US lawmakers must work to restore public trust and remove stigmas from the US government's work to understand unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP, also known as UFOs) in order to ensure that people with information on the matter are comfortable coming forward, former US Navy pilot Ryan Graves said on Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th July, 2023) US lawmakers must work to restore public trust and remove stigmas from the US government's work to understand unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP, also known as UFOs) in order to ensure that people with information on the matter are comfortable coming forward, former US Navy pilot Ryan Graves said on Wednesday.
"We need to restore decades of mistrust with the public and UAP witnesses. My lived experience over the past few months has been that as stigma is pushed back and witnesses develop trust in the process, remarkable accounts begin to emerge," Graves said in prepared testimony to US lawmakers.
On Wednesday, the US House Oversight Committee held a hearing with three witnesses, including Graves, to discuss national safety and government transparency issues linked to UAP.
Graves said he has witnessed advanced UAP on multiple sensor systems firsthand while working as an F-18 pilot. Graves now leads Americans for Safe Aerospace, a group dedicated to supporting aircrew impacted by UAP encounters.
UAP are present in US airspace but "grossly underreported," Graves said. The underreporting may be due to the stigma attached to UAP reporting, with commercial pilots fearing professional repercussions for coming forward, Graves said.
Moreover, the US government knows more about UAP than is shared publicly due to "excessive" classification practices, Graves said.
The panel is also set to hear testimony from former US Navy Commander David Fravor and former US intelligence officer David Grusch.
The hearing on UAP coincides with an increase in public engagement by the US government on the matter in recent months, including activities by the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) and NASA's independent UAP research group.
US defense officials take seriously the issue of UAP, White House Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby said earlier this month.
The US Senate is also considering a bipartisan amendment to the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act to establish a review board to facilitate the public disclosure of government UAP records.
