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Official hearing transcript PDF

U.S. House of Representatives · 54 pages · text from the file's own layer

This is the official transcript of a July 26, 2023 hearing held by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Accountability's Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs. The hearing was titled "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency." Ryan Graves, David Grusch and retired Commander David Fravor testified. Members pressed for transparency and whistleblower protections, and Graves described a near miss involving a dark cube inside a clear sphere.

  • p. 5 …Without objection, the Chair may declare a recess at any time. Additionally, without objection, the following…
  • p. 7 …I would say that is the biggest understatement of the decade. He also goes on to…
  • p. 8 …And I yield back the remainder of my time, I think—is it to Rep- resentative…
  • p. 9 …Even more alarming is the fact that these eyewitnesses are, many times, service members and have…
  • p. 10 …Now, some of the earliest reporting on this issue was a groundbreaking 2017 New York Times…
  • p. 12 …I want to yield the two and a half minutes, the remainder of my time, to…
  • p. 13 …I believe more information is known about the 171 instances. It is time for Congress to…
  • p. 15 11 was no official acknowledgement of the incident and no further mechanism to report the sightings…
  • p. 16 …At the time, due to my extensive executive level intelligence sup- port duties I was cleared…
  • p. 18 …the articles in the 2017 New York Times and it removed the stigma on the topic…
  • p. 19 …for the United States and best for the citizens. I thank you for your time. Thank…
  • p. 21 …Now, that was our personal firsthand experience at the time. Since then, as I have engaged…
  • p. 25 …Like many others in 2017, I saw the New York Times article come out as well…
  • p. 28 …They had official documentation and records from the event that the witness held over the years…
  • p. 29 25 provide precise kinematics on the object as well as the fleet of ob- jects that…
  • p. 31 …I will yield the balance of my time back. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. GROTHMAN. Ms…
  • p. 37 …I just—my time is limited. Mr. Graves, one of your main concerns that the FAA…
  • p. 39 …I know for a fact the video or the pic- tures that came out in the…
  • p. 46 …our speed in no time at all. Mr. LANGWORTHY. Now, if the fastest plane on Earth…
  • p. 48 …Chairman, with that, I will yield the remainder of my time to my fellow colleague from…
  • p. 50 …Chairman, I yield the remain- der of my time. Mr. GROTHMAN. OK. We will go to…
  • p. 51 …credibility to the New York Times article. And so after about six times I said OK…
  • p. 53 49 I also want to note for our witnesses and for the public that I am…
  • p. 54 …I need to compliment the folks in my office that did a lot of the work…
27
Mr. MOSKOWITZ. OK. Do you have any information that the U.S.
Government is involved in a disinformation campaign to deny the
existence of certain UAPs?
Mr. GRUSCH. I cannot go beyond what I have already stated pub-
licly in my News Nation interview because it touches other sen-
sitivities.
Mr. MOSKOWITZ. OK. I will yield the balance of my time back.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. GROTHMAN. Ms. Foxx?
Ms. FOXX. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I thank our witnesses
for being here today.
Mr. Grusch, in your sworn testimony you state that the U.S.
Government has retrieved supposedly extraterrestrial spacecraft
and other UAP-related artifacts. You go so far as to state that the
U.S. is in possession of, quote, ‘‘nonhuman spacecraft,’’ end quote,
and that some of these artifacts have circulated with defense con-
tractors. Several other former military and intelligence officials
have come forward with similar allegations albeit in nonpublic set-
tings.
However, Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, the Director of AARO, previously
testified before Congress that there has been, and I quote, ‘‘no cred-
ible evidence thus far of extraterrestrial activity’’ or of, quote, ‘‘off-
world technology brought to the attention of the office.’’
To your knowledge, is that statement correct?
Mr. GRUSCH. It is not accurate. I believe Dr. Kirkpatrick men-
tioned he had about 30 individuals that have come to AARO thus
far. A few of those individuals have also come to AARO that I also
interviewed.
Ms. FOXX. OK.
Mr. GRUSCH. And I know what they provided Dr. Kirkpatrick
and their team.
Ms. FOXX. OK.
Mr. GRUSCH. I was able to evaluate that information.
Ms. FOXX. OK. I need to go on.
Mr. GRUSCH. Sure.
Ms. FOXX. But my understanding—this—his statement is accu-
rate. Came from a direct quote, and this contradiction is a perfect
example of why we need to inject transparency into our govern-
ment.
And for another example, look no further than the pitiful re-
sponse to the Chinese spy balloon debacle earlier this year. You
may remember the mass confusion that ensued when the balloon
was first spotted over Montana 4 days after it first entered U.S.
airspace over Alaska.
The Biden Administration’s initial inability to address the object
grew into a continuous series of embarrassments. After news of the
balloon reached the mainstream media, we were assured that the
balloon posed no threat to our security.
However, after the balloon was allowed to transit the entire con-
tinental United States, fighter jets were scrambled off the coast of
South Carolina to shoot it down. This flip flopping and obfuscation
caused needless confusion, fear, and panic across the country.
It is my hope, Mr. Chairman, that this sort of confusion will not
be repeated. We should investigate the extent to which elements of

Cases discussed

About this file

Hearing transcript, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 54 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.