01x05 - Government Breaks Silence

[bunniefuu]

WOMAN: Can you start off by
telling me your name

and a little bit about
your career in the Navy?

My name is Ryan Graves.

Uh, I was a Lieutenant
in the Navy

for about 11 years...

and I was with
the VFA-11 Red Rippers.

In 2015, we were aboard
the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

While we were off the coast
of Virginia Beach,

what we were seeing out there
were essentially radar contacts

that we didn't think
belonged there.

(radio chatter)

Two aircraft from my squadron
were flying out

to the area one day,
and they were

about 100 feet or so apart.

As they were flying
through the area,

the lead pilot in this aircraft

saw an object--dvvoo--

zip right by his aircraft.

What they described was
a dark cube inside some type

of clear sphere where
the corners of the cube

are touching the inside
of that sphere.

When that crew came back,
they were shocked.

They were like, "Hey, we almost
hit one of those damn things."

There was really no answer
of what--what it was,

and so our squadron filed
a safety report,

and we continued filing reports

MAN: Ryan Graves
and many other pilots reported

these strange encounters
with these unknown aircraft

that had no wings, no c*ck,
no intakes, no exhaust,

and that were somehow
seemingly able to fly.

DIFFERENT MAN: They began to
have numerous encounters,

Weekly, almost
daily in some cases.

This continued month
after month, year after year.

MAN: I can't tell you how many
times I've talked to pilots

both civilian and military
who say, "Hey, Lue,

"the reason why I didn't
report this is because

"I didn't want to lose my job.

"I got a mortgage to pay,
I got kids.

You know if, if I report this,
they're gonna think I'm crazy."

GRAVES: So we've been battling
this stigma for a while,

but I couldn't just ignore
the things that I was seeing

just because everyone else was
uncomfortable talking about it.

It's just a matter
of time until there's

a mid-air collision.

LUE: You can't muzzle,
you can't squelch the truth.

Our entire democracy is based
on the principles of truth.

We get reports every night.

MAN: I don't know
what the hell it is.

MAN TWO: Looks like
a rotating light around it.

MAN 3: I'd like to report
a UFO.

REPORTER: The government's
UFO files are stored here

at Maxwell Air Force Base
in Montgomery, Alabama.

Notes, documents, and interview

on 12,618 UFO cases.

Since 1969, the investigation
has been closed.

MAN: They said all
of this stuff was--

was not to be
taken seriously or believed,

even though there was 701 cases

still on the table
that were unexplained.

MAN: There is nothing in
Air Force files that come

to a conclusion that spaceships
have visited the Earth.

BLUMENTHAL: When the government
said, "You're not seeing

what you're seeing,"
that immediately created

a distrust in the government.

REPORTER: UFO activists
have gotten mighty vocal

in recent weeks.

(chanting) We want the truth!
We want the truth!

WOMAN: Because of that
mistrust, people develop

all kinds
of conspiracy theories.

Many conspiracy theories start
with a kernel of truth.

So you had, uh, a lot
of focus for instance

on Area 51, a secret facility
in the Nevada desert.

REPORTER: The base has been
cloaked in secrecy for decades.

MAN: Area 51 is the place
where some of our most advanced

legendary aircraft
were developed in secret

for the CIA
and for the Air Force,

but the excessive
secrecy launched

an entire mythology that they
have crashed spaceships

that are being
reverse-engineered at Area 51.

MULDER: Area 51, where
the military has conducted--

SCULLY: For the past 50 years,

classified experiments involving
extraterrestrial technology.

REPORTER: What can you say
goes on at this test facility?

Darn little.

KEAN: Part of the mythology
is that there is an alien craft

stored there,
and this stems from a crash

of something in Roswell,
New Mexico, in the 1940s.

MAN: For people that are
deep into the UFO experience,

they believe that whatever
was discovered at Roswell

was taken at some
point to Area 51.

MAN: If there are,
in fact, any

extraterrestrial type equipment

or anything that's been
recovered, it's most likely

out here somewhere.

HARRY REID: I've been to Area 5
on more than one occasion,

and it was just really
interesting some of the stuff.

