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WRITTEN TESTIMONY BY
DR. TIM GALLAUDET, REAR ADMIRAL, U.S. NAVY (RET.)
CEO, OCEAN STL CONSULTING, LLC AND FORMER ACTING UNDERSECRETARY AND ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF COMMERCE FOR OCEANS AND ATMOSPHERE AND ACTING ADMINISTRATOR AND DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR OF NOAA
HEARING ON
UNIDENTIFIED ANOMALOUS PHENOMENA: EXPOSING THE TRUTH
COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT & ACCOUNTABILITY
SUBCOMMITTEE ON CYBERSECURITY, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AND GOVERNMENT INNOVATION AND
SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL SECURITY, THE BORDER, AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOVEMBER 13, 2024
Chairwoman Mace, Chairman Grothman, Ranking Members Connolly and Garcia, and Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify before you regarding unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP.
Confirmation that UAPs are interacting with humanity came for me in January 2015 when I was serving as the Commander of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command.[1] At the time, my personnel were participating in a pre-deployment naval exercise[2] off the U.S. East Coast that included the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group. This exercise was overseen by the United States Fleet Forces Command[3] , led by a four-star admiral who also served as my superior officer.
During this exercise, I received an email on the Navy’s secure network from the operations officer of Fleet Forces Command. The email was addressed to all subordinate commanders, and the subject line read in all capital letters: URGENT SAFETY OF FLIGHT ISSUE. The text of the
1 - - https://www.cnmoc.usff.navy.mil/About Us/Mission Vision/
2 https://news.usni.org/2015/01/12/upgraded-carrier-roosevelt-starts-pre-deployment-exercises
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email was brief but alarming, with words to the effect: “If any of you know what these are, tell me ASAP. We are having multiple near-midair collisions, and if we do not resolve it soon, we will have to shut down the exercise.”
Attached to the email was what is now known as the “Go Fast” video[4] , captured on the forward-looking infrared sensor[5] onboard one of the Navy F/A-18 aircraft participating in the exercise. The now declassified video[6] showed an unidentified object exhibiting flight and structural characteristics unlike anything in our arsenal. The implication of the email was clear: the author was asking whether any of the recipients were aware of classified technology demonstrations that could explain these objects. Because DoD policy[7] is to rigorously deconflict such demonstrations with live exercises, I was confident this was not the case.
The very next day, the email disappeared from my account and those of the other recipients without explanation. Moreover, the Commander of Fleet Forces and his operations officer never discussed the incident again, even during weekly meetings specifically designed to address issues affecting exercises like the one in which the Theodore Roosevelt Strike Group was participating.
This lack of follow-up was concerning. As the Navy’s Chief Meteorologist[8] at the time, my primary duty was to reduce safety-of-flight risks. Yet, it was evident that no one at the Flag Officer level was addressing the safety risks posed by UAPs. Instead, pilots were left to mitigate these threats on their own, without guidance or support.
I concluded that the UAP information must have been classified within a special access program managed by an intelligence agency — a compartmented program that even senior officials, including myself, were not read into. Last year’s UAP hearing[9] before this oversight committee confirmed that UAP-related information is not only being withheld[10] from senior officials and members of Congress, but elements of the government are engaging in a disinformation campaign to include personal attacks[11] designed to discredit UAP whistleblowers.
4 https://www.history.com/videos/uss-roosevelt-gofast-ufo-declassified-video
7https://www.dote.osd.mil/Portals/97/pub/policies/2020/DoDI%205000.89%20Test%20and%20Evaluation.pdf?ver =F335S087I4h7hUaH78JDLw%3D%3D
8 My official title was Oceanographer of the Navy, but functionally I performed the duties of the Chief Meteorologist of the Navy 9 https://oversight.house.gov/hearing/unidentified-anomalous-phenomena-implications-on-national-securitypublic-safety-and-government-transparency/ 10 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ufo-hearing-congress-uap-takeaways-whistleblower-conference-david-grusch2023/ 11 https://www.newsnationnow.com/cuomo-show/ufo-whistleblower-david-gruschs-health-records-leakedcoulthart/
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For the remainder of my government service, including my time as an Under Secretary of Commerce and NOAA Administrator, this incident disturbed me. It highlighted a dangerous culture of over-classification[12] , where even pressing safety-of-flight issues could be swept aside under the pretense of secrecy.
Having never signed a non-disclosure agreement regarding UAPs, and now, as a private citizen, I have become an advocate for greater transparency from the U.S. government and continue to speak out to validate the credibility of witnesses[13] and other former government and military UAP whistleblowers.[14]
I do this for several reasons. First, there is a moral imperative.[15] We know from last year’s UAP hearing and recent statements and publications by credible whistleblowers that UAP, NHI, and their technology of unknown origin (TUO) represent a new realization that we are not the only advanced intelligence in the universe. Unelected officials in the U.S. government do not have an exclusive right to this knowledge about the nature of reality. The American people have a right to that knowledge.
