An ex-intelligence official testified before Congress that the US government had a “multi-decade” programme to gather crashed UFOs and try to reconstruct them.

Who is David Grusch?

In front of a House oversight committee in Washington, David Grusch, who until 2023 oversaw analysis of unexplained anomalous phenomena (UAP) within a US Department of Defence institution, revealed his assertions regarding the existence of extraterrestrial life.

Also Read: Congressional UFO hearings: Where to watch live?

The hearing was brought about by allegations made by Grusch in June that the government was keeping extraterrestrial spacecraft. Under oath on Wednesday, Grusch reiterated some of those assertions.

“I was informed, in the course of my official duties, of a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse engineering program, to which I was denied access,” Grusch told the committee.

In 2022, Grusch claimed in a whistleblower complaint that he had been refused access to top-secret government UFO programmes. He said that as a result of his claims, he had experienced “very brutal” punishment.

“It hurt me both professionally and personally,” Grusch said.

Grusch admitted during questioning that he knew of “people who have been harmed or injured” as a result of government efforts to keep UFO information secret.

Also Read: Who is David Fravor, retired Navy commander?

In June, Grusch claimed that the federal government was withholding this evidence of extraterrestrial life from Congress. This claim generated a firestorm, which prompted the oversight committee, which is dominated by Republicans, to immediately initiate an investigation.

The mystery surrounding the government’s evidence of UFOs has only grown more intense since then.

Republican Tennessee congressman Tim Burchett, who is co-leading the UFO inquiry, recently asserted that alien craft have technology that could “turn us into a charcoal briquette” and that the US has proof of technology that “defies all of our laws of physics.”

However, Burchett attempted to partially minimise what people would hear on Wednesday.

“We’re not bringing little green men or flying saucers into the hearing. Sorry to disappoint about half y’all. We’re just going to get to the facts,” Burchett said.

The statement was met with laughter, but Burchett quickly turned serious when he said that government organisations had refused to assist the oversight committee probe.