Documents / Hearing transcript
This is the transcript of a joint hearing held November 13, 2024 by two subcommittees of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, chaired by Rep. Nancy Mace. The witnesses were Tim Gallaudet, Luis Elizondo, Michael Shellenberger and Michael Gold. They addressed government secrecy, AARO's transparency, a Pentagon document on the alleged Immaculate Constellation program, threats to pilot safety, and UAP activity near nuclear and military sites. Members also discussed UAP disclosure legislation.
4 I also want to note that today’s hearing builds on a quite, I think, also historic public hearing that we had many months ago that Mr. Grothman and others help lead in this very same hearing room where I believe we began a really important public conversa- tion about UAPs. And so, I want to thank him for that, and I espe- cially want to thank Chairwoman Mace for her continued advocacy on this topic. I also want to start with some facts. We know that there are ob- jects or phenomena observed in our airspace, as our witnesses will testify, and also, possibly, in our oceans. In many cases, we do not know what they are, and, of course, this is why we are discussing UAPs. Now, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, AARO, has re- ported hundreds of UAPs that remain, quote, ‘‘uncharacterized and unattributed’’ and which, quote, ‘‘appear to have demonstrated un- usual flight characteristics or performance capabilities and require further analysis.’’ This is our own AARO office. Now, we should not prejudge what they might be. I am certainly not going to. We need evidence. But we are detecting things, and we know that we do not understand them, and this is worth inves- tigating. The American people have legitimate questions, and I believe it is critical that Congress should help address them. This is about the truth, and science and facts. Now, transparency and faith in our institutions is vital in a good democracy. Now, I am proud to say this hearing will build on that important bipartisan work, and I want to thank everyone from being involved, including Members of our Committee. Now, in our last hearing in July, we heard testimony that a sig- nificant number of pilots of major airlines have witnessed UAPs as well, but have no real confidential way of reporting them to the government. We heard that commercial pilots, when encountering UAPs, may be hesitant to speak openly due to stigma or fear of re- taliation. We also know that AARO has reported that, and I want to quote, that ‘‘most reports still reflect a bias toward restricted military air- space, a result of reporting from military personnel, and sensors presence in such areas.’’ And so, the lack of ability for civilian pi- lots raises real safety concerns and limits our ability to understand UAPs. This is a particular piece of this conversation that I am very interested in. Now, our last hearing inspired us to introduce the Safe Airspace for Americans Act, joined by Chairman Grothman, Chairwoman Mace, and a bipartisan group of cosponsors. I see some of our lead- ers from Safe Airspace for Americans Act here. And that would cre- ate a safe reporting for the UAP process, which we want to con- tinue to do. Now, Members of both parties and senior officials in multiple ad- ministrations have now taken an interest in this issue. Mainstream media, in many cases, are beginning to take more of an interest in this issue, and we should all be proud to carry that work and build confidence for the American people.
Hearing transcript, from the hearings collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 52 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.