Top Secret Tryst—UAPs and the National Security “Threat”

August 6, 2023

On July 26, the House Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs held a two-hour hearing on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), formerly known as Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). During the hearing, one so-called government whistleblower made not just run-of-the-mill claims of unexplained phenomena but truly extraordinary claims of recovered “non-human” spacecraft and alien “biologics,” as well as sinister insinuations of government cover-up and even murder. Yet despite the rehashed Roswellian rigamarole, only one committee member dared question this testimony. The rest, both Democrats and Republicans alike, simply let pass such claims so as not to unsettle the hearing’s true purpose.

At the outset, Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN) dampened expectations by declaring that the hearing’s three witnesses would offer no smoking (ray)gun testimony. Indeed, one well-meaning witness, U.S. Navy pilot David Fravor (Retired), had little to offer besides his eyewitness account of a UAP sighting nearly two decades ago (associated with the “Tic Tac” UAP later caught on video). A second witness, Ryan Graves, who also claimed his own UAP encounter, had more ambiguous motives for testifying, however. As Executive Director of the nonprofit Americans for Safe Aerospace, whose declared mission is to reduce the supposed stigma associated with reporting UAPs, Graves might’ve simply been present as a public advocate. But Graves is also CEO of Merged Point, a California-based startup whose intent is to “make targeted investments” into UAP-centric research. This fact was not disclosed during the hearing, meaning Graves could benefit financially if Congress later channeled federal funds into UAP investigatory programs.

As important backdrop to the hearing, Sean Kirkpatrick, Director of the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, the Department of Defense’s top UAP fact-finding agency, had previously declared that he’d seen “no credible evidence” of extraterrestrial presence, a declaration that was noted during the Grusch hearing. Yet despite Kirkpatrick’s earlier, sober testimony, several Republican committee members in the later hearing swerved hard right for alien existence and Deep State cover-up. Stressing nefarious “overclassification” and supposed official stonewalling, Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) noted a stymied effort—more like a party crash stunt—to obtain answers at Eglin Air Force Base. As would seem prudent however, the Air Force doesn’t just willy-nilly open its “blue book” to whichever elected official happens to drop by, especially since congressmen are not in the military chain of command. Yet, so as not to be outdone in the lunacy department, Representative Burchett, in a press briefing days before the hearing, crazily intertwined the upcoming event with, of all things, the JFK assassination: “… why are they still covering up Kennedy.” Then, during the hearing itself, he would stoke further conspiratorial embers: “As soon as we announce it [inspecting a black site], I’m sure the moving vans pull up.”

As to the third witness, David Grusch, a former staffer at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, who would go on to offer the day’s bombshell testimony, Grusch came to the hearing fully armed with a veritable shyster’s bag loaded with pseudo-official obfuscations, personal grievances, and top secret innuendo—yet not a single hard piece of evidence. Regardless of Grusch’s former position and credentials, it became clear from his own testimony that he had little direct knowledge of anything UAP-related. Admitting such, Grusch nevertheless cast dark conspiratorial claims straight from episodes of the X Files. “Absolutely,” Grusch affirmed when asked whether the U.S. government was “in possession of UAPs.” Yet this declaration proved pinky toe in comparison to Grusch’s further claims: decades-long warehousing of alien spacecraft, misappropriation of government funds, official cover-up, jackbooted reprisals, assassinations plots… yet all of it conveniently couched behind generalities, non-affirmative affirmatives, and the supposed barrier of official secrecy. (Grusch would offer even more bizarre claims in an earlier NewsNation interview: killer aliens, interdimensional space-time travel, and recovered UAP wreckage dating back to Mussolini’s Italy.)

By hearing’s end, Grusch’s outer limits testimony might’ve actually proved a disservice to the inquiry’s purpose. Parsing the committee members’ comments and questions, the potential national security threat posed by advanced foreign-nation aircraft was clearly their topmost concern. Which, by having three thoroughly biased witnesses provide sworn testimony, helps make the case for steering future defense dollars. Apparently “read on” to this program, Democrats thus abstained from castigating Grusch's wild claims. Instead, they offered milquetoast statements about congressional bipartisanship. Republicans, however, save for doubting Representative Eric Burlison (R-MO)—a freshman still learning the rules of the game—not only beat the national security drum but they also hard-rocked Deep State conspiracy theory. Yet at the final gavel, what became most evident was not the national security threat posed by UAPs. Rather, it was the national security threat posed by a troupe of elected officials who either cannot see truth or cannot speak truth to power.

Update: In a November 8, 2023, House amendment to H.R. 4664, sponsored by GOP representatives Burlison, Luna, and Burchett, $20,000 was allocated to renew Grusch’s security clearance. However, according to The Messenger, since his committee appearance Grusch has repeatedly declined to be interviewed by the Pentagon. And, according to The Mirror US, he also recently failed to appear for an interview on the Joe Rogan podcast, citing unspecified security concerns.