Tipping Point Quick Hits (5.19.22)

UFOs in Congress, Russia fires on Israel, and Biden plans Jerusalem visit

Congressional Hearing on UFOs

On Tuesday, a House of Representatives subcommittee hosted the first public congressional hearing on UFOs in more than 50 years. Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security Ronald Moultrie and Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray testified that the number of “unidentified aerial phenomena” (UAP) reported by military personnel had grown to around 400 unique reports.

Rep. André Carson, chairman of the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Counterintelligence, Counterterrorism, and Counterproliferation, insisted that these unidentified objects posed a potential national security threat:

“For too long, the stigma associated with UAPs has gotten in the way of good intelligence analysis. Pilots avoided reporting or were laughed at when they did. DOD officials relegated the issue to the backroom or swept it under the rug entirely, fearful of a skeptical national security community,” Carson said. “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.”

Investigators said 143 UAP reports from 2004 to 2021 remained unexplained, though there was no evidence to suggest they were extraterrestrial in origin. Scott Bray testified that other countries have recorded their own UAP sightings and have communicated their findings to the United States.