By Tim Binnall

UFOs were once again the talk of Congress on Wednesday morning by way of yet another highly anticipated hearing on the mysterious phenomenon. Organized by the House Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs, the event differed significantly from the two previous hearings held over the last year. Unlike at those gatherings, which featured testimony from Pentagon officials investigating unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), the witnesses on Wednesday were former Navy pilots Ryan Graves and David Fravor, who recounted their own encounters with UFOs as well as whistleblower David Grusch, who sparked headlines earlier this year with his claims that the United States has a clandestine crash retrieval program for downed UAPs.

The refreshingly bipartisan affair, which ran nearly two-and-a-half hours and can be seen in full above, saw politicians from both sides of the aisle call for greater transparency from the government with regards to the phenomenon that has long been shrouded in secrecy. The hearing was unsurprisingly short on specific answers with regards to the UFO mystery as its purpose seemed to be geared more towards conveying to the public that this is a serious issue that can no longer be ignored or ridiculed. To that end, Rep. Tim Burchett, who spearheaded the hearing, declared that "we're not bringing little green men or flying saucers into the hearing ... we're just going to get to the facts. We’re going to uncover the cover up."

During his testimony, Graves recalled members of his squadron frequently encountering mysterious objects that resembled "dark grey or black cubes inside of clear sphere." He went on to muse that "if everyone could see the sensor and video data I witnessed, our national conversation would change." Meanwhile, Fravor shared his account of the now-famous 'Tic Tac' UFO incident and he asserted that the enigmatic object "was far superior to anything that we had at the time, have today or looking to develop in the next 10 years." One overarching theme to emerge from their remarks was a call for an improvement in the ways in which pilots can report their experiences with UAPs so that they do not have to fear professional reprisals for speaking on the subject.

As one might imagine, Grusch's claim of a clandestine crash retrieval program was of particular interest to the committee, however when pressed for specifics beyond what he has said in media appearances, the whistleblower was often limited by the classified nature of the information and frequently replied to committee members that he could only elaborate "in a closed environment." This was the case when asked about incidents wherein individuals were injured by UFOs as well as cases in which witnesses may have been murdered in an effort to cover-up the phenomenon. That said, Grusch did remarkably state on the record that "the assessment of people with direct knowledge on the program" was that some downed craft contained "non-human biologics."

Ultimately, the hearing revealed an intense interest on the part of many committee members when it comes to the true nature of the UFO phenomenon. One imagines that much more could come from Wednesday's event if they follow through on speaking to Grusch in a secure location wherein they can be briefed on the full extent what he has come to learn about the purported crash retrieval program. At the very least, the gathering was an indication that, much like the general public, Congress is eager for insights beyond what Pentagon officials tasked with investigating UAPs have provided to date, which should be cause for optimism among advocates for UFO disclosure as we appear to be inching ever closer to finally getting some answers.