The US Congress wants to know the truth if it exists.

In the most serious acknowledgment yet that mysterious sightings deserve scrutiny at the highest levels of government, the House of Representatives convened a landmark panel on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs).

As Republican Tim Burchett said at the beginning of the hearing, lawmakers were not bringing flying saucers or little green men into the hearing. In spite of this, the testimony sometimes veered into the unknown.

There were three witnesses who shared their encounters with objects defying physics, biological material recovered from crafts, and alleged retaliation against whistleblowers over a two-hour period. Anomalies pose a potential national security threat to all countries.

In and of itself, the hearing produced no bombshells – nor a confirmation of alien life – but the fact that the witnesses were given a major hearing before Congress was noteworthy. Witnesses and lawmakers alike asked the military to be more transparent about UAPs during the panel.

The retired Navy commander David Fravor recounted his encounter with a “tic-tac” shaped UAP that moved in a way that baffled aviators in 2004, footage of which was released in 2017 and publicly verified by the Navy two years later.

According to Mr Fravor, “the technology we faced was far superior to anything we had, have today, or are planning to develop in the next ten years.”

In an interview, Grusch hinted that government officials suppressed information and punished whistleblowers, but claimed he could not elaborate further due to classification laws.