There is a public safety requirement for more government UAP transparency. The safety of flight concerns regarding UAP are not limited to the military, and that is why I support Ryan Graves’[16] organization Americans for Safe Aerospace[17] , which is calling for legislation[18] requiring the FAA establish UAP reporting procedures.
There is a national security need for more UAP transparency as well.[19] In 2025, the U.S. will spend over $900 billion on national defense[20] , yet we still have an incomplete understanding of what is in our airspace[21] and water space. I add the term “water space” because UAP have been observed in the ocean and are known to exhibit transmedium travel through the air-sea interface.[22] These are often referred to as unidentified submerged objects (USOs). Whether aerial or undersea, UAP are operating unhindered in our seas and skies[23] , and American
13 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ufo-military-intelligence-60-minutes-2021-08-29/
14 https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/ufo-whistleblower-david-grusch-whats-happened/
15 = https://youtu.be/w9cIcWWsH0c?si h1H72L3NrCo9cXPp
18 https://thehill.com/regulation/transportation/4402400-bipartisan-legislation-ufo-reporting/
20 - https://www.armed services.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/fy25_ndaa_executive_summary.pdf
21 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/02/28/ufo-uap-navy-intelligence-00084537
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taxpayers have a right to know why our military’s massive budget is inadequately addressing this national defense deficiency.[24]
Additionally, more government UAP transparency has the potential to yield socioeconomic benefits[25] through increased open research.[26] Our present understanding of physics is not capable of explaining many observations of UAP, and more research might lead to unimaginable advances in energy, transportation, medicine, agriculture, not to mention the paradigm shift that NHI represent in areas such as astrobiology, psychology, sociology, and international relations. Such research is the mission of Harvard University’s Galileo Project[27] , which I support as a research affiliate.
Finally, and perhaps the most important reason, the failure of the Executive Branch to share UAP information with Congress is an infringement[28] on the legislative branch that undermines separation powers and may be creating a constitutional crisis. Even the most sensitive Special Access Programs must be reported the Gang of Eight, and all compartmented programs must be reported to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Any and all past failures by DoD and IC components to report UAP programs and activities are not only illegal but would have undermined Congress by preventing it from exercising its legislative and oversight responsibilities over one of the most vital issues of our time. Those responsibilities cover a wide range, from defense and intelligence, foreign affairs, appropriations, to science and technology. Moreover, Congress may noy have known for decades to ask nominees to cabinet-level and other Executive Branch positions about UAP during their confirmation hearings, despite the DoD’s and IC’s knowledge and efforts related to UAP. Were Congress to have been left out of the loop on any other issue in this fashion, it would be considered an absolute outrage. We have barely begun to consider the harm done to the Legislative Branch and thus, too, the American people by apparent UAP secrecy. I hope that not only this committee, but Congress considers the grave damage done to our system of government and contemplates action to halting it once and for all.
For example, while I was preparing for this hearing, former DoD official Chris Mellon contacted me to seek my assistance in sharing with Congress the details of a case involving satellite imagery of UAP from 2017 that has still not been shared with Congress. He has also brought the specifics to the attention of AARO and says he is confident the new Director of AARO will honor requests for access by the oversight committees.[29] I would be happy in a closed
25 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/06/03/ufo-crash-materials-intelligence-00100077
26 = https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q uap+may+unlock+new+world+changing+discovery&mid =71F845225F9BCFEC1A8171F845225F9BCFEC1A81&FORM=VIRE
27 - https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/research/galileo project#:~:text=Given%20the%20recently%20discovered%20abundance%20of%20EarthSun%20systems%2C,to%20the%20scientific%20method%20of%20unbiased%2C%20empirical%20inquiry.
28 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-oversight-committee-hold-hearing-ufos-rcna96154
29 Personal communication on November 11, 2024.
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setting to provide the dates involved if that would help the committee to formulate a specific request for access.
The foundational issue is one of governance and public accountability. The continued excessive secrecy surrounding UAPs has not only hindered our ability to effectively address these phenomena but has also eroded trust in our institutions and compromised the safety of both military and civilian aviators. While recent initiatives, such as the establishment of the Alldomain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), NASA’s UAP study team, and research efforts by institutions like Harvard and Stanford, are positive steps forward, they are only the beginning. A more comprehensive approach is urgently needed—one that acknowledges the broader implications of UAP transparency across public safety, national security, and the socioeconomic opportunities that open research could unlock.[30] Therefore, I recommend Congress take the following action which I believe would receive bipartisan support:
- (1) Establish proper oversight of the Executive Branch’s management of UAP programs, information, and materials.
The first step should be to invite the director of DoD’s All Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) to provide various committees a briefing on U.S. government UAP reporting to date. Additionally, AARO needs to explain the inaccuracies and incompleteness[31] of AARO’s first historical records report[32] so that the Congress can understand: (a) if AARO is failing to meet its Congressional mandate, and (b) under what authority AARO has conducted this and other examples of disinformation.