They had a Soviet helicopter,

but my personal feeling
and all the knowledge I have,

I think anyone that talks
about having wreckages

from outer space, I just
don't think that exists,

but the American
people want information.

The one way we always get
in trouble in government is

trying to hide stuff,
trying to be non-transparent.

REPORTER:
Senator Reid, Senator Reid!

KEAN: Harry Reid played
such a critical role

to the progress that we've
made on the UFO issue.

He instigated a program
at the Department of Defense

to investigate UFOs,
and he became very outspoken

about the need for
an official disclosure

and transparency.

REID: As far as I'm concerned,
there needs to be

a tremendous amount
of government resources

put into this

because the American people
are entitled to know

what the hell's going on.

ANCHOR: The New York Times
detailing our nation's

secretive search for signs
of intelligent life.

The Advanced Aerospace
Threat Identification Program

reportedly dates back to 2007,

and one of its patron saints
is said to be

former senator Harry Reid.

REPORTER: The military
spending millions of dollars

to look into UFO sightings
and videos

from American fighter pilots,
all being made public.

LUE: The New York Times article
that came out in 2017

started this journey
for us as a country.

It revealed several things.

First of all, the fact that
the U.S. government was still

looking at UFOs
and that there was

enough information there
to convince a lot of people

that it was real.

MAN: When you learn about
a program on UFOs

and then we see the videos
were released,

and "Well, this is fantastic."

What we've now had to come
to grips with is that

we have not learned
hardly anything

about the specifics
of what they did

in this secret project.

REPORTER: President Obama says

that there is footage
and records

of objects in the skies,

these unidentified
aerial phenomenon,

and he says we don't know
exactly what they are.

What do you think that it is?

I would ask him again.
Thank you.

(laughter)

KEAN: You can only imagine what
they have and what

they've learned in this
secret program

that they're not
revealing to us.

When are we going to
have access to that?

MAN: If you hide
the information rather

than revealing it to everyone,
then it becomes much easier

for it to be seen
as conspiratorial.

So being able to shed light
on all of this and make it

available for objective study
can eliminate

the conspiracy aspect
of any of this.

REID: With the information
we have right now,

there's no reason in my opinion
why they shouldn't do

some public hearings on this.

It's a perfect time to do it.

KEAN: Harry Reid remained
involved with this right up

until the time that he died.

Thankfully, there
was another person

in government who came
along to carry on

his legacy and pick
up the torch.

My name is Kirsten Gillibrand.

I'm a senator from New York,

and I sit on the Senate
Armed Services Committee

and the Senate Select
Committee on Intelligence.

On the Armed Services Committee

over the last decade, we've had
very minimal reporting

on UAPs, unidentified
aerial phenomenon,

and I was talking
to some staff,

and they said, "Well,
if you are interested

in this topic, you should
really talk to Harry Reid.

So I called him and I said,
"Harry, I'm really interested

"in this issue of UAPs.

can you give me
some advice on it?"

And he said, "Well,
it's really important,

and you should
definitely work on it."

The more I sort of pushed
on this issue,

the more I realized that
our armed forces

were able to capture
video footage

of unidentified
aerial phenomena...

(radio chatter)

but over time have decided
it's best to say nothing

if you see something that you
can't identify

because you may well be seen
as someone who is crazy

and that it will harm
your career.

We just need to know the facts,

and that is certainly our
responsibility as members

of Congress to
demand those facts.

GRAVES: We spend a lot of time
and a lot of resources

ensuring that our aircraft
operate safely,

and to think that we would
ignore a potential safety issue

because of a little
skepticism around

a, you know, 3-letter acronym,
it just doesn't make sense.

I thought that we had to expres
this in the public light,

and make it OK to talk about,
not just for people, right,

but for elected officials.

that proved that there
was something

we did not understand.

KEAN: As a number of these
pilots came forward,

interest in Washington seemed
to increase in this topic,

and Those pilots actually
briefed members of Congress

about what they had seen.

GRAVES: I did have
the opportunity to go

to the Pentagon personally
to tell my story

in a classified environment.

Other pilots went there
to discuss this, as well.

