In what sounds like something straight out of a science fiction thriller, a report of secretive government programs investigating “extraterrestrial” aircraft has prompted the House Oversight Committee to schedule a hearing with the former Defense intelligence officer making the bizarre claims.
The allegations in last week’s bombshell testimony were made to Congress by whistleblower David Grusch, who has alleged that the Intelligence Community is hiding classified evidence of spacecraft “of non-human origin,” and that Congress and the public “are being lied to.”
He claims the secret program pits the United States against other governments in a race to “reverse-engineer” the highly advanced technology of the “alien” spacecraft.
In recent years, the U.S. government has taken a more vocal role in investigating UFO sightings, granting the subject a level of mainstream legitimacy.
The 2020 formation of the UAP task force, a program run by the Office of Naval Intelligence to investigate UFO sightings, came as a response to the public’s demand for more information on UFOs.
Grusch, a 36-year-old decorated Air Force veteran who performed combat duty in Afghanistan before returning to the States, is one of the intelligence officials who served on the UAP Task Force from 2019-2021.
He is the first high-ranking intelligence official to speak out about the alleged secret UFO crash-retrieval program. He took his concerns first to the inspector general of the intelligence community, then to the Pentagon and finally to Congress.
UFO Sightings A Regular Occurrence
Although Pentagon spokesmen unequivocally deny the existence of these crash-retrieval units, in a statement to ABC News, Oversight Committee spokesman Austin Hacker gave credence to the plethora of UFO sightings reported to authorities.
“In addition to recent claims by a whistleblower, reports continue to surface regarding unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). The House Oversight Committee is following these UAP reports and is in the early stages of planning a hearing,” Hacker said.
While Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-KY, is moving ahead with arranging a hearing on Grusch’s claims, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-OH, has expressed skepticism about the allegations.
“Turner receives briefings on the most sensitive U.S. military and intelligence efforts,” notes the Washington Examiner. “That he does not appear to believe Grusch would suggest that Grusch’s classified testimony to Congress has either not been corroborated or that Turner has not received adequate briefings.”
Turner’s lack of knowledge could also be explained by the conspiracy or cover-up that Grusch alleges, “or because the program he alleges does not exist,” suggests the Examiner.
Whistleblower Admits He Never Saw Alien Spacecraft
In a significant disclaimer, Grusch admitted that he has no firsthand knowledge of the covert programs he described in his report to Congress. He said he has never actually seen any of the alien spacecraft as his task force was not given access to the secret program.
Grusch told The Debrief, an online tech outlet, that he became aware of the UFO-retrieval program when “senior, former intelligence officers, some of whom I knew from my entire career, confided in me that they were part of a [spacecraft] crash-retrieval program.”
“They named the program. I had never heard of it. I was told it had been in operation for decades,” testified Grousch. “They provided me with oral testimony, documents and other evidence that there was a program that my UAP task force was not read into [given access to.] I made inquiries but was denied access.”
Who are these people who spilled their secrets to Grusch? If he is telling the truth, does he actually know if the information he was given reflects facts on the ground?
He hasn’t publicly released the sources of his information nor the locations of UFO crashes, but says he’s handed over these specifics to the inspector general and in hundreds of pages of testimony to Congress.
Two former intelligence officials, Karl Nell, a retired Army colonel and John Gray, affiliated with the same Defense task force as Grusch, have vouched for their colleague’s integrity, according to Fox News, saying he is “beyond reproach” and his report is “fundamentally correct.”
Comments the two have made in other situations suggest they espouse similar beliefs about UFOs originating from outer space. They, like Grusch, belong to a group loosely identified as “UFologists– individuals who believe alien vehicles from outside Earth indicate the existence of “extraterrestrial beings.”
Space Vehicles ‘As Large as a Football Field’?
In the interview with NewsNation, conducted by award-winning investigative journalist Ross Coulthart, Grusch expanded on his allegations about the alien spacecraft he believes were secretly retrieved by Defense officials.
