UFOs 'are real' and 'need to be investigated,' House committee chair says
The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday conducted its first hearing on UFOs since 1966, CNN reports.
"Unidentified Aerial Phenomena are a potential national security threat. And they need to be treated that way," said Rep. André Carson (D-Ind.), who chairs the House Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence and Counterproliferation.
The hearings revealed that there have been 11 near misses between unknown objects and U.S. military assets but that no direct evidence has been found that would indicate "either extraterrestrial life or a major technological advancement by a foreign adversary," per CNN.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In 2020, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence created the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force to "destigmatize" reporting UAPs and to "standardize the collection and reporting of UAPs across the intelligence community at the unclassified level."
Witnesses said Tuesday that sightings are "frequent and continuing," with a database that tracks UAPs having grown to around 400 incidents.
"Today, we know better. UAPs are unexplained, it's true. But they are real. They need to be investigated. And any threats they pose need to be mitigated," Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray told the panel.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Grayson Quay was the weekend editor at TheWeek.com. His writing has also been published in National Review, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Modern Age, The American Conservative, The Spectator World, and other outlets. Grayson earned his M.A. from Georgetown University in 2019.
-
Big Tech critic Brendan Carr is Trump's FCC pick
In the Spotlight The next FCC commissioner wants to end content moderation practices on social media sites
By David Faris Published
-
ATACMS, the long-range American missiles being fired by Ukraine
The Explainer President Joe Biden has authorized their use for the first time in the war
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
The bacterial consequences of hurricanes
Under the radar Floodwaters are microbial hotbeds
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Dark energy data suggest Einstein was right
Speed Read Albert Einstein's 1915 theory of general relativity has been proven correct, according to data collected by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New DNA tests of Pompeii dead upend popular stories
Speed Read An analysis of skeletal remains reveals that some Mount Vesuvius victims have been wrongly identified
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
NASA's Europa Clipper blasts off, seeking an ocean
Speed Read The ship is headed toward Jupiter on a yearslong journey
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Detailed map of fly's brain holds clues to human mind
Speed Read This remarkable fruit fly brain analysis will aid in future human brain research
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Blind people will listen to next week's total eclipse
Speed Read While they can't see the event, they can hear it with a device that translates the sky's brightness into music
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Melting polar ice is messing with global timekeeping
Speed Read Ice loss caused by climate change is slowing the Earth's rotation
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
An amphibian that produces milk?
speed read Caecilians, worm-like amphibians that live underground, produce a milk-like substance for their hatchlings
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Jupiter's Europa has less oxygen than hoped
speed read Scientists say this makes it less likely that Jupiter's moon harbors life
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published