I'm Alex Dietrich.
I'm a retired naval officer.

I served 20 years
in the U.S. Navy.

My name is David Fravor.

I'm a retired navy commander,
Super Hornet pilot,

where I flew for 18 years
for the United States Navy.

DIETRICH: Dave Fravor and I
were asked by the Pentagon

if we would agree to go
into closed session.

We spoke to some
individuals in Congress,

giving us a chance to
talk about the incident.

We were flying
a training exercise

in Southern California
off the coast.

Commander David Fravor
in the lead aircraft,

he was the commanding officer
of the squadron.

We look down, and we see
a long, cylindrical

white object with rounded ends

roughly 40 feet long
that looked like

a giant Tic Tac.

MELLON: When you have
a face-to-face meeting

with these pilots,
when they describe in detail

the incidents and the encounter

and you feel the emotion,
it becomes virtually impossible

to deny that
this is something serious

and something real.

PILOT: Look at that thing, dude

FRAVOR: One of the meetings
with the highest group

of officials was supposed
to be 30 minutes.

It was an hour and a half.

They literally did not
want to leave,

and a couple of them were
enthralled, like,

could not stop asking questions

REPORTER: How concerned should
we be about the briefing that

you received on UFOs?

is that a concern for pilots?

Yeah, I'm not gonna get
into any of the contents

of the briefing.

It was a classified
briefing.

The military and others
are taking

this issue seriously,
which I think

in previous generations
may not have been the case.

MARCO RUBIO: Some of my
colleagues are very interested

in this topic, and some
kind of, you know, giggle,

but I--I--don't think
we can allow the stigma

to keep us from having an answer
to a very fundamental question.

TIM BURCHETT: Clearly,
something's going on.

The American public
wants to know,

and frankly we deserve to know.

KEAN: Congress wanted to get
to the bottom of this,

get everything on the table
that was known about it.

Ultimately, Congress
did something unprecedented.

REPORTER: For many years,
government investigations

into these close encounters
were shrouded in secrecy.

Now the curtain may be lifted.

KEAN: They asked
the intelligence community

to provide them with a report
about what they know about UFOs

ANCHOR: In June, the Pentagon
will issue a report to Congress

ANCHOR TWO: The release
next month

of a highly anticipated
military report.

MELLON: For this report
from the Director

of National Intelligence,
we didn't know how responsive

the services would be,
the Air Force in particular.

We were very eager to see
what they would come up with.

ANCHOR: The U.S. intelligence
community has finally released

its highly anticipated
UFO report.

ANCHOR TWO: The Pentagon
is taking it seriously,

saying it's possible this is
a national security issue

and a danger to flight.

ELIZONDO: In this report,
it states specifically

that there were 144 incidents
that this report reviewed.

GAYLE KING: Now, the study
released on Friday found

only one of those
can be explained.

Just one!

PODESTA: There were
18 incidents that showed

unusual air characteristics--

start, stop, hovering,
incredible speed,

things that
they couldn't explain.

KEAN: The report established
that UFOs are

a real physical phenomenon.

It also stated
that they were not

American technology,

and there was no evidence
that they were

either Russian or Chinese.

PODESTA: So we know that. Heh.

What we don't know is what
caused this phenomena.

ANDRÉ CARSON: With the coming
out of this report,

it's opened up the door
because the report

in effect is inconclusive.

BURCHETT: They came back
with a report that was

pretty lame, I thought.

I said I could have written
it when I was

in the fifth grade.

Very short and nothing.

ELIZONDO: It was very clear
to most people that

the Air Force was conspicuously
absent for that reporting,

And I think some of that
goes back to

when the Air Force was tasked
originally

to end Project Blue Book,

to look at this topic of UFOs.

MELLON: Their civilian
astronomer Dr. Allen Hynek

became increasingly
dissatisfied as a scientist

because they weren't
approaching it

in a scientific way.

And we've always honored
accredited media

when they want to investigate
a given, specific sighting.

HOST: There's nothing to hide?

There's nothing to hide at all.

RODEGHIER:
So this just continues

the fine, long tradition

of the Air Force neglecting,
uh, the UFO problem.

