On Tuesday, 17 May, the US Congress held its first hearing in half a century on the issue of unidentified flying objects (UFOs), also frequently referred to today as unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP).
According to AP, the Pentagon officials who testified before the House Intelligence subcommittee did not disclose any additional information regarding their investigation into the inexplicable sightings, although they did mention picking a director for a new task force whose goal will be to coordinate data collection on UAPs.
During the hearing, declassified photos and videos of UAPs were presented to Congress, with one such "brief and shaky" video, for example, depicting a "small object" that "appeared to zip past a military pilot", as Fox News describes it.
These materials were demonstrated during the testimonies of Scott Bray, deputy director of naval intelligence, and Ronald Moultrie, under secretary of defence for intelligence, with Bray observing that many reports on UAPs have a "limited amount of high quality data and reporting", which "hampers the ability to draw firm conclusions about the nature and intent of UAP", the media outlet notes.
Meanwhile, Moultrie said that the Pentagon seeks to encourage military personnel to be more forthcoming with reporting any unusual sightings they may encounter, by destigmatising the issue, AP adds.
"We want to know what's out there as much as you want to know what's out there", Moultrie told lawmakers, adding that he was a fan of science fiction himself. "We get the questions not just from you. We get it from family and we get them night and day".