By Tim Binnall
For the second time in less than a week, UFOs were the subject of a Congressional hearing as the head of the Pentagon program aimed at studying anomalous aerial phenomena (UAP) provided an update to the Senate. Organized by the Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, the Tuesday afternoon gathering featured testimony from Dr. Jon Kosloski, who serves as the director of the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). While he largely echoed the findings presented in last week's AARO annual report, the hearing did include a few fresh insights that would undoubtedly be of interest to UFO enthusiasts.
Specifically, Kosloski spoke about three yet-to-be-resolved cases that have proven to be a challenge for the group. The first fantastic incident saw a police officer observe a "large orange orb" that he approached to investigate. As the cop got closer to the anomaly, "he saw a blacker than black object" that he likened to "the size of a Prius." The puzzling anomaly subsequently "tilted up about 45 degrees and then it shot up vertically" at a speed "ten to a hundred times faster than any drone he has ever seen before." As the silent craft departed, the officer recalled the object emitting strange "red and blue lights" that he compared to fireworks.
Another case highlighted by Kosloski involved multiple "government contractors" who spotted "a large metallic cylinder about the size of a commercial airplane." The object was said to have hovered stationary in the sky for around "15 to 20 seconds" before it simply vanished. The final unresolved report presented at the hearing centered around "an aircraft that was flying parallel to another aircraft" when "a small-looking object appeared to fly between the two of them, much faster than them." Kosloski also detailed a handful of noteworthy cases that AARO has solved, including a video of what appeared to be a mysterious orb flying over Italy's Mt. Etna as it erupted. In this instance, they determined that the object was likely a balloon floating 170 meters away from the plume.
During the hearing, Kosloski called upon individuals who may feel reticent to work with AARO to give the group a proverbial second chance since he has taken over leading the group. Additionally, he stressed that while many UAP reports often have prosaic explanations, the program is frequently unable to provide additional information concerning how these conclusions were reached in order to prevent revealing the proverbial sources and methods possessed by the Pentagon. To that end, he indicated that AARO is working on developing better declassification systems designed to provide fruitful data to academics when it comes to seemingly indecipherable cases to which their expertise would be beneficial.
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Tuesday's gathering was how it stood in stark contrast to last Wednesday's House hearing on UFOs. The latter incident ran over two hours long, featured a packed audience, and included witnesses suggesting that non-human intelligences may be behind the phenomenon. In contrast, the Senate hearing unfolded in a fairly empty chamber for approximately thirty minutes and contained far fewer lines of fantastic discussion. While there may not have been talk of underwater ET bases or alien-human hybrids, the gathering served to reiterate the Pentagon's assertion that they are conducting a good-faith effort at understanding UAPs in the face of skepticism from UFO enthusiasts.