MELLON: The Air Force
of course has the most sensors,

the most capability,
and the responsibility

for monitoring air and space.

That's the primary
source you would turn to

for information,
and they were not forthcoming.

PODESTA: What I fear is that
government will feel

they were asked to do a report,

they did a minimally
acceptable report,

and now they can go back
and forget about it.

I fear that.

GILLIBRAND: When I joined
the Intelligence Committee,

I began to see that we
weren't actually getting

the reporting that
I thought Congress

would have been getting
on UAPs.

That gave me very serious
concern that we're not

given the information
we need to do our jobs.

MELLON: It's like trying to put
a puzzle together

when the pieces are
in different rooms

all over different buildings.

VALLÉE: Dr. Hynek told me
very wisely that there is

no such thing as
a U.S. government.

There are a number of
agencies with their own focus,

their own technologies,
and their own budgets.

So it's very difficult
to get those agencies

to converge on a new phenomenon

that doesn't seem to
belong to anyone.

KEAN: Government agencies
definitely need to play

a role in gathering
data about UFOs,

but if they don't organize
this data and centralize it,

then a lot of it could be lost.

We know of at least one case
where the material was

passed around
from agency to agency,

and that was
the Aguadilla case.

MELLON: Aguadilla is an inciden

where the local airport
detected a UFO.

They notified the U.S. Customs
enforcement aircraft

with a sophisticated
infrared camera system.

They were able to
observe it and film it

for 5 minutes or so.

It's a curious little craft
that doesn't appear

to have rotors.

It's unclear how it manages
to fly without wings.

When people say, "How come
there are no pictures?"

Well, here's quite
an extensive video

officially taken
by the U.S. Government

of yet another UAP.

MAN: The Aguadilla video
was shuffled around

in Homeland Security,

and apparently they sent
a copy of the video

to the Air Force and said,

"Could you guys tell us
what this is?"

and the Air Force replied back,

"Why don't you contact
a civilian UFO group?"

And so that's how
we got access to the video.

This is the object that's
being tracked

by the Homeland Security
aircraft.

You have latitude,
longitude coordinates,

and you have all
the information,

and pause right there.

Currently, I'm an executive
board member

with the Scientific Coalition
for UAP studies.

This organization consists
of about 160 people.

Almost all of them have
backgrounds in science.

We provide a location
where scientists can actually

come and research
the subject without the stigma

that's often associated with it

We broke the video down
into individual frames

and looked at it frame by frame,

and the first time I saw
the video, I'm watching it,

and you see this little dot
moving along,

and then, to me, you see
the object go into the water,

and I can hardly see a splash.

I mean, how did it do that?

But the really exciting
part was it comes out

of the water,
and then you see two objects.

Right there.
Now there's two objects.

The pilot you'll see,
he's magnified it because

he's like, "What
in the heck is going on?"

When I looked at it
frame by frame,

to me, it was crazy.

It was clear to me that
there was not

another object that
came out of the water.

I thought this object
had simply split in half

and became two objects.

That's what really made
that video so anomalous,

but I have
no explanation for it.

That's just what the data show.

KEAN: The Aguadilla video
could have easily fallen

through the cracks.

There are probably
other videos that just sit

in some agency that we
don't even know about.

ELIZONDO: We had this
video data at the Pentagon.

We actually had this,
but there's a lot more.

There's--there's--there's
a lot more videos there.

It's not up to me to
release or talk about,

but I can tell you that
I've personally had access

to them along
with my colleagues.

There's some that are--
that are extremely compelling.

GILLIBRAND: We need to have
a place where all

this information
can be brought together.

That is what a responsible,
thoughtful approach

towards something you do not
know what it is would be,

and so that's what I put
into the defense bill,

and that is what is
going to be in place

moving forward.

REPORTER: The headlines are
screaming about legislation

from New York
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

REPORTER TWO: A bipartisan
amendment proposed

in the National Defense
Authorization Act

would create
a permanent office...

REPORTER 3: Permanent
government office tasked

with investigating
unidentified aerial phenomenon.

