US hiding evidence on aliens? So claims whistleblower

WASHINGTON: The US is concealing a longstanding programme that retrieves and reverse engineers unidentified flying objects, a former Air Force intelligence officer testified Wednesday to Congress. The Pentagon has denied his claims.

Retired Maj. David Grusch’s highly anticipated testimony before a House Oversight subcommittee was Congress’ latest foray into the world of UAPs or unidentified aerial phenomena, which is the official term the US uses instead of UFOs.

While the study of mysterious aircraft or objects often evokes talk of aliens and little green men, Democrats and Republicans in recent years have pushed for more research as a national security matter due to concerns that sightings observed by pilots may be tied to US adversaries.

Grusch said he was asked in 2019 by the head of a government task force on UAPs to identify all highly classified programmes relating to the task force’s mission. At the time, Grusch was detailed to the National Reconnaissance Office, the agency that operates US spy satellites. “I was informed of a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse engineering programme to which I was denied access,” he said.

Asked whether the US government had information about extraterrestrial life, Grusch said the US likely has been aware of non-human activity since the 1930s. The Pentagon has denied Grusch’s claims of a coverup. In a statement, Defence Department spokeswoman Sue Gough said investigators have not discovered any verifiable information to substantiate claims that any programs regarding the possession or reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial materials have existed in the past or exist currently. The statement did not address UFOs not suspected of being extraterrestrial objects.

Some lawmakers criticized the Pentagon for not providing more details in a classified briefing or releasing images that could be shown to the public. In previous hearings, Pentagon officials showed a video taken from an F-18 military plane that showed an image of one balloon-like shape. Pentagon officials in December said they had received several hundreds of new reports since launching a renewed effort to investigate reports of UFOs.