He said the program focused on recovering debris over many decades from the wreckage of “extraterrestrial” spacecraft. In an extraordinary claim, he says he’s been told that the US government and other governments (Russia, China?) have been engaged in a “publicly unknown Cold War” to try to “reverse-engineer technology” from these craft.
The air force veteran claimed that these vehicles possess “unique atomic arrangements and radiological signatures” that lie outside established laws of physics, and are supposedly proof of “non-human intelligence” from an outer space entity.
Grusch maintains there are “credible witnesses” who could testify before Congress about recovered spacecraft. “A lot of the vehicles were very large, like a football field kind of size,” the whistleblower said. He detailed that the aircraft-retrieval team includes at least one private aerospace company that is storing alien craft on its premises.
Even more fantastic, he claims that Defense officials have even discovered “dead pilots” in the ruins, without elaborating on their condition or appearance. He could not provide photos or other evidence of the deceased pilots, he said, as “this information is classified for reasons of national security.”
‘Extraterrestrial Technology Is Being Withheld from Congress’
Grusch said he began providing hours of recorded classified information transcribed into hundreds of pages, which included specific data about the materials-recovery program to Congress starting in 2022.
“Individuals on these UAP programs approached me in my official capacity,” the whistleblower said, “and disclosed their concerns regarding a multitude of wrongdoings, such as illegal contracting against the Federal Acquisition Regulations and other criminality, as well as the illegal suppression of information [from Congress.]
His report to Congress states that the evidence shows that the intelligence community withheld “extraterrestrial technology” in order to “purposely and intentionally thwart legitimate Congressional oversight of the UAP Program.”
The former intelligence official claimed to NewsNation that when he raised these concerns to his superiors, he was subject to “months of retaliation.” (He requested in his report that the details of that retaliation be withheld “to protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation.”)
Grusch said he then filed a whistleblower complaint with the intelligence community’s inspector general, and then gave information to Congress as well. The Pentagon cleared those intended on-the-record-statements for open publication in April — just days before Grusch stepped down from his post.
A spokesperson for the Pentagon said that the Department of Defense’s UAP task force “has found no credible evidence thus far of extraterrestrial activity, technology or objects that defy the known law of physics.”
By granting Grusch clearance, the Pentagon was not commenting on the accuracy of his claims but merely acknowledging there was nothing secret or classified about his information, the spokesman said.
Skeptics Find Flaws in Whistleblower’s Testimony
Skeptics question whether Grusch is just repeating tall tales that have long circulated through the UFO-believing community. They note the alleged “unique atomic arrangements and radiological components” that Grusch claims were found in the makeup of the retrieved space vehicles are not unique at all.
These terms denoting different properties of matter that supposedly don’t exist on Earth are traditional “UFO mythology;” the engineering components can in fact be reproduced by scientists, argues scientist and author Mick West in an appearance on NewsNation.
“I don’t think what Grusch is saying is accurate. I think it’s possible he believes what he’s saying, but it’s something he’s been told, as opposed to his experience. It’s an incredible story that really needs some actual verification,” West said.
The scientist added that if it were true that non-human “pilots’ bodies” had been discovered in the alien spacecraft as Grusch claims, these remains—not the space vehicle—would logically be singled out as the most compelling evidence of extraterrestrial life.
In addition, an actual body would be the most vital object of study to gauge the potential threat from outer space entities.
Instead, the “pilots’ remains” appear to be of less interest than the spacecraft, which seems to indicate the pilots’ human origin, West noted. Meaning, whether it’s Chinese, Russian or any other nationality is obviously of importance, but not as earth-shattering as if it had come from another galaxy.
Skeptics also note that in responding to the interviewer’s question about whether any aliens had been found in the wreckage of UFOs, Grusch kept his answer vague.
