 1940’s, although the topic itself is rarely taken seriously by the public.

“There are elements in our government that are engaged in looking for life in other places, and they have been doing that for decades,” Under Secretary of Defense Ronald Moultrie said. “They’ve been searching for extraterrestrial life. There are astrobiologists who have been doing this too.”

However, the main focus of the committee is on the potential of foreign technology or intelligence causing the unexplained phenomena. Given the international tensions resulting from the Russo-Ukrainian war, U.S. officials are keeping a close eye on UAPs in order to mitigate threats to national security.

“While this topic evokes creative imaginations of many, aside from all the hype and speculation, there are important underlying issues posed by UAPs,” Representative Rick Crawford said at the conference. “Despite the serious nature of this topic, I have to say I’m more interested in our understanding of Chinese and Russian hypersonic weapon development or understanding why this administration was so slow to share actionable intelligence with the Ukrainians.”

With a newfound transparency in their study of mysterious aerial activity, the May 17 hearing is likely the first of many efforts by the UAP subcommittee to garner national support for their research.

“UAP reports have been around for decades, and yet we haven’t had an orderly way for them to be reported without stigma and to be investigated,” Schiff said. “That needs to change.”