Indiana Congressman André Carson on Sunday said he wants a public hearing and the Pentagon to release more information about UFO sightings, suggesting that a few dozen incidents can't be ruled out as "otherworldly."
In his appearance on CBS News' Face the Nation, Carson responded to a declassified Pentagon report released last week that detailed hundreds of unexplained UFO sightings by U.S. Navy pilots since 2004. He chaired a classified briefing over the nine-page report that has since sparked extraterrestrial intrigue and stirred up decades of U.S. government and alien conspiracies on social media.
The Indiana Democratic lawmaker met with other members of the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence and Counterproliferation Friday to discuss potential emerging threats from foreign militaries—or the possibility of potential alien activity.
Face the Nation fill-in host Ed O'Keefe acknowledged that Carson couldn't reveal the full details of the classified briefing on UFOs this week, but he asked the congressman why the words "outer space, extraterrestrial or alien" don't appear even once in the Pentagon's declassified report.
"There have been nearly 150 sightings. Eighty of the sightings were detected with some of the best technology the world has ever seen. We can't rule out something that is otherworldly, but that's a very small percentage," Carson said, noting it's "curious" that most of the Navy pilot UFO sightings occurred near U.S. military bases or installations.
"People want members of the government to say it's extraterrestrial. We won't stop there, but certainly it poses a technological concern for us because we don't want our adversaries to have a technological advantage over us," Carson said, citing weather balloons, drones or foreign military aircraft.
Carson said he wants more hearings or even a public hearing to discuss the UFO sightings. He explained that it's troubling to him why no images or information have been released from the cameras attached to thousands of satellites currently orbiting Earth.
"Most people may not be able to understand, but if it is otherworldly, we have to take into account our advancements in our cell phone technology and why aren't these images being captured? You have to think about the nearly 4,000 satellites that are orbiting the earth right now. Most of those have satellites have cameras attached to them—why hasn't any of that information been released?"
Carson said his primary concern is to "make sure adversaries don't have a technological edge on the U.S," but he left the door open to potential extraterrestrial activity having occurred.
"But we still can't rule out that 2-to-6 percent that we can't explain, maybe even otherworldly," Carson said, reiterating his hope for more hearings on the matter.
Newsweek reached out to Carson's office for any additional information about the UFO sighting hearings.