GILLIBRAND: These are serious
issues of National Security

and technology that
we should know about.

MELLON: In December of 2021,
Congress enacted

the Gillibrand amendment,
which created a new office

to study the UAP phenomenon.

GILLIBRAND: What I would
expect it to be is some

of the brightest minds
in the whole country

focused on this
specific review--

mathematicians and scientists
and astrophysicists,

and people who understand
how to look

at this phenomenon
and analyze it.

KEAN: The people interested
in this have been calling

for this for so long,
and that it's finally happening

is just amazing,

and this is only
the beginning.

The legislation
that was proposed

by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

was important in so many ways,
but one thing

that stood out was she wanted
the office to research

materials that are allegedly
connected to crashed UFOs.

GILLIBRAND: We should never be
afraid of what we don't know.

I know nothing
about crash materials.

I don't even know
if they exist.

If there are any, of course
they should be studied.

If we don't know what it is,
it's not

an appropriate response to say,

"Well, then let's not
look at it."

I'm Garry Nolan.
I'm a professor

of pathology at Stanford.

My background is
in genetics, microbiology,

virology, and cancer biology.

When some scientist friend
heard that I was working

on UFOs, he said,
"Well, you're gonna ruin

your career."

It got me mad.
It's just data.

I'm not coming to
any conclusions.

People have been seeing
these things for so long,

and somehow we seem to feel
like we need government

to tell us that it's OK
to believe in it.

I don't agree with that
kind of approach to life.

I don't need anybody to
tell me what it is that

I know is real.

ELIZONDO: Garry's
a Nobel nominee

and a Stanford researcher,

and he's just now
coming out of the shadows.

He's dealing with something
here with the UAP phenomenon,

that's just something outside
of our current understanding,

but that doesn't mean
we should shy away from it.

It just means
we should understand it.

I've got some
of them with me.

WOMAN: In your opinion,
does the U.S. government have

crashed materials
in their possession?

Yes.

KEAN: What's really important
about physical materials is

that they could possibly
reveal that these

were not from Earth.

Garry works with Jacques Vallée
on these studies.

Jacques--he's a computer
scientist, an astronomer.

He also has been studying
UFOs of course

and has been one of the most
original thinkers

in that field.

NOLAN: I brought some
of the other materials here

that we've been looking at.

I mean, there was
30 pounds of this dropped

on the ground in a molten state.

VALLÉE: There are a number
of cases where people saw

an object coming from the sky
and crashing in a field,

and they've recovered something

When I spoke to physicists,
they said, "Well,

"you know, Jacques, you know,
it's fascinating,

"but you haven't given me
something I can take to my lab,

something I can put
on the microscope,"

but that's started to happen
in the last few years.

NOLAN: This is a magnesium
isotope ratios for Ubatuba.

VALLÉE: I wonder why people
always expect it to be

very complex, you know,
metal materials.

KEAN: One of the cases that
Jacques and Garry studied

involved a UFO event
that occurred in 1957.

Jacques had collected samples,
and he brought them

into the lab and worked
with Garry on the case.

NOLAN: The Ubatuba event was
a fisherman, he sees

a glowing object over the ocean

that suddenly exploded
and just shattered

these magnesium chunks,

bright, silvery metal,
all over the ground

and in the water.

The fisherman went back
and collected this stuff.

KEAN: Decades later, Garry was
able to study it in his lab.

He found that
for the magnesium sample

the way it was held together
was something

that had been manipulated.

NOLAN: It's pretty clear
that they were part

of some industrial process
that had engineered them

to be different.

That is interesting.

Maybe it was being used
for propulsion.

Maybe it was used for
energy generation.

It's a physics
we just don't understand,

but who couldn't be
excited about

potentially understanding it?

Because imagine what
we could do with it.

If you could so easily move
from one place to another--

as in the videos that have
been seen--the energy that

is necessary to do that,

who needs coal-fired
power plants anymore, right?

So that, to me, is one
of the most important parts

about thinking
about the phenomenon.

If you take the data
off the table

and you don't allow it to be
part of the solution,

the solution could be staring
you in the face,

but you just threw it
in the garbage.

