In last year’s defense bill, Congress called for the creation of an office that tracks unidentified aerial phenomena. And in November, the Ministry of Defense announced the creation of the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group. The office must “identify and assign objects of interest” and “evaluate and mitigate any threats associated with flight safety and national security”.

Burchett isn’t alone in hoping for new public hearings to air the issue and hear directly from Airmen who have seen strange light trails or flashing objects with their own eyes.

“From my perspective, this is a landmark moment for audiences, who are trying to gain a greater sense of UFO transparency,” said Jeremy Corbell, an investigative filmmaker and artist who has been active on the scene since. years. “These machines belong to someone – we don’t know the intent, we don’t know their origin and we don’t know their capacity.”

Some lawmakers poked fun at paranormal groups during Tuesday’s hearing, but few can argue the public still has questions and much remains unexplained. Even military airmen themselves don’t have the full picture.

In an interview with CQ Roll Call last year, a pilot-turned-congressman said he had close ties to the so-called Tic Tac encounter, a 2004 incident reported by airmen on the aircraft carrier Nimitz. . Although he didn’t see anything directly, Rep. Mike Garcia, R-California, was airborne at the time.