Six former members of Congress began holding a hearing Monday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., about the government’s supposed knowledge of extraterrestrial life.
The hearings are expected to last 30 hours over the next five days.
“The Citizen Hearing on Disclosure will attempt to accomplish what the U.S. Congress has failed to do for forty-five years – seek out the facts surrounding the most important issue of this or any other time,” said project’s website.
The members presiding over the hearing include former Michigan Democratic Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick, former Utah Republican Rep. Merrill Cook and former Alaska Democratic Sen. Mike Gravel, who attempted to win the Libertarian Party presidential nomination in 2008.
Other members of the committee include former Maryland Republican Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, former Oregon Democratic Rep. Darlene Hooley and former California Democratic Rep. Lynn Woolsey.
The “international spokesperson” for the Citizen Hearing on Disclosure is Dr. Edgar Mitchell, a former NASA Apollo astronaut and the sixth man to walk on the Moon.
Witnesses include top-level researchers and former high-level government officials from around the world, including the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, China and countries from Latin America.
Former U.S. government officials include retired Naval, Air Force and NASA officers.
The White House’s official stance — as of November 4, 2011 — is that the U.S. government “has no evidence that any life exists outside our planet, or that an extraterrestrial presence has contacted or engaged any member of the human race,” and that there is also no UFO-extraterrestrial cover up.
“From April 29 to May 3 the Citizen Hearing on Disclosure will bring forward en masse the evidence the White House says doesn’t exist,” said the project’s site.