On April 12th, 2018, Politico held an event marking the launch of their space news briefs. In December, Politico had released their version of the Pentagon UFO study within hours of the New York Times article. The article was written by Politico Defense Editor Bryan Bender, who is also one of the authors of Politico’s weekly space briefs. At the recent event, Bender brought up the issue of UFOs.

Bender introduced the topic in a panel with his fellow space briefs reporter and co-moderator, Jaqueline Klimas, Representative Ami Bera (Democrat, California), Randy Hultgren (Republican, Illinois) and President and CEO of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration Mary Lynne Dittmar. Dittmar is also an advisor to the space council set up by President Trump to advise him on space policy. Both Bera and Hultgren are members of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Bera is a ranking member of the subcommittee on space.

“You hear these reports. We have been hearing them for decades from many credible people,” Bender told the panel. “Other countries take it more seriously. They have government researchers who, in the open, not in secrecy, try to explain the unexplainable. Should we be doing more? Or is this just crazy sci-fi stuff that is a waste of time?”

In the past, this is the point when everyone fidgets, someone makes a joke, and panelists to move on to the next topic. Not this time. Bera was the first to reply and said the stories that came out in December piqued his interest.

“I’ve actually talked to the chairman of the subcommittee, Brian Babin, as well as Lamar Smith, the chairman of the full committee,” Bera explained. “I said we ought to have a hearing on this, right?”