US Politicians ‘Dragging Their Feet Over Implications of Making ‘UFO Contact’, Says Top Physicist

Military officials testified before Congress about Unknown Aerial Phenomena (UAP), commonly called Unidentified Flying Objects or UFOs, for the first time in more than 50 years on 17 May. According to key lawmakers, UAP must be investigated and taken seriously as a potential threat to national security.

As the US held its first, landmark congressional public hearing on so-called UFOs in decades, an acclaimed physicist and author, Michio Kaku, claimed on Wednesday that Americans are ready to understand the implications of “making contact”, but remain "not politically ready".

A House hearing featuring testimony from top US government officials and the display of images and videos of Unknown Aerial Phenomena (UAP), commonly called Unidentified Flying Objects or UFOs, had been convened by the House Intelligence Committee's Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation sub-committee.

After the conclusion of the public hearing on Monday, the panel held a closed-door, classified briefing on 17 May.

Weighing in on the hearing, Kaku told FOX Business:

"I think we are mature enough to be able to understand the implications… It would be one of the greatest turning points in the history of humanity if one day we find conclusive evidence of extraterrestrial civilisations in our backyard in the Milky Way galaxy."

However, the American futurist and populariser of science added:

"But, I think that we're not politically ready for it. I think our politicians are dragging their feet."

Michio Kaku: "I think that the government knows a lot more than they let on."#ufotwitter #ufo@FoxBusiness @michiokaku @RepTimBurchett @RepGallagherhttps://t.co/ocekSTmqGR pic.twitter.com/kvzQmJQ6NI

— Meta material (@MetaStudioLogic) May 18, 2022

According to the professor of theoretical physics in the City College of New York and CUNY Graduate Center, the release of "hours" of surveillance footage during the hearing is a clear signal.

"They're sitting on a pile of videotapes that they have not yet released. I think the government knows a lot more than they let on," Kaku said on 'Varney & Co'.

Half a century ago people relied solely on eyewitness accounts of UFOs but now evidence is “revealing the capabilities of these unidentified objects,” the author of several books about physics and related topics noted.

"They can zigzag and manoeuvre, creating G-forces several hundred times the force of gravity. They can drop 70,000 feet within a matter of seconds. And get this, they can even swim under water … We don't have technologies capable of doing any of these things," Kaku said.

Government officials noted at the hearing that through "rigorous" analysis, most - but not all - UAPs can be identified, but acknowledged that they “probably lack a single explanation”.

Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence, Scott Bray, played two videos of triangular-shaped objects in the sky and said they had gone unexplained for two years, adding that the Navy now believes they were commercial unmanned aircraft or drones, that appeared as triangles because of how light affected night vision and the SLR cameras the objects were filmed with.

Many lawmakers, intelligence and military personnel working on UAP highlight that the bigger concern is not that alien life may be visiting Earth, but rather that foreign adversaries might be already in possession of next-generation technology.

Democrat Representative André Carson of Indiana's seventh congressional district and chairman of the panel holding the hearing, warned in his opening remarks that, "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena are a potential national security threat. And they need to be treated that way."

He claimed that although previously the “stigma associated with UAP” had obstructed thorough intelligence analysis, "today, we know better”.

“UAPs …need to be investigated. And any threats they pose need to be mitigated," he said.