The 2023 UFO Hearing: What David Grusch Told Congress
In July 2023 three witnesses testified to Congress about UAP. One described a secret crash-retrieval program he said he had learned about secondhand.
On July 26, 2023, David Grusch told a House subcommittee he had been informed of a secret UAP crash retrieval program. He said his claims came from interviews, and the Pentagon said it found no verifiable information supporting them.
On July 26, 2023, a House Oversight subcommittee, the Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs, chaired by Rep. Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin, held a hearing titled "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency." The official transcript is published as Serial No. 118-53. The three witnesses were former intelligence officer David Grusch, retired Navy Commander David Fravor, and Ryan Graves, executive director of Americans for Safe Aerospace.
Grusch, who had filed a whistleblower complaint in 2022, testified: "I was informed in the course of my official duties of a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse engineering program." He said his testimony was "based on information I have been given by individuals with a long-standing track record of legitimacy," and that he could not discuss details in an open session. Asked whether he had met people with direct knowledge of "nonhuman origin craft," he answered: "Yes. I personally interviewed those individuals." NPR reported that he also alleged the US had recovered "non-human" biological remains.
Fravor described his 2004 encounter with "a white Tic Tac object" off California. Graves described one encounter: "The object, described as a dark gray or a black cube inside of a clear sphere, came within 50 feet of the lead aircraft and was estimated to be five to 15 feet in diameter." Graves also said that many commercial pilots fear professional consequences if they report what they see.
The Pentagon responded the same day. Spokeswoman Susan Gough said its inquiries had not found "any verifiable information to substantiate claims that any programs regarding the possession or reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial materials have existed in the past or exist currently." AARO's 2024 historical report later attributed such claims largely to circular reporting. Grusch said he had given classified details to the intelligence committees and the Inspector General.
Testimony to Congress described an object as "a dark gray or a black cube inside of a clear sphere."
Grusch said his central claims came from interviews rather than firsthand observation, and he offered no documents or physical evidence in open session. The Defense Department said it had found no verifiable information supporting them, and AARO's 2024 review concluded they came mostly from circular reporting.
