UFO researcher calls latest development ‘watershed moment’

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A local UFO expert is calling what happened Wednesday in D.C. extremely important. 

Former military members told Congress the federal government is secretly researching UFOs and evidence of aliens, and now top lawmakers say they want to take action to get the federal government to reveal what it knows. 

Three former military officials testified under oath in front of a Congressional subcommittee. They said the government has collected UFOs and found evidence of non-human bodies. 

One former intelligence officer said behind closed doors he’s revealing the names of specific people and programs. 

“A multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse engineering program, to which I was denied access,” David Grusch said. 

They said military members are discouraged from reporting possible sightings, and they believe that should change. 

“As we convene here UAP are in our air space, but they are grossly underreported. These sightings are not rare or isolated. They are routine,” said Ryan Graves, a former Navy pilot. 

They believe the public needs to know about any UFO information for safety in the air and for national security reasons. 

There’s a long history of reports of UFO sightings around the world and of secret research programs. 

Thousands still gather every year in New Mexico, interested in the 75 year old so-called Roswell Incident, and many throughout the state have been a driving force behind calls for transparency. 

The rumors aren’t new, but one of the leading civilian experts on UFO sightings, who lives in New Mexico, said these latest statements are something we’ve never seen before. 

David Marler showed KOB 4 his Rio Rancho home. He has one of the largest private collections of UFO records in the country. It houses thousands of documents. 

“Most of those reports were always coming from questionable sources, primarily civilians. Today was really a watershed moment where we had a House committee looking at and listening to the testimony of credible individuals with military or intelligence backgrounds,” Marler said. 

There are increasing calls for transparency to make the alleged research public. 

“There’s definitive momentum,” Marler said. “It really has changed the complexion of the subject. It really has elevated the dialogue with UFOs or UAPs.” 

He has spent more than 30 years researching them. 

“We still must demand evidence. These are statements. These are claims,” Marler said. 

Just in the last few months there are more efforts to set up archives, and that’s exactly what Marler is doing. 

He’s working on creating the National UFO Historical Records Center, a huge, first-of-its-kind public space in Albuquerque. It is a non-profit with support from Congress. 

He wants to digitize everything, to allow anyone to see the material online. He said it includes video and audio that no one has ever seen. 

The Pentagon has long denied any claims about secret research.