US Congress hopes to 'pull back the curtain' on UFOs in latest hearing: How to watch

Congress is prepared to revisit the topic of UFOs once again in a Wednesday hearing that will be open to the public.

More than a year has passed since U.S. House members last heard testimony about strange craft whizzing through the nation's airspace unchecked, as well as claims about the Pentagon's reticence to divulge much of what it knows. While steps have been made toward transparency, some elected leaders say progress has been stymied by the Department of Defense's reluctance to declassify material on UFOs, which the government now refers to as unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP.)

The upcoming hearing is being jointly held by Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) and Glenn Grothman (R-Wisconsin,) who was a sponsor behind a bipartisan bill to allow commercial airline pilots to report UAP sightings to the government.

In a press release on the House Oversight Committee's website, the hearing is described as an "attempt to further pull back the curtain on secret UAP research programs conducted by the U.S. government, and undisclosed findings they have yielded."

"The American people are tired of the obfuscation and refusal to release information by the federal government," Mace and Grothman said in a joint statement. "Americans deserve to understand what the government has learned about UAP sightings, and the nature of any potential threats these phenomena pose."

Congress is revisiting UFOs:Here's what's happened since last hearing on extraterrestrials

When is the UFO hearing?

The hearing will take place at 11:30 a.m. ET Wednesday.

How to watch Congress discuss UFOs

The hearing will be open to the public and press and will be livestreamed on the House Oversight Committee's website.

Watch the hearing below:

Who are the witnesses testifying?

Four witnesses are expected to offer testimony Wednesday. They include:

• Timothy Gallaudet, an American oceanographer and retired Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy who is now the CEO of Ocean STL Consulting;
• Luis Elizondo, a former military intelligence official who resigned and went public in October 2017 after 10 years of running a Pentagon program to investigate UFO sightings;
• Michael Gold, a former NASA associate administrator of space policy and partnerships who is part of an independent NASA UAP study team;
• Michael Shellenberger, journalist and president of the Breakthrough Institute.

What happened after Congress' last UFO hearing?

Congressional leaders last heard testimony in July 2023 about unidentified craft flying through U.S. air space in ways military witnesses believed were beyond human technology.

Former Pentagon intelligence official David Grusch also offered sensational testimony about an alleged shadowy "multi-decade" Pentagon program to retrieve and study not only downed spacecraft, but extraterrestrial pilots. Without offering hard evidence, Grusch accused the Pentagon under oath of being aware of extraterrestrial activity since the 1930s and hiding the program from Congress while misappropriating funds to operate it.

While the Pentagon has denied the assertion, its office to investigate UFOs revealed a new website last September in the wake of the hearing where the public can access declassified information about reported sightings.

Later that same month, NASA releasing a long-awaited UFO report declaring that no evidence existed to confirm the extraterrestrial origins of unidentified craft. However, as what Administrator Bill Nelson said was a signal of the agency's transparency, NASA appointed a director of UAP research.

In that time, the hearing has fueled a wave of docuseries, opportunistic marketing campaigns and speculation about UFOs, reigniting a pop culture obsession that first came to focus after the infamous 1947 Roswell incident.

Amid the heightened public interest, legislation has also been targeted at UAP transparency, with one seeking to create a civilian reporting mechanism, and one directing the executive branch to declassify certain records.

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Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com