(ConservativeHub.com) – The Defense Department has been investigating and cataloging encounters between US military ships and aircraft with unidentified flying objects (UFOs) or unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) (in government jargon) for more than a decade. Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist approved the creation of a UAP Task Force on August 4, 2020. The task force will operate under the command and control of the Department of the Navy, with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security overseeing the operation.
The UAP Task Force is expected to release a detailed report summarizing its data on UAPs later this month. Congress requested the report in the wake of the public release of several eyewitness reports and videos of UAP sightings beginning in 2017.
Congress Holds Secret Hearing
Members of the House Permanent Select Committee on counterterrorism received a highly-classified briefing from FBI and Navy officials on Wednesday, June 16, ahead of the anticipated release of the UAP Task Force’s report on UAPs. They also got a preview of the report’s scope inside a sensitive compartmentalized information facility, or SCIF.
Lawmakers remained tight-lipped when it came to specific details about the meeting. Still, many of them expressed concerns that UAP activities could present a grave risk to national security, attributing the incidents to possible efforts by America’s foreign adversaries to spy on the US using high-tech espionage devices.
Members of the Intelligence Committee Speak Out
Several members of the House Select Committee on Intelligence spoke to reporters after the Wednesday briefing regarding issues related to national security.
Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) told reporters it was an “interesting briefing,” adding that he learned many new things. He declined to elaborate. Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN) said committee members were looking forward to having future public hearings but warned that national security concerns could limit their scope.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) said, “clearly, something is going on that we can’t handle.” Rep. Sean Maloney (D-NY) elaborated, stating that the committee takes the issue of UAPs “seriously to the extent that [the nation is] dealing with the safety and security” of military personnel and the national security interests of the US. According to him, the US must get to the bottom of UAP encounters to know what the country is “dealing with” moving forward.
Perhaps Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) put it best when he said that, if anything, the upcoming UAP Task Force report demonstrates the United States is finally taking issues surrounding unidentified flying objects seriously. “The stigma is gone,” he stated.
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