LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Since January 2018, members of Congress and senior staff have been receiving classified briefings behind closed doors about the UFO mystery.

Now, after 54 years, a congressional subcommittee held the first public hearing on the matter. Two high-ranking Pentagon officials appeared before the committee, and in the view of many, their testimony was a bit underwhelming.

WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 17: A video of unidentified aerial phenomena is played as U.S. Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray testifies before a House Intelligence Committee subcommittee hearing at the U.S. Capitol on May 17, 2022 in Washington, DC. The committee met to investigate Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, commonly referred to as Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

So, if Congress proceeds with additional UFO hearings in public, who should be called to tell what they know? There are two names to toss in the hat. Both are scientific investigators who’ve had personal experiences pursuing strange phenomena and are now employed by the same defense contractor.

“If you’re supposed to be a trained scientist or engineer, you’re supposed to be asking these questions, you know, instead of running away and hiding from these questions, and I think the perception has changed,” said Dr. Travis Taylor, a physicist/engineer. 

BALTIMORE, MD – NOVEMBER 11: Travis Taylor speaks onstage at Ancient Aliens: Alien Engineering during day 3 of AlienCon Baltimore 2018 at Baltimore Convention Center on November 11, 2018 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Riccardo Savi/Getty Images for HISTORY)

He has become one of the highest-profile scientists in the world, not because he has two Ph.D.’s and spent two decades working for NASA and the Department of Defense, but rather, because of his role as a scientific investigator on the History Channel’s TV show “The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch.”  Taylor was an arch skeptic when his work at the infamous Utah ranch began a few years ago. Not anymore. 

“You know, I’d never seen a UFO until I got out there. Now, I’ve seen more UFOs now than you can count.” 

Taylor doesn’t just play a scientist on TV. 

Skinwalker Ranch

In late April, a cutting-edge defense contractor named Radiance Technologies announced it had hired him, but for what? The release used somewhat generic language to describe what it does — “systems engineering, strategic intelligence, cyber security” and more. The company’s release didn’t hide Taylor’s involvement with UFO investigations at Skinwalker Ranch. Rather, it touted it. 

The same company has now dropped another UFO bomb, announcing it has hired Taylor’s friend and colleague John Stratton, who recently left a distinguished career with the U.S. Navy as one of its premier intelligence officers. As the company noted, Stratton was also the head of the UAP Task Force, the Pentagon organization that’s been investigating UFO incidents for the past five years.    

John F. Stratton joins Radiance Technologies. (Credit: Radiance Technologies)

In January 2021, just when the UAP task force started work on a congressionally mandated UFO report, Stratton was surprisingly transferred out of the job. His unexpected reassignment was seen as a major blow to the work of the task force. 

Now that he’s left the Pentagon altogether, what are he and Travis Taylor up to, working for Radiance Technologies?

Reporter George Knapp: “The two of you, working together, is the kind of news that will get people’s imaginations working overtime. What are those guys building down there? Are they making spaceships, alien technology?” 

Travis Taylor: “Well, so, John, Jay as we call him, Stratton, he and I have been colleagues for a long time. I’ve known him in defense industry circles and we’ve worked together and I’ll leave it out for now.” 

Much of Stratton’s work remains classified. He achieved the equivalent rank of a flag officer and used his clout to form the UAP Task Force, long before it was called that.

The task force was an interagency effort that included the U.S. Navy, NASA, Homeland Security, the FAA, and more. During Stratton’s tenure, a comprehensive and classified briefing presentation was created for members of Congress, intelligence agencies, and higher-ups in the Pentagon. That document included photos and videos of UFOs collected by military personnel, including the tic tac case as well as the strange images of pyramid-shaped UFOs buzzing navy ships, which Stratton and his team described as genuine unknowns.   

Stratton has never spoken publicly about his work and is not commenting now. His colleague Travis Taylor thinks that if Congress ever holds another public hearing about UFOs, it should include witnesses who have worked as boots-on-the-ground investigators.

“They need to hear from real scientists like myself that these phenomena are real, are being measured and in my mind, there is a potential for a disruptive technology to be free,” Taylor said.

Skinwalker ranch
A view of Skinwalker ranch in Utah. (Photo courtesy Jeremy Corbell)

Knapp said in his wide-ranging interview with Dr. Travis Taylor, he discussed his work as a scientific investigator at Skinwalker Ranch, how close encounters can cause physical harm to humans, incidents of the so-called “hitchhiker effect”, and the role of science in the pursuit of the unknown.

The possibility of disruptive technology might be the main reason for the ongoing secrecy surrounding UFOs. Whichever nation is able to figure out and duplicate what we’ve been seeing in the skies for decades, wins. Period.