GOP Congressman Suggests UFOs May Be 'Ancient Civilization'

A Republican congressman has suggested that unidentified flying objects (UFOs) could be an "ancient civilization" that is hiding on Earth but has only just begun to show itself.

Mike Gallagher, a representative for Wisconsin and chair of the House Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, discussed various theories about the potential origins of alien sightings while appearing on the Pat McAfee show on Tuesday.

There, he spoke about the ongoing efforts of Congress to investigate claims that the government may be in possession of technology not from this world. House Oversight Committee chair James Comer announced an investigation into allegations at the beginning of June.

The alien probe was launched after various claims were made publicly by David Grusch, a 36-year-old Airforce veteran who previously worked at the National Reconnaissance Office on what is now referred to as Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP).

Grusch told NewsNation, after featuring in an article on the same subject in Debrief, that the government had retrieved several "non-human origin technical vehicles," some of which contained "dead pilots."

Appearing on the sports talk show, Gallagher suggested that one possible explanation of supposed UFO sightings was the so-called "Terminator" theory—based on the film of the same name—that aliens were actually human beings from the future.

Another hypothesis, he said, was that "as opposed to being us from the future, it could actually be an ancient civilization that's just been hiding here and is suddenly showing itself."

Another member of the discussion then interjected: "Like Transformers," referencing the toy and film franchise in which a mechanized race of aliens seeks refuge on Earth from a civil war taking place on their own planet. In comic book literature, they are said to live for millions of years.

However, Gallagher said the "worst-case scenario" would be if the reported sightings of craft that appeared to defy modern capabilities were actually advanced technology built by adversarial nations. He added that fears of potential Chinese weapons developments had been his "entry point" into the UFO discussion.

Speaking about the investigation into the UFO claims, the congressman echoed remarks on Monday by GOP senator for Florida Marco Rubio, who said those coming forward to give testimony "have held very high clearances" within the government but were "fearful of their jobs" for speaking out publicly.

Gallagher said he could not talk about "who they are or the precise number" of whistleblowers who had spoken in the investigation, but added that he had already been party to a "variety of pretty intense conversations."

A spokesperson for Representative Tim Burchett, a Republican congressman for Tennessee who is one of the leaders of the investigation, previously told Newsweek that definitive hearing dates and witness lists had yet to be finalized, but that he "wants this hearing to be done right" with "credible witnesses."

Gallagher argued that it was important to destigmatize speaking out on the subject, as in the past individuals such as fighter pilots who claimed to have seen a UFO "were getting ridiculed."

"The biggest source of resistance is just people [are] almost sort of embarrassed to talk about the topic," he said. "They think they're going to be labeled a crazy, tin foil hat, conspiracy theory, loony tunes person. So just by having these discussions out in the open, I think it goes a long way."

However, Gallagher added: "Most of the resistance is just from the bureaucracy in the defense department and in the intelligence community." He claimed that five requests regarding UAPs he had made to U.S. intelligence agencies had yet to elicit a response.

Newsweek approached the Department of Defense via email for comment on Wednesday.

Both the Department of Defense and NASA have publicly stated that they have no evidence of extra-terrestrial life or that government programs to reverse-engineer alien technology exist.