(NewsNation) — The two representatives who were the driving force behind Wednesday’s congressional hearing on UAPs are making it clear they have no intention of stopping in their quest for more government transparency.
“This is just the start of one of many hearings,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said on “CUOMO” after the Wednesday hearing.
Luna and Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., worked for months to put together the Oversight Committee hearing, where three former military personnel spoke of Pentagon efforts to shield information about a secret asset retrieval program.
David Grusch, an Air Force veteran and former member of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, first brought his claims in a complaint to Congress and detailed his accusations exclusively to NewsNation last month.
Grusch was joined by former Navy pilot Ryan Graves who told NewsNation he has first-hand accounts of UFOs and former U.S. Navy commander David Fravor, one of the pilots who flew close to the viral video of a Tic Tac-shaped craft.
“It was a great day for the American public,” Burchett said. “I think that the UFO community and the people that just question what’s going on in government had plenty of answers today.”
He plans to hold field hearings in the future.
Burchett, Luna and other lawmakers also want to have a closed-door hearing to view and hear classified information that could not be spoken about in Wednesday’s open setting.
Grusch claimed to have knowledge of where the government is storing alien technology, but could not disclose the locations. He also told lawmakers people had been harmed in cover-ups of UFO technology, but again could not divulge specific information.
Several lawmakers indicated they had attempted to arrange for a sensitive compartmented information facility, or SCIF, which is used for briefings on top-secret information but had been denied.
“The first step in the right direction is going to be getting that information in a SCIF and seeing what we can release to the American people,” Luna said.
Burchett’s office confirmed to NewsNation that there are talks of creating a new House select committee on UFOs, which would possibly grant lawmakers subpoena power and should give them access to a SCIF.
“We may need other authorities that would require the establishment of a select committee, and we’re going to be chatting with the speaker on those things in the coming days,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., told NewsNation.
Gaetz was also a strong advocate for holding Wednesday’s hearing. He claims he’s seen a UAP image that moved in a way can’t be explained by any technology currently in use on Earth.
NewsNation digital producer Urja Sinha and managing editor Tulsi Kamath contributed to this report.