The first congressional meeting on UFOs in more than 50 years concluded that the government want to know more about 'what's out there'.
On Tuesday, a House Intelligence Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation Subcommittee hearing took place and focused on what they call intelligence lapses.
Reports of 'unidentified aerial phenomena' have doubled in the last year, officials told those present at Capitol Hill, Washington.
It was decided in the 90 minute public session that the US military is now taking sightings of unknown aircraft seriously as a matter of national security.
But two top military officials tasked with investigating the sightings claim that most can ultimately be identified.
A nine-page “Preliminary Assessment” from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence focused on 144 incidents, dating back to 2004.
Although it didn’t reveal the existence of extraterrestrial life, Rep. André Carson said they had a duty to find out more.
“Unidentified aerial phenomena are a potential national security threat, and they need to be treated that way,” he said.
“For too long, the stigma associated with UAPs has gotten in the way of good intelligence analysis.
Pilots avoided reporting or were laughed at when they did. Department of Defense officials relegated the issues to the backroom or swept it under the rug entirely, fearful of a skeptical national security community.
“Today we know better,” he continued. “UAPs are unexplained, it’s true, but they are real. They need to be investigated, and any threats they pose need to be mitigated.”
It was the first meeting on the topic since 1966.
“The intelligence community has a serious duty to our taxpayers to prevent potential adversaries such as China and Russia from surprising us with unforeseen new technologies,” said Rep. Rick Crawford.
“This committee has an obligation to understand what you are doing to determine whether any UAPs are new technologies or not — and if they are, where are they coming from?”
Ronald Moultrie, secretary of defence for intelligence and security, testified at the hearing.
He said: "We want to know what’s out there as much as you want to know what’s out there. We get the questions not just from you. We get it from family, and we get them night and day.”
