This is a hard event to distill into one takeaway, but it's worth noting the diversity of professional backgrounds and government experience on display among House Oversight's panel of witnesses this Wednesday:

1. A NASA legal and policy specialist, who now works in the private aerospace sector, and who once worked for UFO-obsessed billionaire Robert Bigelow (Mike Gold) testified to the seriousness and reality of UFOs as an unsolved mystery worthy of large-scale scientific investigation.
2. A retired senior Naval officer with experience as the Navy's chief meteorologist and oceanographer (Rear Admiral Gallaudet) spoke to firsthand experience under oath with fairly extreme government stonewalling, deception campaigns and disappearing secured emails comms — all on the issue of UFOs.
3. A journalist, public intellectual and 2018 California gubernatorial candidate (Michael Shellenberger), revealed an alarming 11-page briefing on a UFO program that, if real, undermines American democracy's essential 'checks and balances.' (And, if frabricated, its tale of 'Immaculate Constellation' is no less alarming for what it says about how our government and press currently work.)
4. And, lastly, a decorated, former senior counterintelligence official (Luis Elizondo) who managed to not only spur the publication of three infrared Navy UFO videos, but ultimately compelled the Pentagon to admit that those videos depicted geniune unknowns. He's now come forward to say, like his one-time business partner, Blink 182's Tom DeLonge, that 'Aliens Exist.'

This is a quartet of people with some overlapping connections, but mostly very long histories navigating entirely different bureaucracies with entirely different skillsets.

It's hard to imagine four people this different passionately agreeing on something as controversial and career-jeopardizing as a massive, government cover-up on UFOs — and yet they do.

As promised in his prewritten testimony, retired Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet promised to offer more specifics in closed, classified sessions about one unusual UFO case from 2017, caught on top secret satellite hardware.

'The term that the analysts used, they called it "the button." It was a disc-shaped object,' Rear Adm. Gallaudet told the committee.

He told Rep Mace that he could not openly say where this sighting occured in an unclassified setting.

There was one anomalous phenomena in Congress that more than a few reporters clocked as it overtook today's House Oversight hearing: rabid public interest.

One civilian visitor to the Capitol building, who hoped to attend the UFO hearing, told DailyMail.com that he'd heard some people were preparing to start loitering outside as early as 4:30am in the hopes of getting one of the coveted 'first come, first serve' seats inside the hearing room.

The line filled at least one entire hallyway of the Rayburn House Office Building, where Wednesday's UFO testimony was sworn to.

'I've covered probaly hundreds of congressional hearings,' as NewsNation Joe Khalil Washington Correspondent put it. 'This doesn't happen.'

The entire report on 'Immaculate Constellation' — the allegedly illegal 'Unacknowledged Special Access Program' (USAP) about UFOs that was leaked to journalist Michael Shellenberger — has now been posted online.

Based on Shellenberger's report on the program for Public, the document was produced by an anonymous source in the US national security sector who had originally prepared the document to brief 'authorized Committees of Congress and their staff.'

The briefing document is unsparing in its depiction of this UFO data collection effort, which is said to have begun in 2017, as being hidden from proper congressional oversight.

'This criminal conspiracy keeps the elected government of the United States and its citizens ignorant to profound discoveries and dire threats,' the report reads, 'originating from the exisence of UAP, NHI, and their technologies.'

'The existence of IMMACULATE CONSTELLATION demonstrates the extant capability to detect, quarantine, and transfer UAP and ARV [Alien Reproduction Vehicle] collection incidents before they are observed and circulated within the Military Intelligence Enterprise,' the report asserts ominously.

Citizen-scientists, non-profit advocates on the topic of UFOs, and various well-known names in the world of UFO journalism are all keeping the questioning going outside the House Oversight hearing room.

None of what's going on is under oath anymore, but many of the event's spectators and attendees don't appear to be done inquiring about the topic.

UFO documentary filmmaker James Fox, New York Times freelancer investigative reporter Leslie Kean (who helped first bring Lue Elizondo to public reknown), and the man who brought the 'Jellyfish UFO' to the public, Jeremy Corbell, were all observing the hearing, in the room, in person.

Government Cybersecurity and Innovation Chairwoman Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) took a philosophical or metaphysical direction in her final question: 'How would you define non-human intelligence, non-human biologics? What are we actually talking about.'

Gold was the last to provide his answer, to which he asserted that we must re-examine the idea with modest assumptions, but noted that an advanced visiting intelligence may not actually be biological.

When pressed about what 'non-biological intelligence' means,' Gold replied: 'Artificial intelligence, ML, machines.'

'We assume all intelligence would be like us, but when we look out into the universe we are humbled to what we don't know in terms of the form of intelligence.'

'I can't answer your question, but the ultimate answer will surprise us all.'

Colorado Rep Lauren Boebert — to some degree best known now for her attendence of 'Beetlejuice: The Musical' — spent her time with the witnesses in an extended, apparently satirical bit about her own reputation for conspiracy theories.