That's not how a scientist
approaches science.

GILLIBRAND:
Fear grows in darkness.

It's essential that you have
light and transparency.

There's nothing to me that
is frightening or worrisome

about research
and study and analysis.

That is what scientists
and academics

are extremely good at.

It is what they are there to do

so why not use our best
and brightest to get

a clearer handle on what's
known and what's unknown?

KEAN: Now the UFO topic
has been authenticated as real

by the government,
so that has drawn people in.

There's just a much wider
arena of people

that are involved now.

MAN: When the government
came forward in the form

of the report from the Director

of National Intelligence
and talks

about objects
they cannot identify,

that's very significant.

If the government doesn't
really know what they are,

then it's the duty of
the scientific community

to come to the help
of the government

in figuring it out,

So a month after
the Pentagon report,

I established the Galileo
Project in July 2021.

ANCHOR: A team of international
scientists is embarking

on a new research project
that just a few years ago

would have been dismissed
as very fringe.

ELIZONDO: What Professor
Avi Loeb has managed to do is

create this body of scientists
who are willing to say,

"To hell with social stigma.

"We're gonna have the courage,
as a scientific community,

to look at this topic
from a scientific perspective."

That is, in itself,
revolutionary.

REPORTER: At Harvard,
Astrophysics professor

Avi Loeb is hoping to
collect scientific data

on the kinds of mysterious
objects that have been

spotted by fighter pilots.

LOEB: The Galileo Project
would look

at unidentified
objects near Earth

and try to identify the nature

of interstellar objects
that enter the solar system

from outside
whose nature is unclear.

We will keep the data
open, not classified.

ELIZONDO: What
Professor Avi Loeb has

managed to do is create
this consortium

of like-minded scientists,

and when I say,
"Like-minded scientists"

I don't mean believers, OK?

I mean scientists, all who
agree that this topic

is worthy of study.

LOEB: I look
at problems differently

because fundamentally,
I'm a farm boy.

I used to drive
the tractor through the hills

of the village and read
philosophy books

because I was mostly interested
about the fundamental questions

How did everything start?

Is there life elsewhere?

If we see an object in the sky,
we should not assume

that it's natural or human-made

but rather get more evidence
on if it doesn't look familiar.

So this is the roof of the
Harvard College Observatory.

-Right.
-It's an institution

that existed for more
than 170 years.

This is where the telescope
system will be.

-Over there?
-Yeah.

What we will have is
a dome-shaped array

of infrared cameras that look
at the entire sky at all times.

We will monitor the sky and hav

an artificial intelligence
software that analyzes

what we see and tries to
identify whether it's a bird,

a drone,
an atmospheric phenomena,

or something else.

We allow for the possibility

of an extraterrestrial
technological origin,

which makes us different
from the rest

of the scientific community
that does not even allow

for that
possible interpretation.

NOLAN: The Galileo Project is
an extraordinary step

that Dr. Loeb has taken
because you have the credibility

of a major scientific
institution behind it,

and It's giving people
permission to talk about it.

This is a turning point.

(applause)

LOEB: On November 10, 2021,
there was

the Ignatius Forum
that took place

in the Washington
National Cathedral.

It was attended by the head
of NASA Bill Nelson,

the director of National
Intelligence Avril Haines,

Jeff Bezos, and myself.

LOEB: My point is simple.
Let's look at the sky

and check if there is
any equipment that were sent

by other civilizations,

and that's the goal
of the Galileo Project.

The Ignatius Forum
was a discussion

about the theological
implications of discovering

a smarter kid
on our cosmic block.

It was fascinating for me
to sit next to Avril Haines,

the Director of National
Intelligence, when she made

a statement that some
of the objects might be

from an extraterrestrial origin.

The main issues that
Congress and others have been

concerned about are basically
safety of flight concerns

and counterintelligence issues,

but of course, there's
always the question of

is there something else that
we simply do not understand

that might come
extraterrestrially?

LOEB: To me, that was
very revealing because it

now appears that government
is willing to discuss

that possibility
of an extraterrestrial origin.

