Washington Examiner

Lawmakers accuse intelligence community of stonewalling on UFOs

Bipartisan lawmakers claimed the federal government is not transparent about the occurrences of unidentified aerial phenomena, even accusing their congressional colleagues of participating in the «stonewalling» of information.

Reps. Tim Burchett (R-TN), Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Andy Ogles (R-TN), and Eric Burlison (R-MO) held a Capitol press conference Thursday detailing the obstacles they’ve run into as they’ve attempted to investigate UAPs, commonly known as UFOs, and the lack of information regarding them.

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According to Burchett, they’ve encountered «a lot of pushback from the intelligence community, members of Congress, and of course our friends at the Pentagon.»

He described an amendment he had proposed to the recent Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill, which would have required «the FAA to report UAP sightings by commercial pilots to Congress.» This amendment, though, was «shut down,» he said. Burchett claimed House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) told him the intelligence community was responsible for his amendment’s demise.

«When you’re over the target, that’s when you get the most fire,» Burchett noted.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Luna echoed the Tennessee Republican’s claim that fellow lawmakers are intentionally making the campaign for transparency more difficult. «Some members have stonewalled our efforts to get transparency, and this is also unacceptable,» she said.

This is particularly what Moskowitz said piqued his interest in the subject. For him, it was odd that each time they would gain traction in their investigation, they would get «stonewalled.»

He stressed to reporters that the push for this transparency isn’t about finding extraterrestrial life. He posed the scenario that these UAPs are advanced technology instead. «If these are advanced technologies, we aren’t interested in hurting national security, but we are interested in knowing what these UAPs are,» he claimed.

The most significant problem, he said, is that «rather than being provided information that would prove it false, they stonewall the information» about various UAP-related sightings and allegations.

Burchett further claimed that large quantities of time, effort, and money are being invested into convincing lawmakers and the public that «something doesn’t exist.»

According to the group, Burchett, Luna, and Gaetz were prevented from seeing information they were told existed by whistleblowers while at an Air Force base. Luna decried unelected bureaucrat staffers denying elected officials the ability to review such information. «If we do not have the clearance, who does?» she asked.

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Gaetz made sure to thank Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Mike Rogers (R-AL), who he said was the one to speak to officials at the base and get them access to the information, which they ultimately viewed.

While the congressmen were primarily frustrated with their colleagues and the lack of transparency they’ve found, they did note that there have been some successes. Burchett noted that his amendment requiring the Department of Defense to declassify records regarding public UAP sightings so long as they do not compromise national security was included in the National Defense Authorization Act.