Could Congress form a select committee to investigate UFOs? These lawmakers hope so
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A group of lawmakers in the House of Representatives met with chiefs from the Department of Defense and national intelligence community on Thursday to discuss the unidentified anomalous phenomena or UAPs.
But Rep Scott Perry, R-Pa., described the effort as meaningless because of the extensive security clearances required.
“We can’t even find out who is allowed to know,” Perry told NewsNation.
The meeting was requested after the House held a hearing in July, where Air Force veteran and former intelligence officer David Grusch could not produce details about any UAP crash retrieval programs because it was deemed classified.
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., who led the hearing, wrote a letter in August, asking Inspector General of the Intelligence Community Thomas Monheim to brief Congress about which federal government programs are involved in crash retrievals and inspections.
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Burchett, who recently launched the UAP Caucus, speculated that the meeting was the federal government’s way of keeping information under wraps.
“You have to imagine Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Manhattan Project, thousands of people working on the atomic bomb and less than 12 knew what it was,” he said.
Most congressional lawmakers stayed mum coming out of the hearing, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who told reporter Matt Laslo that she’s “a girl scout about these things.”
But Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., was convinced that an entity — tied to the federal government or foreign — was developing an “advanced form of propulsion” after the meeting with intelligence officials.
“What it appears to be is somebody has discovered something — some advanced form of propulsion or technology — that may actually change all of our lives,” Burlison told Laslo. “But clearly it’s in an experimental phase or we’re experimenting with it.”
Reporter Joe Khalil posted a statement from the DOD Inspector General about the Thursday briefing, saying the oversight agency does not determine what information is classified and who has the security clearance for it.
UAPs have piqued curiosity from both sides of the aisle. Burlison said he wants to push newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to create a select committee, with Burchett as the chairman.
“Give him the authority, let him chase this rabbit,” Burlison told Daily Wire, talking about Burchett. “The American people and members of Congress know what is going on.”
“So, if we create a committee that has a purpose for this, it’s hard to deny us that we should not have access to the information,” he added.
Burchett said Johnson seems “very receptive” to the idea.