REPORTER: Avril Haines, who is

the Director
of National Intelligence,

saying that it was possible
that the strange encounters

could be extraterrestrial life.

KEAN: She said they may be
coming extraterrestrially.

She opened up that door
to that possibility.

It's a sign of how
things have changed.

LOEB: Imagine one of these
objects happened to be

from another civilization.

That would change
the future of humanity.

CARSON: People want to know
is this otherworldly?

Is it from our solar system?

My hope is that
the UFO community,

along with government officials,

will work together in a way

that will answer some
of these questions.

KEAN: I'm just about to talk
to Representative André Carson,

who is gonna be holding
open hearings on UAP.

It's been more than
half a century

since hearings in congress,
so it's, like, major news

that we're having open hearings

There's an e-mail that
just came in.

"Conference line 10 minutes."

Hello, Mr. Carson?

Thank you so much for do--
taking this call with me.

I mean, I'd love to know
you know what you really hope

to accomplish from having
the hearing next week.

CARSON: I think for far
too long people have said,

"Oh, the public isn't ready
to know about these things,"

but I think that the public is
ready now more than ever.

MAN, ON P.A.: Our next and fina
station is D.C.'s Union Station

REPORTER: The House
Oversight Committee will host

its first public hearing

on this issue since 1969.

REPORTER TWO: Representatives
from the Pentagon will be asked

questions by lawmakers
about what the U.S. government

knows about all those
strange lights in the sky.

REPORTER 3: These things
very well may be real,

and it's about time we
heard more about

what our government
knows about them.

KEAN: This is really
an historic moment.

It's a milestone that
we are having

an open Congressional
hearing about UFOs.

GRAVES: I wasn't asked
to be here,

but I felt personally
I wanted to have

the opportunity
to come down here

and try to take this thing

full circle frankly.

The Navy trained me
as a safety officer,

and at the end of the day,
you know, we have objects

that are nearly hitting
these aircraft,

and it is a safety issue,

and it's a tactical issue,

and it's a strategic issue.

The subcommittee
will come to order.

CARSON: The last time Congress
had a hearing on UAPs

was half a century ago.

I hope that it does
not take 50 more years

for Congress to hold another

because transparency
is desperately needed.

KEAN: The Members of Congress
represent the people

of the United States.

The people want information.

Congress wants more transparency

from the Pentagon on this topic.

CARSON: Undersecretary
Moultrie, Mr. Bray...

KEAN: The two witnesses
that are being called

are high-level officials.

Ronald Moultrie is
the Under Secretary of Defense

for Intelligence and Security,

and Scott Bray is
Deputy Director

of Naval Intelligence.

Both of them obviously
know a great deal

about the Pentagon's
research into UFOs.

RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI: There
have been no collisions

between any U.S. assets and one
of these UAPs, correct?

We have not had a collision.

We've had at least 11
near misses, though.

(radio chatter)

Do we have any sensors
underwater to detect

submerged UAPs?

So I think that would
be more appropriately

addressed
in closed session, sir.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: OK. Can you
say with a 100% certainty

that they are physical objects?

I can say with certainty
that a number of these

are physical objects.

MIKE GALLAGHER: It's also been
reported that there have been

UAP observed flying over
sensitive military facilities.

One such incident
allegedly occurred

at Malmstrom Air Force Base

in which 10 of our nuclear ICBM
were rendered inoperable.

I'm not commenting on
the accuracy of this.

I'm simply asking you
whether you're aware of it.

BRAY: I have heard stories.
I have not seen

the official data on that.

Well, I mean, it's a pretty
high-profile incident.

You're--you're the
guys investigating it.

I mean, who else is doing it?

KEAN: Overall, it's
a huge step that the hearings

even happened,
but It was frustrating

because they just
didn't say that much.

REPORTER: The Pentagon says
today's hearings,

while they may not find
new answers,

will help with how these
reports are handled.

REPORTER TWO: This could be
the first of several hearings,

with some lawmakers saying
next they would like to hear

directly from some of
the pilots who have encountered

those objects first hand.

BURCHETT: Overall reaction
to the hearings?

I said I thought it will
be a cover-up at some level,

and--and I feel like
that's what it was.

