US Congress to hold second hearing on UFOs in attempt to ‘pull back curtain’

The United States Congress will hold a hearing on Wednesday to discuss the topic of UFOs that some lawmakers are hopeful will lead to new information on a subject that is the focus of many conspiracy theorists but has also recently attracted serious attention from government officials.

The House oversight committee’s hearing will be titled Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth. The title refers to UAPs, the new preferred acronym for UFOs, which has become an increasingly popular term among believers – and US officials – to describe mysterious airborne objects.

The hearing will be the second congressional hearing the US Congress has put together in order to “further pull back the curtain on secret UAP research programs conducted by the US government, and undisclosed findings they have yielded”, according to a House statement.

The hearing will be led by Republican representatives Nancy Mace and Glenn Grothman. The representatives argue in the House’s statement that Americans are frustrated with the lack of transparency by the US government on the topic of UAPs.

“Americans deserve to understand what the government has learned about UAP sightings, and the nature of any potential threats these phenomena pose. We can only ensure that understanding by providing consistent, systemic transparency. We look forward to hearing from expert witnesses on ways to shed more light and bring greater accountability to this issue,” Mace and Grothman said in the statement.

Luis Elizondo, a decorated former counterintelligence officer who has claimed for years that the US government is hiding knowledge of UAPs, will be an expert witness at the hearing.

Wednesday’s hearing comes more than a year after the Pentagon was accused of running a secret UFO retrieval program by whistleblower David Grusch, though no evidence has ever emerged to back up these claims.

Many advocates for the disclosure of classified UAPs are optimistic that Donald Trump’s administration will choose to release more government documents.

Republican representative Tim Burchett of Tennessee told the Hill: “I’m convinced that that’s what he wants, and that he trusts the American public. President Trump will move towards total disclosure.”