In the hunt for unidentified aircraft, one lawmaker is zeroing in on federally-funded research institutions for evidence of the perplexing technology that has captivated UFO enthusiasts and the general public alike. “[T]he craft that have been reported, where do they actually exist?” Rep. Eric Burlison, a Republican lawmaker from Missouri, told Just the News. 

One place he wants the administration to focus is on Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), “quasi-government entities” that carry out research projects for the federal government on a contract basis. 

“Where the investigation is kind of leading me right now is … what are called FFRDCs,” Burlison told the Just the News, No Noise TV show this week. 

He specifically floated “organizations like Rand Corporation, Mitre Group, [and] Aerospace Corporation,” that “then subcontract to a lot of, or they work the contracts for a lot of our private companies” like “Northrop Grumman or Lockheed Martin or Raytheon.” 

Are we headed back to Roswell?

“Somewhere in there, I think, lies the truth, and probably some of the crashed material that we've heard reports of, and so I think that's where the investigation should go. That's where I'm directing, or I'm telling the White House that they should be looking, or at least make sure that they turn over every rock and every stone in that area.”

Burlison is a member of the House Oversight Committee’s Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, or UAP, caucus and he has pressed for more government transparency on the mysterious craft. 

Public interest in UAPs, more commonly referred to as UFOs in popular culture, were sparked in recent years after the Pentagon showed classified photos and video to Congress of purported UAPs in 2022, the first hearing on the subject in over 50 years. 

In subsequent hearings, retired American military pilots described to lawmakers encounters with unidentified objects during flight, including some that stop in midair, then go in the other direction, and ones that remain stationary in 130 mph-plus winds.  

The lawmakers’ crusade for transparency celebrated a major milestone this week when the Trump administration fulfilled its promise to release thousands of previously secret files related to “alien and extraterrestrial life, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), and Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs).” 

Earlier this month, the Department of War released the first batch of new files on the phenomena that largely contained citizen accounts of alleged UFO encounters or sightings and government documents memorializing witness interviews.

“It's absolutely worth getting to the bottom of," House member says

Whereas previous Administrations have failed to be transparent on this subject, with these new Documents and Videos, the people can decide for themselves, 'WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?' Have Fun and Enjoy!" President Donald Trump said after the release.

Burlison thanked the president for keeping his word, saying that transparency is important for the American people to understand that there may be a technological gap between us and potential adversaries. 

“[I]t's absolutely worth getting to the bottom of, and I'm glad that President Trump took the historic moment, and he is the disclosure president, and he released, he ordered these files to be released, and they're doing a good job,” Burlison told Just the News. 

“I’m not seeing anything that definitively tells me that we have aliens from another planet, but, but it certainly is disturbing. And some of the … accounts, are things that I think that we need the American people to understand, that maybe that certainly, there is a technological gap that we have with either our adversaries or with others and so that's, that's those are the kind of briefings and videos and evidence that I hope that this administration, as we continue the process of disclosure, that they release,” the lawmaker said.