'Now that we have all been cautioned in this committee hearing that the mention of the Pentagon's "Immaculate Constellation" program could put us on a list, well I already find myself on many lists I am sure,' the congresswoman began.

'So, I speak my mind often. So why not now just keep going with it,' she said.

'I may just go all out and say it, "The Earth is flat. The birds are government drones. We never stepped on the moon and Joe Biden received 80 million votes in the 2020 presidential election,"' Rep Boebert told the assembled committee, witnesses and public viewers. 'Lets see how many lists we can get on today.'

South Carolina congresswoman Nancy Mace has just spent the past several minutes peppering Elizondo with a volley of questions in an effort to induce him to mention the name of the defense contractor who has long held crashed UFO material.

Rep Mace, who is co-leading this hearing, as chair of House Oversight's National Security Subcommittee, then pivoted to asking Elizondo generic questions about defense contractor Lockheed Martin.

Elizondo said he'd rather let Lockheed — whose 'Skunkworks' designed several of America's most sensitive stealth aircraft since the Cold War —speak for themselves.

Florida Rep Anna Luna — who has been very active on the UFO issues with fellow committee member Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett — raised a question to the witnesses about the sophistication of UAP technology.

'It seems that some aircraft are operating off of energy we don't have. If we did obtain it, would it impact humanity for the better or negative?' she asked.

Gold jokingly responded: 'It would certainly save us [i.e. NASA] some money on funding an Artemis,' referring to America's current race to return astronauts to the moon.

However, he put on a serious face to explain how such technology poses threats to America's national security.

'If there is such technology out there we may not be the only country that has access to it. We don't want to be on the wrong end of technological surprise,' he said.

(Mike Gold, at right, testifying during the during the hearing by the House Oversight)

Missouri Congressman Eric Burlison is pressing Luis Elizondo, effectively, on his recent comments on the late night paranormal radio show Coast-to-Coast AM.

When not under oath, Elizondo discussed failed efforts by defense contractor Lockheed Martin to 'divest' itself of a crashed UFO that it had struggled to reverse engineer for decades.

Under oath, Elizondo has been more reticent to name the company specifically, noting again the strictures of what was approved for release by Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review (DOPSR) for his new memoir, 'Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs.'

Rep Burlinson appears to be a fan of sometime DailyMail.com contributor Chris Sharp, referencing his reporting on this failed effort to move the alleged UFO crash parts to Budget Suites billionaire Robert Bigelow's Bigelow Aerospace.

This unsuccessful effort — made public by the Pentagon's AARO in the office's historic UFO report last March — was code named 'Kona Blue.'

(Elizondo, center, during his testimony on Wednesday)

Rear Adm Gallaudet told the committee that he invited, as one of his personal guests to the hearing, former Navy F-18 fighter pilot Lieutenant Ryan Graves.

Gallaudet is an advisor to Lt. Graves' nonprofit Americans for Safe Aerospace — which is focused on destigmatizing the UFO issue so that pilots can report these potentially fatal airborne anomalies and incursions without fear of career reprisals.

Another witness before the panel today, Mike Gold, is also an advisor to this 501(c)3 nonprofit.

Some pointed questions by the committee allowed Gold to tout one workable and economical solution to the current problem: 'NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS), which NASA administers for the FAA.'

'This system is a confidential, voluntary, non-punitive reporting system that receives safety reports from pilots, air traffic controllers, dispatchers, cabin crew, ground operators, maintenance technicians, and UAS operators that provides a unique data source for emerging UAS safety issues,' according to the NASA's advisory panel on UFOs from last year, which Gold co-authored.

Responding to a question from Florida Rep Anna Paulina Luna, Luis Elizondo told the committee that UAP seem intelligently piloted.

He cited a secure digital communication where a pilot described the UFO as having seemingly 'stalked' their aircraft.

Elizondo also discussed multiple cases where these UFOs 'seem to anticipate our manuevers.'

Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins has been pressing Michael Shellenberger on any details he can provide on his anonymous source: the author of this report on 'Immaculate Constellation.'

'The person is a current or former US government employee,' Shellenberger said cautiously.

When pressed to get into more details, he declined.

Then, when asked by Rep Higgins if he 'can't say or won't say,' Shellenberger replied 'I won't say because I protect my sources.'

Michael Shellenberger was asked about the mysterious 'Immaculate Constellation' - a secretive UFO data retrieval program has been hidden from Congressional oversight since 2017, he has claimed.

'It's mission is to document UAPs,' Shellenberger said under oath.

Shellenberger said his sources consist of former and current government officials, while refraining from revealing their position or gender.

He claimed that this projected has captured thousands of 'high-resolution imagery' of UAPs.

'The American people need to know that the US military is sitting on a huge amount of visual and other information, still photos, video photos or sensor information, and have for a very long time,' said Shellenberger.

'It's not those fuzzy photos and videos, we've been given those very clear high-resolution.'

Elizondo has said that the United States government is 'in possession of UAP technologies, as are some of our adversaries.'

