UAP Hearings

Between 2017 and 2020, a series of New York Times stories revealed AATIP (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program) and Navy videos ("FLIR1", "Gimbal", "GoFast") showing objects with anomalous behavior. In 2021, the ODNI published an official report acknowledging 144 military cases — of which only one was explained. Bipartisan public pressure led Congress to hold its first open hearings on the topic in half a century.

The first public UAP hearing in Congress since 1966. Ronald Moultrie (Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence) and Scott Bray (deputy director of Naval Intelligence) showed previously unreleased video and admitted the Pentagon cannot explain many cases. This was the milestone that officialized the term 'UAP' and set the political basis for creating AARO.

The most impactful hearing so far. Convened by the House Oversight Subcommittee, it heard three witnesses under oath:

• David Grusch — former USAF/NGA intelligence officer. Testified, based on ~40 sources interviewed as part of official AARO work, that the U.S. has for decades operated a covert program recovering 'non-human' craft and 'non-human biologics'. He produced no material — he stated he had provided evidence to the Intelligence Community Inspector General.
• David Fravor — former commander of Navy squadron VFA-41. Described the 2004 'Tic Tac' incident off the California coast: a ~40-foot object with no wings or visible propulsion, capable of instantaneous acceleration, corroborated by radar, FLIR, and multiple pilots.
• Ryan Graves — former F/A-18 pilot and founder of 'Americans for Safe Aerospace'. Reported routine sightings of anomalous objects over the U.S. east coast between 2014 and 2015 during training, sometimes multiple times per day, and denounced the stigma that prevents civilian and military pilots from reporting.

A new round of testimony focused on national security and reverse engineering. Michael Shellenberger unveiled the 'Immaculate Constellation' program — an alleged Special Access Program compartment holding undisclosed UAP photo and video material. Luis Elizondo (former head of AATIP) and Timothy Gallaudet (retired rear admiral) reinforced the existence of programs hidden from Congress.

AARO published its Historical Record Report Vol. I (March 2024) publicly rejecting the existence of recovery programs — which triggered another round of hearings calling for independent audit. In 2025 and 2026, joint Senate and House committees began demanding unrestricted access to SAP compartments and held classified sessions with additional whistleblowers. No physical material has yet been made public.

The hearings drove specific NDAA clauses starting in 2023, creating formal channels inside AARO and the Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG) for former officials to share information without breaking secrecy agreements. Even so, witnesses report retaliation and access restrictions — one of the main grievances in the 2024–2026 sessions.

• Is there non-human physical material in government or contractor custody?
• Which SAP programs are being hidden from Congress, and under what authority?
• Why do AARO and witnesses like Grusch reach opposing conclusions from overlapping sources?

• House Oversight Subcommittee — Hearing on UAP (July 26, 2023)
• House Intelligence Subcommittee — Hearing on UAP (May 17, 2022)
• House Oversight Task Force — Hearing on UAP (November 13, 2024)
• ODNI — Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (2021)
• AARO — Historical Record Report Vol. I (March 2024)