Congress Demands Answers: What Three UAP Hearings Revealed, and What They Didn't

For three years running, the House of Representatives has held public hearings on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), the government's current term for UFOs. The hearings produced sworn claims about secret crash-retrieval programs, a lot of frustration with the Pentagon, and very little the public can verify. Here's a plain-language guide to what was actually said, and by whom.

July 2023: the Grusch hearing

The first big hearing came on July 26, 2023, before a House Oversight subcommittee. According to the committee's hearing page (opens in a new tab), it was titled "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency." The witnesses were former Navy aviators Ryan Graves and retired Cmdr. David Fravor, and former intelligence officer David Grusch.

Grusch made the claims that drew headlines. As NPR later summarized (opens in a new tab), the retired major, formerly part of the Pentagon's UAP Task Force, alleged that the U.S. government has recovered nonhuman "biologics" from crash sites and has long run a secret program to reverse-engineer recovered craft. He said he was told about these programs; he did not present physical evidence in the public session.

March 2024: the Pentagon's answer

The Defense Department's response came in a historical report the following spring. NPR noted that the Pentagon "issued a report in March saying that it has found no evidence of extraterrestrial spacecraft." That report was produced by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), the Pentagon office that collects and investigates UAP reports.

November 2024: "Exposing the Truth"

The second hearing, a joint session of two Oversight subcommittees, was held on November 13, 2024. The hearing page (opens in a new tab) lists retired Rear Adm. Tim Gallaudet, former Pentagon official Luis Elizondo, and former NASA official Michael Gold, who served on NASA's UAP independent study team. NPR reports that journalist Michael Shellenberger also testified.

According to NPR, Gallaudet said in written testimony that an email containing the Navy's "Go Fast" video disappeared from his account, and those of other recipients, the day after it was sent. Elizondo wrote, "Let me be clear: UAP are real." Asked by Rep. Nancy Mace whether the government has run secret UAP crash-retrieval programs, Elizondo answered "Yes," then said details would have to wait for a closed session. These are the witnesses' claims; the hearing did not include documents that independently confirm them.

September 2025: whistleblowers and transparency

The third hearing moved to a new panel, the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, chaired by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna. Held September 9, 2025, it was titled "Restoring Public Trust Through UAP Transparency and Whistleblower Protection." The committee lists (opens in a new tab) five witnesses: Air Force veterans Jeffrey Nuccetelli and Dylan Borland, Navy Chief Alexandro Wiggins, journalist George Knapp, and Joe Spielberger of the Project On Government Oversight, who appeared as the minority's witness.

The official transcript (opens in a new tab) shows members of both parties focusing less on aliens than on process: whether service members can report what they see without retaliation, and whether agencies share information with Congress.

The twist: disinformation that came from inside

In June 2025, The Wall Street Journal (opens in a new tab) reported that parts of America's UFO mythology were seeded by the Pentagon itself. As AL.com summarized (opens in a new tab), the Journal found that the Defense Department had at times promoted alien-technology stories as a "smokescreen for real secret-weapons programs." AL.com reports that a Defense spokesperson confirmed to the Journal that AARO "uncovered evidence of fake classified program materials relating to extraterrestrials, and had briefed lawmakers and intelligence officials."

That cuts both ways. It suggests some witnesses may sincerely believe what they were told, because they were deliberately told false things. It also means the government has, by its own account, misled people about UFOs before, which is exactly why lawmakers keep asking for more transparency.

Where things stand

After three hearings, the public record contains serious-sounding claims under oath, an official office that says it has found no evidence of alien technology, and documented government deception that muddies both. None of the hearings has produced verifiable physical evidence of nonhuman craft. We'll keep following the record as new documents are released.