“Well, naturally, when you recover something that’s either landed or crashed, sometimes you encounter dead pilots,” he said. “And believe it or not, as fantastical as that sounds, it’s true.”
It’s true that dead pilots are sometimes found in crashed spacecraft but have they been found by government officers in crashed UFOs? Grusch avoided a direct yes or no.
Story of UFO Wreckage Retrieval Goes Viral
Despite denials from the Pentagon, NASA and other government agencies, Grusch’s sensational disclosures have swept social media.
They have also been picked up by leading news outlets including ABC News, The New York Times, Newsweek, New York Magazine, New York Post, Fox News, and many local network affiliates.
Newsweek and Fox ran three stories in the space of a week on the extraordinary allegations about a UFO wreckage retrieval program.
Most of the coverage has been respectful of Grusch’s credentials and open to the possibility that his claims of a cover-up might be truthful. The NY Times, however, sounded a very skeptical note, pointing out their extreme improbability.
“The possibility of [alien] spacecraft stashed in U.S. government hangars, piles up two immense-seeming improbabilities,” the article said. “First, that non-human species can cross oceans of space or leap interdimensional barriers using unfathomable technology, and yet somehow keep crashing and leaving souvenirs behind,” the article scoffed.
“Second, that human governments have been collecting evidence for generations without the truth ever being leaked.”
The Times article noted that whether or not his claims are borne out, “this whistleblower’s mere existence is evidence of a fascinating shift in public UFO discourse.”
As opposed to the traditional disdain leveled toward the notion of alien spacecraft, “there now is clearly a faction within the national security complex,” the article said, that for some reason “wants Americans to think there might be alien spacecraft—to give these stories credence rather than dismissal.”
$22 Million to Investigate UFOs
UFO sightings have been reported so frequently during the past several years, they have prompted a public demand for more information about the recurring phenomena. That has led to initiatives by various politicians to launch investigations.
In 2017, the New York Times revealed that former Senator Democratic Leader Harry Reid from Nevada had squeezed in $22 million in Defense funding to investigate unidentified foreign objects.
Reid had allegedly been persuaded by Robert Bigelow, a wealthy donor and UFO believer, to allot money in government funding bills for this purpose. Since then, some Navy pilots have come forward to report frequent UFO sightings.
Key players in Congress, including Sens. Marco Rubio, R-FL, and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, started to incorporate UFO reporting and disclosure requirements into congressional government-funding bills.
The Pentagon publicly announced its “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force” in 2020, which is the office where whistleblower David Grusch worked. It was renamed in 2022 due to new congressional legislation expanding it, and is currently known as the “All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office” (AARO).
The increased scrutiny of UFOs hasn’t led to any breakthroughs; it turns out many of the objects the pilots sighted were just balloons, the NY Times said.
In the NewsNation interview, however, Grusch comments that he has gone out on a dangerous limb with his whistleblower disclosures, as his findings may well torpedo a long-running program meant to be kept top secret.
“I am for real,” he said. “I am sitting here at great personal risk and obvious professional risk by talking to you today.”
*****
RAV AVIGDOR MILLER ON BELIEF IN UFOS
Should Jews believe in UFOs, unidentified flying objects?
The answer is that this is not a [specifically] Jewish question. Because if anybody will ask, “Should I believe it?” the answer is no. You believe in it only when it’s proven.
It could be there are unidentified objects, but if they are floating around, if they’re manufactured objects, then they come from someplace on this earth. There’s no question that somebody on this earth has released them.
No objects that are fashioned by intelligence are coming from any other place in space. There are no thinking, intelligent beings in space.
Now, I’m willing to wager also that there is no life at all in space anywhere. But that’s not a principle of emunah to say that. If you want to believe there are certain species of elephants someplace in space, go ahead. But no men or no thinking beings are anywhere in space. And it’s as silly as could be to think otherwise.
