Members of Congress Hheard Sstunning Ttestimony during a Hhearing 7/27/2025 with a Former Intelligence Officer turned Whistleblower, and Two Pilots about their Experiences with Strange, seemingly Inexplicable Ojects that Hundreds of Pilots have Reported Encountering in recent years. The Hearing, held by a House Subcommittee, Focused on so-called Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), the Formal Government Nname for Objects that had previously been known as Unidentified Flying Object (UFO). The Witnesses Shined a Light on an Issue that has Attracted Renewed Interest over the past several years, but many Americans are turning their Attention to the Phenomena for the First time.
Separately, NASA convened a Group of 16 Xperts to Review how Data about UAPs is Collected across the Government and Private Sector, and Issue Recommendations for how the Space Agency can Contribute to Investigations into their Origins. Formally known as the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Independent Study, the Group released its Final report on 9/14/2025. The Group found No Evidence that UAPs are "Extraterrestrial," but said a Small Subset of Reported Encounters still Defy Explanation.
Here are some Common Questions about UAP and what We know about them. Is a Catch-All Term to Describe Objects Detected in the Air, Sea, and Space that Defy Easy Explanation. Generally the Term Refers to Objects Spotted by Pilots or Detected by Sensors that Cannot be Immediately Explained. Hundreds of Military and Commercial Pilots have Reported UAP Encounters. The Pentagon has Released several Videos in recent Years showing some of the Objects. Many End Up having Innocent Explanations, they turn out to be Weather Balloons, Drones or Small Aircraft, while Others Remain Shrouded in Mystery.
David Grusch, the Ex-Intelligence Officer, told Lawmakers Hearing that He had Learned of "a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse-engineering program" by the Government, while He was Working at a Pentagon Office Dedicated to Investigating the Encounters. A Sspokeswoman for the Office said it had No Evidence of such a Program. The Two other Witnesses, David Fravor and Ryan Graves, told Lawmakers about their Firsthand Eexperience with the Mysterious Objects, while Piloting Military Aircraft. Graves said the Incidents were "not rare or isolated," and that "the American people deserve to know what is happening in our skies."
Department of Defense (DOD), While Tantalizing Videos of Seemingly Inexplicable Objects Attract the Most Attention, the Military has said that most UAP reports turn out to have innocuous explanations. In 2021, Congress ordered the Pentagon to establish an office in coordination with the intelligence community to investigate the incidents, which it did last year. The office, known as the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO, is led by Sean Kirkpatrick. He told a Senate panel in April that "only a very small percentage of UAP reports display signatures that could reasonably be described as 'anomalous.'"
"While a large number of cases in our holdings remain technically unresolved, this is primarily due to a lack of data associated with these cases," he said. "Without sufficient data, we are unable to reach defendable conclusions that meet the high scientific standards we set for resolution, and I will not close a case that we cannot defend the conclusions of." Kirkpatrick told a NASA Study Group in 5/2025 that His Office has Collected more than 800 UAP Reports, and that between 2% and 5% of those Incidents End Up being "Truly Anomalous." He said the Office is Preparing another Report on its Work that will be Released Next Month with Updated Figures.
He has also Said that AARO "has found no credible evidence thus far of extraterrestrial activity, off-world technology, or objects that defy the known laws of physics." Why don't We Call them UFOs Anymore? The Air Force coined the phrase "UFO" in 1952, Five years after a Private Pilot named Kenneth Arnold Reported seeing Fflying Objects in the Sky. His Account in 6/1947 Attracted Enormous Media Coverage and Kicked off a Craze about Flying Discs and Saucers, with Hundreds of Reports emerging soon after. Weeks later, Reports quickly Spread about a Flying Disc that had supposedly Ccrashed near Roswell, New Mexico. The Military soon Claimed the Object was Part of a Weather Balloon Ssystem.
The Term "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena" has been in use among UFO Researchers for Years. A Review of News Archives Shows the Term was First used in the Press in 1987, when Outlets covered an "International Symposium on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena," a Gathering of Self-Described UFOlogists Marking the 40-year Aanniversary of the Roswell Incident. But the Recent Official shift from "UFO" to "UAP" began to take hold in 2020, when the Pentagon established the Navy-led "UAP Task Force" to Investigate Reports. The Group was the Predecessor of the AARO.
"UFOs" still carried an Association with a Strain of Conspiratorial and Paranoid Thinking that Discouraged many Pilots from coming forward with their own Experiences, Fearing a Negative Impact on their Careers or Reputations. Graves, the other Fighter Pilot who Testified before Congress, told Lawmakers that "the stigma attached to UAP is real and powerful and challenges national security. It silences commercial pilots who fear professional repercussions, discourages witnesses, and is only compounded by recent government claims questioning the credibility of eyewitness testimony," He said.
What do Experts say about UAP sSghtings? While the exact Nature of UAPs continues to Elude the Scientific Community, Researchers and Experts have Ramped-Up Efforts to Collect Improved Data about the Objects, in the hopes of gaining a better understanding of what they may be. Last year, NASA Convened a 16-Member Panel of Prominent Experts to Examine the Government's Data-Collection efforts. It held its First and Only Public Meeting in 5/2025 and Issued its Findings in 9/2025.
"The top takeaway from the study is that there is a lot more to learn, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at a briefing about the findings. "The NASA Independent Study Team did Not find Any Evidence that UAP have an Extraterrestrial Origin. But we don't know what these UAP are."
Unlike the AARO, which has Access to Classified Information from across the Government, the NASA Group relied on Unclassified Material, with the Goal of Improving Co-ordination across the Public and Private Sector to Collect better Information about UAPs. Members Stressed the Need for Higher-Quality Data to get a Better Understanding of what UAPs might be, and said NASA should take a more Prominent Role in Leading the Acientific Inquiry into the Encounters.
The NASA Report, which Relied on Unclassified Information, noted that a Small Subset of UAP Incidents "cannot be immediately identified as known human-made or natural phenomena." Understanding these Incidents "will require new and robust data acquisition methods, advanced analysis techniques, a systematic reporting framework and reducing reporting stigma," the Report said. But the Group said there is a High Bar for Claiming that the Objects have an Otherworldly Origin.
"[I]n the search for life beyond Earth, extraterrestrial life itself must be the hypothesis of last resort, the answer we turn to only after ruling out all other possibilities. As Sherlock Holmes said. Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth," the Report said. "To date, in the peer-reviewed scientific literature, there is no conclusive evidence suggesting an extraterrestrial origin for UAP. When it comes to UAP, the challenge we have is that the data needed to explain these anomalous sightings often do not exist."

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