Luis Elizondo also just said under oath, that he managed a highly classified SAP for the White House under the National Security Council, as his last job before quitting the Pentagon in 2017 ahead of his now well-known public whistleblowing.

This is a fairly major, verifiable new piece of information to say under oath — and it will surely be fodder for those who have worked to poke holes in Elizondo's past public comments.

Giving voice to skeptics (and those who are generally allergic to this topic), Florida congressman Jared Moskowitz pressed ex-NASA UAP IST member Mike Gold on why the US space agency should be devoting resources to probing this topic at all.

Gold's answer hewed close to his prepared statement's conclusion: 'Science is driven by anomalies. Anomalies are the foundation upon which scientific breakthroughs are built.'

Gold's statement added: 'The Theory of General Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, virtually all of our scientific progress has been based on discovering and studying anomalies.'

Rep. Moskowitz is now pressing Elizondo on the paperwork he was compelled or maybe encouraged to sign in a Secured Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) any agreements that restrict him from speaking about certain Special Access Programs (SAPs) — like the key projects involving UFOs, crashes and reverse engineering.

It's quite shocking. He's asked Elizondo if he was allowed to let a lawyer review this paperwork before signing.

Elizondo's response appears to indicate that this process is not especially open, without being overtly coercive.

Mike Gold championed for an end of stigma surrounding UAPs within the American space agency due to its popularity and trust among the public.

'NASA personnel stepping forward and participating in such discussions would make a powerful statement to the scientific community that UAPs should be taken seriously and researched accordingly,' said Gold.

Gold was part of the agency's UAP independent study group in October 2022, which focused solely on unclassified data.

Over nine months, NASA's UAP IST promised to lay the groundwork for future studies on the nature of UAPs for scientific and other organizations.

I think many who read Shellenberger's investigative report on 'Immaculate Constellation' — or who heard him speak about it on Joe Rogan — might have assumed he was shown this classified congressional briefing at the heart of his story, but not allowed to hold on to a copy.

Apparently, there's no need to speculate on that now: Shellenberger's oral presentation of his pre-written testimony has now included the journalist and academic waving before the committee a copy of that report and a promise to share it with House Oversight.

Like a lot of what happens within Capitol Hill hearing rooms, there's a bit of theatrics to this, but nevertheless it was done under oath and carries weight.

Luis Elizondo proposed three actions from Congress while speaking under oath. He urged Congress and the President to create a single-point-of contact for military members to report UAP issues.

The next was that the US create a national UAP strategy that promotes transparency and aims to restore American's trust 'at a time when the public's trust is at an all-time low.'

Finally, Elizondo urged Congress to create a protected environment for whistleblowers, allowing them to feel safe and protected when coming forward with information.

Certainly, once the prepared opening testimonies have been fully uttered into the record — lawmakers are going to want to ask Elizondo about his claim that there is a secret Cold War to recover and reverse engineer crashed flying saucers.

'I believe we are in the midst of a multi-decade, secretive arms race,' Elizondo said in his opening statement, 'one funded by misallocated taxpayer dollars and hidden from our elected representatives and oversight bodies.'

Perhaps Elizondo's use of the phrase 'I believe' may soften the explosiveness of this claim, but it will be fascinating to hear what details that Elizondo might be willing to offer on this when asked by the committee.

Fresh controversy has already arrived before a word has been spoken at the hearing.

Dr Sean Kirkpatrick, former director of the Pentagon's current UFO investigations at the new All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), has accused the committee's first witness of being a 'still bitter' prospective hire.

Responding to Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet's prewritten testimony, Dr Kirkpatrick accused the retired government official of harboring 'predisposed tendencies for conspiracies without evidence' which made him 'unsuitable for a job' at AARO that 'required objectivity and evidence-based reason.'

Rear Adm. Gallaudet's testimony accused AARO of targeting him for 'an hours-long influence operation' which attempted to convince him of 'the validity of [AARO's] severely flawed historical records report' as part of a 'disinformation' effort.

Further errors and omissions in AARO's short, unclassified report were documented by The Debrief and former Department of Defense official Christopher Mellon.

As Elizondo put it in his written testimony today: 'Most Americans would be shocked to learn that the Pentagon’s very own Public Affairs Office openly employs a professional psychological operations officer [Susan Gough] as the singular point of contact for any UAP-related inquiries from citizens and the media.'

(Dr Kirkpatrick, at right below, during a past public speaking event, accompanied by Pentagon spokesperson Susan Gough, at left.)

Four witnesses are slated to testify today starting with PhD oceanographer and retired US Navy Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet.

Rear Adm Gallaudet has become a vocal champion of military witnesses to so-called USOs (Underwater Submerged Objects) since at least 2021.

Next up will be ex-Pentagon counterintelligence official Luis Elizondo, whose work getting the now infamous Navy UFO videos to the New York Times in 2017 launched our modern era of public obsession with these weird phenomena.

Michael Gold, a lawyer and former NASA associate administrator, will speak third, mostly about the need for engaged and transparent scientific investigation into these unexplained events.

(From left to right, below, Gallaudet, Elizondo, Shellenberger and Gold)