MYSTERY WIRE — Just a few years ago, lawmakers shied away from talking about anything related to UFOs. Times have changed.
With the second UFO story from the New York Times now published, we can see there is a public effort by the government to share information. How much will be shared remains to be seen.
In June, the chairman of the senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), requested funding to run an Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) task force at the Office of Naval Intelligence. This was revealed when Sen. Rubio put the language of the request into the 2021 Intelligence Authorization Act.
Lawmakers ask for unclassified UFO report in new intelligence bill
Now, more lawmakers are willing to answer questions about the government’s involvement.
In a recent interview with Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) who is the Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mystery Wire asked repeatedly what he knew about the UAP task force.
“Well, I’m not going to get into any details on classified information. I had received a similar brief over a year ago. I need to get an update as well. And, you know, I’m concerned about anything that might threaten the health and well being of our pilots. We’ve got a lot of those pilots that fly at Oceana (Naval Air Station) and fly out of Hampton Roads. If there is anything that is disturbing their flight patterns, or potentially a threat, I think it’s appropriate that the Navy and the Armed Forces generally take this into consideration. But in terms of the specifics, you know, that remains classified.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA)
Mystery Wire has also spoken to the Nevada lawmakers on this topic. Nevada is home to Nellis, and Creech Air Force bases, and the secretive Tonopah airfield. Nevada is also home to Area 51.
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Here is the transcript between Mystery Wire and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV).
Mystery Wire
“Former Senator Harry Reid previously sponsored a secret Pentagon study about UFOs related phenomena based here in Las Vegas. After news of that went public back in December of 2017, there have been some closed door briefings on this. Some of your colleagues on the armed services and Intel committees have discussed last week there was news from Florida Senator Marco Rubio. He introduced legislation requiring the Pentagon to make public any unclassified UFO reports. My question is, if you’ve spoken with former Senator Reid or your current senate colleagues about this, and would you support opening up these Pentagon files?”
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto
“Well, I have not spoken to Senator Reid about it and I have spoken to some of my senate colleagues who are on the committee. I am not on the committee. So I am not getting and able to get the brief. Things that they get, because I’m not on the committee. So I can’t answer that question in full. But I do know that, that some of my members on the committee and my colleagues are very vigilant. They’re very aware of what’s going on, and they get their briefings on a regular basis.”
Mystery Wire
“But just pure and simple without getting into maybe the details, do you support the idea of making this public making these files public?”
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto
“Well, I, again, I don’t know what’s in the files. So I can’t support something that I’m not aware of what’s in the file … I think it is something that is clearly important for this country and for us to be aware of, at the end of the day, but I can’t speculate on something that I’m not aware of, what’s in the reports.”
George Knapp spoke with Nevada Congresswoman Dina Titus (D-3rd Dist.) and asked a similar question.
George Knapp
“Some of your colleagues in Congress have recently expressed an interest in a subject that we’ve been covering for a long time, and which has evolved into sort of an economic engine and part of parts of rural Nevada, and that is UFOs. You and I have spoken privately about this a little bit, but we’ve been reporting about Pentagon programs and studies that were carried out by organizations here in Nevada, sponsored by Senator Harry Reid. Recently, Marco Rubio added something to the intelligence bill that wants to open up a channel where Congress can be briefed on unclassified UFO stuff that the Pentagon collects. Are you aware of this any interest in any of it?”
Rep. Dina Tutus
“Well, I haven’t been briefed, but I certainly am aware of the fact that more information is coming out. You are way ahead of the game George by recognizing this, but now they’re starting to have more evidence, looking more closely. And if we create this new Space Force that the President wants, surely that will be a place where they’ll be looking into that and we can get more information about it.”