I say this as a first-hand witness to such disinformation. During a meeting with the then acting AARO director and his senior staff earlier this year, I was the object of an hours-long influence operation which attempted to convince me of the validity of the severely flawed historical records report, question well known UAP reports such as the U.S.S. Nimitz “tic tac” encounter, and disparage several former government authorities who have published and spoken publicly about their knowledge of U.S. government UAP programs. If AARO is attempting to repeat the illegal and unethical DoD disinformation efforts[33] involving UAP in the past, Congress should be gravely concerned.
The next step should be to invite the Director of National Intelligence and the National Security Advisor to discuss their predecessors prior statements overtly acknowledging the existence of UAP. Does the government’s current reluctance to disclose information about UAP
30 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/06/03/ufo-crash-materials-intelligence-00100077
31 https://thedebrief.org/the-pentagons-new-uap-report-is-seriously-flawed/
33 https://www.amazon.com/Project-Beta-Bennewitz-National-Security/dp/0743470923
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originate at the top with the Commander in Chief, or are agency directors, deputy directors, and lower-level bureaucrats driving ODNI and NSC direction in this matter?
Congress should also demand the DOD leverage the issue of UAP incursions in our seas and skies as a catalyst to mitigate our vulnerability to aerial drones, which are increasingly observed to be operating in restricted airspace with impunity.[34]
Lastly, Congress should vigorously seek answers from other executive branch departments and agencies known to have some involvement with UAP information, such as the IC, NASA, DOE, DHS, and NSF. Through briefings, hearings, review of nominations, and all other appropriate means, effective oversight can be established and maintained.
- (2) Pass the provisions of the UAP Disclosure Act involving the UAP Records Review Board into law.
Congress has demonstrated leadership on this topic by enacting requirements in recent years for military and intelligence community personnel to report UAP observations and by directing a joint program office within the Department of Defense (AARO) to gather, analyze, and report UAP data.[35] Despite this progress, proper oversight remains elusive. Although the UAP Disclosure Act, a landmark transparency bill[36] , passed the Senate in 2023, key provisions were deleted in conference.[37] Proposed again this year, the Act was unfortunately omitted from the pending defense authorization bill despite strong bipartisan support from the Senate Majority Leader and key members of the Senate intelligence and defense committees. The eliminated provisions would have empowered an independent UAP Records Review Board (UAP RRB) composed of subject matter experts to examine all relevant governmental UAP data regardless of security classification and provide the President with a thorough, truthful, and independent assessment of the UAP issue. Robust and accountable mechanisms for making such information available to researchers and the public were also left unenacted.
These provisions in the UAP Disclosure Act offer the best possible path for meaningful oversight. Enacting them would address serious concerns—increasingly voiced by Congress and the American people—regarding major shortcomings in the government’s UAP policy. The Act’s UAP RRB is vital to ensuring that a comprehensive archive will be subjected to open and skeptical inquiry by scientists, scholars, the media, and Congress, and that the executive and legislative branches receive a full accounting of the government’s activities relating to UAP. Independent review of UAP records, activities, and material will serve to restore faith in our
34 https://christopherkmellon.substack.com/p/who-is-operating-the-mystery-drones
36 https://www.democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/uap_amendment.pdf
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democratic institutions and ensure the nation’s security. Congress should pass these provisions of the UAP Disclosure Act as well as other UAP legislation awaiting action by Congress. These recommendations are endorsed by the UAP Disclosure Fund[38] which I support as a strategic advisor.
- (3) After the UAP Disclosure Act is passed, consider strengthening it in a future reauthorization with additional provisions to establish a whole of government approach to UAP.
Currently, activity regarding U.S. government UAP information is occurring within a handful of departments and agencies (DOD, IC, NASA, DOE). Other elements of national power are needed, and future provisions of the UAP Disclosure Act should identifying a department whose cabinet secretary will serve as the lead for U.S. UAP issues and coordinate a whole of government approach to UAP policy, research, and disclosure. The need for a whole of government approach is endorsed by the Stanford University associated Sol Foundation[39] , which I support as a senior strategic advisor.
In closing, I would like to share my personal reasons for speaking out on the topic of UAP. As a former science agency leader, I have always sought the truth in human knowledge and thought. Now that we know UAP are interacting with humanity, and these include unidentified submerged objects (USOs) in the ocean[40] , we should not keep our heads stuck in the sand, but boldly face this new reality and learn from it.
Secondly, I have dedicated my entire career to the national security and economic prosperity of our country. Failure to share with the American people what is known about UAP leaves them in the dark on the biggest issue to confront human civilization to date. When has ignorance ever advanced society?
Lastly, at a time when leaders on the nation’s biggest stage leave much to be desired, I feel it is my obligation to show moral leadership on the issue of UAP disclosure. And by that, I mean providing top cover for the courageous men and women who have come out as witnesses and whistleblowers to expose the truth. My speaking out has encouraged others to do the same, and it is my hope that over time, the number of your constituents who want to know the truth about UAP will increase to such an extent that the Congressional action I have just recommended will become inevitable.
40https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=17&v=2NVDCtSxIac&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2 Fwww.bing.com%2F&embeds_referring_origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE