Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) believes unidentified flying objects need to be taken more seriously and that both Congress and the public have a right to know about them.
According to the Washington Examiner, In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Burchett expressed concern that “we have something that we do not control in our military airspace.”
Sean M. Kirkpatrick, the director of the Department of Defense’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, testified before Congress in April. He told the Senate Armed Services Committee at the time that the DOD was tracking over 650 potential cases of unidentified aerial phenomena.
This number marks a large increase from the more than 350 cases revealed in the UAP report that was given to Congress in January by the director of national intelligence.
While some of his colleagues may brush off UFOs as silly, Burchett says it is at “the top of the importance ladder.” Saturday will mark the 76th anniversary of the Roswell Incident in New Mexico, an event that remains under a shroud of mystery.
In 1947, a rancher reported seeing a “flying disc” to the sheriff. It was located roughly 100 miles from Roswell Army Air Field. The next day, a press release went out stating that the U.S. Army Air Forces had recovered a “flying saucer” from the property.
Later, the military said the debris was from a crashed weather balloon. Fascination and mystery have continued to follow the story three-quarters of a century later.
However, the topic has rarely been brought up in Congress until recently. The House Oversight Committee has stated its intention to hold a hearing on the issue as well as a recent whistleblower who says that the government has not been forthcoming with Congress.
Burchett and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) are leading the committee’s investigation into UFOs, which are officially referred to as UAPs.
Burchett confirmed that they are in the planning stages of the hearing, but the congressman said he is not at liberty to divulge any information on dates and witnesses.