Even according to the evolutionists, [this is true]. They say man is, chas v’shalom, the result of an unimaginable lucky accident. Billions, trillions of lucky accidents coincided, they say, to make man. So you’re going to say the same number of lucky accidents happened another time in the history of the world? That’s the lunacy of the science fiction writers.
You can be sure there’ll never be anything like a visitor from outer space. If he does come, he was already on this earth first. -–TAPE # 340 (December 1980)
*****
The Little Green Men of Roswell New Mexico
In Roswell, New Mexico, 75 years ago, one of the most enduring UFO sensations was launched.
“That’s the day the little green men first arrived,” quipped a Smithsonian article, going on to detail how the legend took off. The story is emblematic of the vast reach of the human imagination when driven to seek answers.
“On June 14, 1947, a rancher named Mac Brazel was driving across his ranchland some 80 miles northwest of Roswell when he encountered a large area of bright wreckage made up of rubber strips, tinfoil, paper and sticks.”
The metallic-looking, lightweight fabric was shredded across the sands of the New Mexico desert. Brazel decided to deliver the mysterious wreckage to Roswell’s sheriff who in turn brought it to the attention of General Roger Ramey, commander of the 8th Air Force in Fort Worth, Texas and Major Jesse Marcel, an intelligence officer from the base.
Marcel chose to make a public statement about the bizarre find. On July 8, 1947 Marcel’s comments ran in the local afternoon newspaper alongside a dramatic headline stating “RAAF Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell.”
“A flying saucer was easier to admit than Project Mogul,” the article quoted NASA scientist Roger Launius as he explained —75 years later—what had transpired behind the scenes.
Project Mogul was a classified program in which the U.S. government launched high-altitude balloons into the ionosphere, hoping to monitor Russian nuclear tests, Launius told the Smithsonian.
It was conducted out of Washington, D.C. and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, with some high-altitude balloon launches taking place in the desert near the state’s border with Texas.
“Typically, a Project Mogul balloon sent into high altitude stretched 657 feet from tip to tail, 102 feet taller than the Washington Monument and twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty,” the article recounted.
“As balloons rode on the upper jet stream toward Russia, a long tail equipped with different types of sensing and listening devices trailed behind. But, obviously, something happened to this one balloon,” Launius explained. “It came back to Earth and probably was spread across a wide area.”
Just one day after the Air Force made its dramatic announcement about capturing a flying saucer, Roswell’s morning newspaper debunked the story with a statement from the War Department in Washington that claimed the wreckage on Brazel’s ranch was the remains of a weather balloon.
The headline, “Army Debunks Roswell Flying Disc as World Simmers with Excitement,” was meant to quell the uproar Major Marcel had triggered.
UFO Mania Takes Hold of the Country
But the genie was out of the bottle. In the ensuing decades, rumors flourished of extraterrestrial visitors to Earth. Stories were told of alien spaceships crashing in New Mexico and other places, scattering their contents and tiny green crewmen across the landscape.
“This was most evident at Area 51, an off-limits airstrip and aircraft engineering and development facility inside the Nevada Test Site, about 90 minutes north of Las Vegas,” attests the Smithsonian article. “It was rumored that aliens from the Roswell spacecraft and other crashed ships were either being autopsied, or slid into cylindrical glass tanks containing gel-like preservatives.”
As the decades passed, flying saucer sightings escalated across the country and became embedded in American culture.
By the early 1990s, a global UFO and extraterrestrial industry had come into existence. There were movies, books, newspaper and magazine stories, news segments and shows focused on visitors from outer space, some friendly, others hostile.
“In Roswell, the populace had been cashing in on the alien craze for some time,” the article notes. “The town was home to the International UFO Museum and Research Center. A local Wal-Mart decorates its walls and front windows today with green-skinned, large-headed aliens.”
“Along the town’s Main Street, toy aliens, flying saucers and other extraterrestrial knickknacks are sold in local shops, all reflecting 70 years of hysteria surrounding the ‘Roswell Incident.’”
