Lawmakers are trying to find out if the truth is out there.
The House of Representatives has approved an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that will establish a reporting system in which members of the military and other government employees can report UFO sightings, Fox News reported.
The system would be secure and would “prevent unauthorized public reporting or compromise of properly classified military and intelligence systems, programs, and related activities,” The Hill reported.
It would also allow the reports to be filed without fear of retaliation and open doors for the “immediate sharing” of the information that had been prohibited in the past due to non-disclosure agreements, Fox News reported.
It will, according to the amendment’s co-sponsor Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., allow Congress to learn about UFOs, now called unidentified aerial phenomena or UAP.
Co-sponsor Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said, “We need to empower our service members to be transparent and to drop the stigma surrounding Unidentified Aerial Phenomena,” Fox News reported.
The vote was done by voice and there was no floor debate on the amendment, NBC News reported.
The House Intelligence Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence and Counterproliferation Subcommittee held the first hearing concerning UFOs in more than 50 years this past May, The Hill reported.
During the proceedings, top-ranking military members said there had been about 400 reports of UFO encounters, according to The Hill.
But not everyone believes that there have been encounters.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., asked if wreckage from a UFO had been examined by officials.
Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray testified that the military does not “have any wreckage that isn’t explainable, that isn’t consistent with being of terrestrial origin,” The Washington Post reported in May.
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