Congress holds first UFO hearing in 50 years

(NewsNation) — Is there an alien force on a mission to explore strange new worlds — like ours? UFO enthusiasts are hoping some of the truth they believe is out there could be revealed Tuesday.

Congress is holding a hearing on threats posed by unidentified flying objects and unexplained aerial phenomena. This marks the first congressional hearings on UFOs in more than 50 years.

Two top U.S. defense intelligence officials appeared before a U.S. House of Representatives intelligence subcommittee 11 months after a report documenting more than 140 cases of unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs, that U.S. military pilots have reported observing since 2004.

"We know that our service members have encountered unidentified aerial phenomena, and because UAP pose potential flight safety and general security risks, we are committed to a focused effort to determine their origins," Ronald Moultrie, who oversees the new group as U.S. defense undersecretary for intelligence and security, told the hearing.

The other official to testify was Scott Bray, deputy director of naval intelligence.

Just last year, Rep. André Carson (D-Ind.), the subcommittee chairman, said UFOs were becoming a national security risk, tweeting, “Americans need to know more about these unexplained occurrences.”

Now, given the report both fell short of identifying exactly what the unidentified occurrences were and contained redacted information, the hearing will be especially appealing to lawmakers with vested interests, including Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who believes the Pentagon knows more than what it's saying.

“There’s an arrogance in government at that level that we cannot handle what’s going on out there,” Burchett said as a guest of News Nation’s “On Balance with Leland Vittert.” “It’s a bogus cover-up. It doesn’t fit and it’s about power and control,” he continued.

The only information the report managed to state was what enthusiasts already assumed — that most of what was seen were not physical objects or secret government technology and that there’s no evidence that another country developed them — making Tuesday’s revelations that more enticing.

“This is all virgin territory for humanity, but it could be very exciting,” said Avi Loeb on NewsNation’s “Rush Hour” on Monday.

The hearing is happening at least in part because some of the objects caught on camera move and behave in ways technology experts can't explain. Can the UFOs be explained as next generation military technology from China or another power? And if so, how would the U.S. government react?

"We already know they've come back now in the latest reports and said these do represent a national security threat. They're beyond our next generation capacity, we should take a look at this," said Ben Hanson, host of "UFO Witness" on Discovery +, during a Monday appearance on NewsNation's "Banfield."

Though the U.S. has been more transparent in recent years with UFOs, lifelong experts including Nick Pope are convinced they're holding back a world-changing secret.

"Some people say a body like the United Nations should step in; I'm not sure about that," Pope said on "Banfield." "One thing is for sure: Here in the U.S., the government knows far more about this than it is making public."

The witness list Tuesday will include the U.S. undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security as well as the deputy director of naval intelligence. There will also be a classified meeting after the public one, which only fuels the mystery surrounding these sightings.

The hearing Tuesday will be broadcast live on the House Intelligence Committee’s YouTube page.

Reuters contributed to this report.