Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) asked for a House select committee on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) on Tuesday, leading a group of lawmakers from both parties seeking answers from the Pentagon about the unknown flying objects.
UAPs first arose in Congress last summer after a series of hearings included whistleblowers who claimed that the government was concealing knowledge of secret advanced aircraft of foreign or possibly extraterrestrial origin.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers established the House UAP Caucus last autumn to focus on the issue, urging openness and communication with the public.
Burlison, a member of the caucus, stated that the proposed select committee would initially concentrate on questioning the Department of Defense on expenditures he believes are for secret UAP recovery programs.
“I think that we should reveal the expenses that are, you know, where all the money that’s being used to investigate these matters,” he told Blake Burman in a “The Hill on NewsNation” interview Tuesday. “This needs to be done in a transparent way.”
The Pentagon dismissed concerns over spending in a report last week, stating that all the expenses questioned were either related to non-UAP projects or defunct ones. The report also reiterated that the government is not aware of any extraterrestrial crafts and that reported sightings have been the “result of misidentification.”
Burlison said Tuesday that his concerns were that the Pentagon is not being completely honest in its denials about UAP programs. He said Defense officials were not truthful to members of Congress in private when sharing classified information.
“They weren’t transparent to us in a SCIF setting,” Burlison said. “So they could have brought forward evidence. They could have explained what these Special Access Programs actually do. But they are not willing to do that with Congress.”
“So to me, it’s about time that they opened the kimono, that they show us exactly what’s happening, because they should,” he continued. “If they’re doing something that’s good for the American people, if they’re being responsible with taxpayer dollars, they should have nothing to hide.”
Burlison said he had not questioned Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on the issue, but already has the support of Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), as well as Reps. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) and Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.).
Burchett led efforts for a similar UAP select committee last year when former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) held the gavel, though the effort was lost when McCarthy lost the Speakership.
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