Ryan Graves Written Statement for the House Oversight Committee

Graves identifies himself as a former F/A-18 pilot with more than a decade of U.S. Navy service and says he witnessed UAP on multiple sensor systems.

I am a former F-18 pilot with over a decade of service in the U.S. Navy, including two deployments in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Inherent Resolve. I have witnessed advanced UAP on multiple sensor systems firsthand

Graves characterizes advanced UAP as both a national-security and aviation-safety problem.

I can tell you that advanced UAP are a national security and an aviation safety problem.

Graves says his organization had nearly 5,000 members and was working with more than 30 UAP witnesses at the time of his statement.

We now have nearly 5,000 members and are actively working with more than 30 UAP witnesses who have approached us.

Graves says that after a 2014 radar upgrade, his squadron detected unknown objects and corroborated radar tracks with infrared sensors.

Upon an upgrade to our radar system, we began to detect unknown objects in our airspace. Initially dismissed as software glitches, we soon corroborated these radar tracks with infrared sensors, confirming their physical presence.

Graves reports that two jets took evasive action around a motionless dark cube inside a clear sphere at the W-72 entry point and immediately terminated the mission.

one of the pilots saw a dark gray cube inside of a clear sphere — motionless against the wind, fixed directly at the entry point. The jets, only 100 feet apart, were forced to take evasive action.

Graves reports that the objects could reach Mach 1, hold position in hurricane-force winds, operate throughout the day, and showed no visible lift surfaces or propulsion.

The UAP could accelerate at speeds up to Mach 1, hold their position against hurricane-force winds, and outlast our fighter jets, operating continuously throughout the day. They did not have any visible means of lift, control surfaces or propulsion

Graves says more than 30 military and commercial aircrew witnesses approached Americans for Safe Aerospace and that most feared professional consequences from speaking publicly.

The organization has since become a haven for more than 30 UAP witnesses who were previously unspoken due to the absence of a safe intake process. Most do not want to speak publicly. They are afraid of professional consequences.

Graves cites the 2021 UAP Task Force report as recording 11 near misses and says he understood the number had increased.

The UAP Task Force reported in 2021 that there were 11 near misses with UAP and I understand that number has grown.

Graves recommends accurate reporting, empowered and unbiased investigative authority, and a transparent process for sharing findings and data with scientists.

we need (1) accurate reporting to determine scope, (2) empowered, unbiased investigation authority, (3) a transparent process to share the findings and data publicly to be studied by scientists.

Graves says it was his understanding that all UAP videos since 2021 were classified Secret or above, limiting public and congressional access.

My understanding is that all UAP videos since 2021 are classified Secret or above, which prevents the American people and even some Members of Congress from seeing UAP videos