GRAVES: How you doing?
Ryan Graves, one of the pilots.

KEAN: Yeah. Right.
He was one of the pilots.

Oh good gosh.
God bless you.

-How are you?
-How you doing?

Well, see you've got
a pilot right here,

and he should've been
the one talking in there, OK?

He should have been the one
talking, explaining

what the heck was going on.

BURCHETT: Congress needs to
give those pilots some sort

of whistleblower's protection

and some guarantee that it will
not be a mark on their record,

and we need to bring them in.

-You talk.
-I just really appreciate that

everyone took the time out
here in order to, uh,

pay attention to this issue.

From my perspective,
getting energy on this

is simply going to save lives
at the end of the day

for our Navy operators.

This is something that
the American populace is

very interested in,
and I think that

they deserve to know
what's going on.

BURCHETT: When our own
military fighter pilots,

the best in the world,

they're up there
and they're saying,

"What in the world is this?"

we should be concerned.

PILOT: Look at that thing, dude

ELIZONDO: Congress is doing
exactly the right thing.

If their constituents are
demanding answers,

then Congress needs
to demand answers.

GILLIBRAND: That's what
the Constitutional framework

of our democracy is all about.

It's about oversight
and accountability,

and each branch of government
having a responsibility.

KEAN: Now that the government
has acknowledged

that UFOs are real,
they're physical,

they're a national security
concern,

it raises a lot of questions,

the main one being,
what are these things?

Where are they from?
Why are they here?

RODEGHIER: The truth about
UFOS is easy to summarize.

The UFO phenomenon is real

and maybe the greatest
scientific problem of all time.

WOMAN: What do you think
these things are?

Let's try to break it down
one by one in terms

of the technology that we see.

We now know that these
objects go between Mach 5

and Mach 20,

20 times the speed of sound.

They can fly in the air,

and they can go even underwater

(radio chatter)

What could be behind that?

Why should they go underwater?

PITTS: Surprisingly enough,
we've explored more of the moon

than we've explored
of our ocean floors

on this planet,

so our ocean floors are
just as much of a mystery

to us as are some
of the moons orbiting

some of the planets
in our solar system.

KEAN: People ask a lot,
"Well, what do you

think they are?"

When I started out, I was

probably pretty convinced

of the extraterrestrial
hypothesis,

that they were just visitors
from another planet,

but I've come to learn since
that the phenomenon

is way more complicated.

It was traveling
at fantastic speed.

It was a series of about 6
lights in the shape of a cross.

It seemed to be rotating,
and it was hovering.

It was a rim of lights
in the shape of a triangle.

KEAN: They're so diverse.
I just don't think

it's a simple a disc-shaped shi

that has traveled here
from some planet far away.

MELLON: If we succeed
and if we find that indeed

there is an alien intelligence
of some kind in our atmosphere,

it is gonna be something
that changes our world view,

changes our understanding
of our place in the universe.

LOEB: The way I see science
is as a service to society.

That the knowledge we obtain
from studying

the universe is relevant
for everyone

and benefits everyone.

WOMAN: Do you think we
will find evidence

of extraterrestrial
intelligence in your lifetime?

I think we already have.

I don't need to
think in the future.

KAKU: Why is there
so much debate?

Why all this controversy?

Because what's at stake is
nothing less than our role

in the universe.

It roots back to
watching that space race

as a kid growing up.

MAN: Standard speed down 3.5.

PODESTA: Overall, the world
benefited from having

that sense of wonder
and that commitment to move

human knowledge forward.

That all applied to

the unidentified
aerial phenomena question

would spur innovation,
tremendous thinking,

the production of knowledge,

and that's why
it shouldn't be locked

in a secure vault someplace.

POWELL: It's exciting to see
there's a lot more attention

being given
on the subject of UAPs.

I hope that things don't go bac

and then 70 years from now
we're still wondering

what the UAP might be.

GRAVES:
Uh, the truth about UFOs.

Man, uh, that's the one
question I was gonna say

you should ask me.

The truth is that

no one knows what they are...

but we have the ability

to figure it out if we want to.