Why the US is holding first public UFO hearing in 50 years

A person wearing an alien costume in a flying saucer roller skates through traffic down Main Street during the UFO Festival on July 2, 2021 in Roswell, New Mexico. AFP

After decades of secrecy, two top United States military officials are set to testify on Tuesday in the first public congressional hearing on “unidentified flying objects” (UFO) in more than 50 years.

The highly-anticipated testimony will be delivered by the two officials who were tasked with probing the UFO sightings.

According to the BBC, the Pentagon officials are expected to say that it has been a struggle to unearth witness accounts from government workers concerned about job security.

The history of UFO sightings and public hearing

For generations, people have been fascinated with flying saucers, glowing lights and otherworldly aircrafts. With the advent of technology, the stories of UFO sightings have become evermore fascinating and believable.

However, without substantial evidence all the stories have led to speculations, including the popular belief that the US government has more evidence of alien visitors than it has revealed.

Also read: Researchers bring out 50-year-old UFO image, create buzz on internet

According to the BBC, the last public hearings into the issue began in 1966, when Republican congressman – and future president – Gerald Ford convened a pair of hearings to discuss UFO sightings following one in Michigan that was observed by over 40 people, including a dozen policemen.

While the Air Force officials attributed the incident to “swamp gas”, Ford derided their description as “flippant”.

In 1969, an Air Force investigation into UFOs called Project Blue Book closed after determining that no flying object had ever been confirmed or deemed a threat to US national security.

During its 17 years in existence, Blue Book compiled a list of 12,618 UFO sightings, 701 of which involved objects that officially remained “unidentified”, as per the Al Jazeera report.

The Air Force later said it found no indication of a national security threat or evidence of extraterrestrial vehicles.

In 2017, the US media reported on the Pentagon’s secretive efforts to probe testimony from pilots and other US military members who had reported seeing strange objects in the sky.

The reports included footage of the UFOs, and descriptions of how they seemed to fly in unexpected and physics-defying ways, including hovering in place during high winds and changing elevation rapidly.

Some pilots said they saw UFOs on an almost daily basis outside military bases, while one whistleblower alleged that unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) had interfered with US nuclear weapons facilities.

In June 2021, the US Director of National Intelligence released a report related to 144 incidents dating back to 2004, saying it had no explanation for dozens of unidentified flying objects.

Only one could be easily explained as a deflating balloon, while the others were labelled “largely inconclusive”, the BBC reported.

“Most of the UAP reported probably do represent physical objects,” the report stated, adding that 80 of them were detected on multiple advanced military sensors and radar systems.

Why the US is holding public hearing in UFO sightings now

The hearing comes 11 months after a US government report revealed details about 144 UFO sightings by the military since 2004.

Ronald Moultrie, the US defence under-secretary for intelligence and security who oversees the department’s Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group, and Scott Bray, the deputy director of naval intelligence, will be testifying during the hearing.

According to NPR, Congress recently mandated that the military regularly update it on UAPs.

Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said in a statement that American people deserve full transparency on the matter.

According to Al Jazeera, Tuesday’s hearing will largely focus on the findings of last year’s report, “which focused less on the possibility of alien life and more on the implications for US national security and aviation safety”.

With inputs from agencies

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.