Six members of Congress are demanding answers from the intelligence community about how much the various agencies know about unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs).
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., and five other members of the House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on National Security and the Border sent a letter to the Intelligence Community Inspector General Thomas Monheim on Monday asking for information on the various government programs, facilities, and other items relating to UAPs, the government's term for UFOs.
"Which intelligence community members, positions, facilities, military bases, or other actors are involved with UAP crash retrieval programs, directly or indirectly?" the letter asks. "Which intelligence community members, positions, facilities, military bases, or other actors are involved with UAP reverse engineering programs, directly or indirectly?"
The letter was sent in response to the testimony of U.S. Air Force veteran and former intelligence officer David Grusch in front of the committee on July 26.
A whistleblower, Grusch told lawmakers that there are programs concealed by the U.S. government that have retrieved and "reverse engineered" UAPs.
He testified that he was asked in 2019 by a UAP government task force head to identify the classified programs related to that issue but said he could not reveal secret details to the committee in a public setting.
According to Grusch, the United States has been aware of extraterrestrial "nonhuman" activity since the 1930s.
"I was informed in the course of my official duties of a multidecade UAP crash retrieval and reverse engineering program to which I was denied access," he said.
The Pentagon denied Grusch's claims, which were made under oath.
"[Investigators have not found] any verifiable information to substantiate claims that any programs regarding the possession or reverse engineering of extraterrestrial materials have existed in the past or exist currently," a Defense Department representative, Sue Gough, said.
Grusch also said he faced retaliation for bringing the information to the committee but did not disclose the nature of the retaliation due to an ongoing investigation, the report said.
"It was very brutal and very unfortunate, some of the tactics they used to hurt me both professionally and personally," Grusch said.
In addition to Burchett, the letter, which sets a date for a response of Sept. 15, was signed by Republican Reps. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Eric Burlison of Missouri, and Andy Ogles of Tennnessee, as well as Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Charles Kim ✉
Charles Kim, a Newsmax general assignment writer, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years in reporting on news and politics.
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