The Pentagon is not saying that extraterrestrial life exists. But they’re not saying it doesn’t exist.

On Tuesday, in the first hearing in Congress on UFOs in 50 years, unexplained sightings in the sky were discussed with Pentagon officials.

Testifying before a House Intelligence Subcommittee, the Pentagon didn’t share any new information, but they said they created a new task force and director to collect data on what the government calls “unidentified aerial phenomena.” 

In a demonstration for the lawmakers, Scott Bray, Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence, showed a video taken by an observer on an F-18 military plane. He showed how difficult it is to interpret the images. 

Ronald Moultrie, the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, said the Pentagon is encouraging pilots and other military personnel to report unusual objects they see. 

Moultrie told the subcommittee, “We want to know what’s out there as much as you want to know what’s out there. We get the questions not just from you. We get it from family and we get them night and day.”

Political figures from both parties have said that UFOs are a national security concern. Witnesses have spotted aircraft that appear to be flying using advanced technology, often attributed to China or Russia, but many people ponder about advanced alien technology in our skies. 

Often, the sightings are so quick that viewers aren’t aware of what they are seeing, but many have been caught on camera or video. The images are hard to interpret and are often distorted by the camera lens. Images can be easily misinterpreted. 

A report released by intelligence officials last year described 144 sightings of aircraft flying at unexplained speeds or trajectories.

Many people believe that the government is hiding information on the sightings from the public. 

Lawmakers said they are not focusing on finding alien aircraft, but are concerned about whether our intelligence capabilities are sophisticated enough to protect our security.