On Wednesday Nov. 13, former director Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) Luis Elizondo, NASA associate Michael Gold, retired Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy Timothy Gallaudet, and journalist Michael Shellenberger testified to Congress as part of the House Oversight Committee’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena: Exposing The Truth session, which was open to the public.
“Let me be clear, UAP are real,” Elizondo said in his opening statement.
The hearing was held by Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) and Glenn Grothman (R-Wisconsin) that are behind a bipartisan bill hat would allow commercial pilots to report UAP sightings to government agencies.
"The American people are tired of the obfuscation and refusal to release information by the federal government," Mace and Grothman said in a joint statement / news release. "Americans deserve to understand what the government has learned about UAP sightings, and the nature of any potential threats these phenomena pose."
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Florida) usually known for skewering and schooling Republicans applauded the open-dialogue and bi-partisan commitment. He described the unexplained in an interesting way of “we don’t want to tell you what they are.” He did also reveal in a time of heightened mistrust in government, they were being told not to ask specific questions to specific people. When questioning Gold he inquired the science community attitude towards proving UAPs when he said “if it doesn’t exist,why is it so hard?” Gold mentioned science’s “natural conservatism.” Moskowitz is sharp, young, and energetic, and could be an asset at these hearings going forward.
Gallaudet mentioned there are still satellite images of UAPs that have not been shown to Congress, according to Chris Mellon. He wants to” morally validate “ all the witnesses coming forward.
Shellenberger revealed some recent visuals (100s to 1,000s) are high-res and not blurry. His sources on the “Immaculate Constellation,” which is a special access program (SAP) to document UAPs, are former government officials. Immaculate Constellation allegedly is another retrieval program. Shellenberger had to educate Rep. Clay Higgins on how he could not reveal if his source was currently in the Department of Defense. When asked earlier about the existence of reverse engineering programs Elizondo replied “yes.”
Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Florida) described a story on how he toured a facility where no one knew what was being worked on behind closed doors. He asked Gold about NASA’s scientific approach. Gold claimed NASA is a “paradigm of transparency,” but need more data. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) made a fool of herself (again) when trying to make a joke associating with the topic the earth being flat and “Joe Biden receiving 81 million votes.” She then went on to ask questions that answered already in the report.
When asked if they think UAPs are non-human intelligence Elizondo and Gallaudet firmly said ”yes,” with Shellenberger and Gold said they “don’t know.”
The November hearing came after Congress last heard testimony in July 2023 when ex-Pentagon intelligence official David Grusch offered testimony about an alleged multi-decade Pentagon program to retrieve and study crashed spacecraft, and extraterrestrial inhabitants. Grusch also accused the Pentagon of being aware of extraterrestrial activity since the 1930s and hiding the program from Congress.
By MIKE DAMANTE
If you are a fan of Luis Elizondo and UAPs, Mike Damante’s previous book “Above the Fold and the Fringe:How UAPs Became Mainstream News ” features exclusive interviews with Elizondo, Tom DeLonge, Ralph Blumenthal, and others. Order here.
If you are a fan of UAP studies, Mike Damante’s book “Punk rock and UFOs: Stranger Than Fiction” features exclusive interviews with Travis Taylor, Leslie Kean, Tom DeLonge, Peter Levenda, Kevin Day, Sean Cahill, Diana Pasulka, Jeffrey Kripal, and the producers of “Unidentified.” Order now.