On July 26, a congressional subcommittee held a hearing in which three former military officers testified about UFOs.
Following the hearing, rumors quickly spread online that the United States government had officially recognized the existence of aliens.
But is that true? VERIFY analyzed the testimony and evidence to break down what actually happened at the hearing.
THE SOURCES
- Video and transcript from July 26 congressional hearing
- Adam Frank, professor of astrophysics at the University of Rochester
- NASA
THE QUESTION
Did the United States government say that aliens are real?
THE ANSWER
No, the United States government did not say that aliens are real.
WHAT WE FOUND
While individual former members of the government spoke about the possible existence of aliens, no government organization has stated aliens are real, or that it has any evidence of such claims.
The hearing included testimony from two former Navy officers and one former Air Force officer. None spoke in an official capacity on behalf of the government or any government entity.
Only one government entity has been officially tasked with determining whether we’re alone in the universe: NASA. But NASA says, so far, there is no evidence aliens exist.
Earlier this year, NASA held a public meeting on its latest efforts to examine reports of UFOs, and again reiterated, “There is absolutely no convincing evidence for extraterrestrial life associated with [UFOs].”
THE QUESTION
Is Congress investigating UFOs?
THE ANSWER
Yes, various congressional committees have held hearings into UFO sightings and how such sightings are reviewed by the Department of Defense.
WHAT WE FOUND
In 2019, The New York Times published the accounts of Navy pilots who said they had witnessed UFOs, raising questions about how such accounts were evaluated by the Pentagon and whether there was enough transparency and oversight into the process.
In 2020, the Department of Defense announced a UAP (Unexplained Aerial Phenomena – the official government term for UFO) Task Force to analyze sightings – less for evidence of extraterrestrial life than for evidence of national security threats.
In 2021, the task force released a report on the hundreds of sightings it had analyzed. It provided explanations for many of the sightings, but several remained unexplained.
In 2022, members of Congress, who were unsatisfied with the Pentagon’s efforts to investigate and explain the sightings, convened a hearing. They grilled officials about specific sightings – in the process releasing never-before-seen video – and about the level of investigative vigor and transparency coming from the task force.
Shortly afterward, the Pentagon established a new, expanded task force which began evaluating hundreds more reports.
Some members of Congress remained unhappy with the level of transparency, and convened the most recent hearing on July 26 to highlight those issues.
THE QUESTION
Did the Pentagon task force find evidence of UFOs?
THE ANSWER
The task force stated that some sightings of flying objects remained unexplained, but that doesn’t mean they’re alien spacecraft.
WHAT WE FOUND
The task force said it was able to identify the origin of many of the flying objects. These included debris, recreational drones, weather balloons, unique weather phenomena that falsely appeared on sensors as aircraft, and spy equipment – American as well as foreign.
Some of the objects, however, could not be classified by the task force, meaning they remain unidentified – so they are UFOs. However, no official document or agent of the task force stated any belief that such UFOs were alien in origin.
THE QUESTION
Did an intelligence officer testify under oath that the Pentagon had evidence of aliens?
THE ANSWER
A former military intelligence officer who had been assigned to work with the task force testified he had been told such evidence exists, but he did not see it himself.
WHAT WE FOUND
The star of the most recent hearing was David Grusch, a former Air Force intelligence officer.
His dramatic testimony included claims that the Pentagon has collected crashed UFOs for years and attempted to reverse engineer them. He said the DOD has been covering up evidence of “non-human” craft for decades, and had even recovered non-human “biologics.”
However, he provided few details, frequently telling committee members that despite claiming whistleblower status, he would only share more information in a classified briefing. It’s unclear whether such a briefing has taken place.
He provided no documentation or physical evidence to support his claims. He also did not actually claim to have witnessed evidence of the “multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse engineering program” himself, instead saying others had told him about it. Grusch said that when he asked for information on the alleged program, he was denied access and punished.
Two former Navy officers also testified at the hearing. They said they had seen UAP – unexplained aerial phenomena, the official government term for UFOs – while on duty. Neither explicitly claimed what they saw were alien spacecraft, but said the reporting system for UAP still lacks vigor and oversight and is therefore a national security issue.
THE QUESTION
Is this the first time a federal employee has claimed the government is covering up evidence of UFOs?
THE ANSWER
No, similar claims have been made for decades.
WHAT WE FOUND
Experts say claims like Grusch’s – including from similarly high-ranking military officers – date back to at least the 1950s.
Following Grusch’s testimony, astrophysicist Adam Frank wrote about the history of similar claims. For example, in the 1950s a retired Air Force captain wrote a book in which he claimed there was a government report outlining evidence of alien UFOs. The book didn’t provide evidence, and the captain himself later became a UFO skeptic, Frank says.
Like Grusch, other "whistleblowers" have typically not provided evidence to support their claims, relying primarily on hearsay – someone told them they had heard or seen evidence, which they in turn repeat in a sort of game of UFO telephone.
THE QUESTION
Are we alone in the universe?
THE ANSWER
That’s one mystery we cannot VERIFY. However, no evidence to the contrary was presented at the recent UFO hearings held by Congress.
The VERIFY team works to separate fact from fiction so that you can understand what is true and false. Please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter, text alerts and our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Learn More »