The pace at which congressional investigations are unfolding into possible UFOs or even aliens allegedly being held in secret continues to accelerate. Only days after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced an amendment to the NDAA with some simply stunning language about UFOs and “anomalous phenomena,” it was announced that the House will be holding fresh UFO hearings next week on July 26. The hearing will be chaired by Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna of Florida and Congressman Tim Burchett of Tennessee. And one of the witnesses providing sworn testimony will allegedly be none other than UFO whistleblower David Grusch, who kicked off the latest flurry of activity last month when he accused the Pentagon of operating a top-secret program involving crashed vehicles “of non-human origin” and even alien bodies, all without proper Congressional oversight.

This has brought renewed media attention to AARO, the Pentagon’s UFO investigatory office, and its director, Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick. This week, he gave an interview to ABC News where he was asked about the possibility of extraterrestrial tech and if it concerned him. He responded by saying that “intelligent or extraterrestrial technical superiority” is a top concern for his office. He is only one of a number of officials who are suddenly feeling awfully free to use the “ET” word these days.

The scientist and military intelligence officer leading the Pentagon’s task force for unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) — which the public calls UFOs — says being caught off guard by “intelligent or extraterrestrial technical supremacy” remains a top concern as investigators analyze more than 800 cases of mysterious sightings reported by U.S. military personnel dating back decades.

“Data and science has to guide where you go, and we will follow the data,” Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick said last month, in an exclusive first interview after his appointment to the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO.

Congress established the office last year to coordinate efforts across federal agencies to “detect, identify and attribute” mysterious objects of interest in the air, in outer space and underwater, with special focus on mitigating potential threats to military operations and national security.

Having Kirkpatrick discuss this isn’t nearly as unusual as seeing ABC News hitting the subject in prime time and openly and repeatedly using the word “extraterrestrials.” And Kirkpatrick isn’t the only one. Go back and look at the language in Chuck Schumer’s NDAA amendment. He uses the words or phrases “extraterrestrial” or “non-human intelligence” more than a dozen times.

Stop and consider for a moment what that means. For a very long time and until quite recently, nobody said such things in public. Over the past six years or so it became acceptable to talk about unknown “nuts and bolts” objects flying around that might present a flight hazard or a threat to national security. But you didn’t talk about aliens. That’s the sort of thing that ended careers, whether you were in the government, the military, or the media. But now people are almost casually talking about ETs as if that’s just another item on the congressional agenda to deal with.

Also, what’s with these new conversations about “technical supremacy” in relation to possible extraterrestrials? Does the Pentagon know something they’re not telling us yet? Perhaps something rather dark? One of the (hopefully) crazier ideas making the rounds on social media is that Congress has found out from these whistleblowers that some aliens have grown tired of our crap and the way we keep stealing their ships and they’re on the way here to start kicking ass and taking names on an interplanetary scale. I certainly hope that’s crazy talk because I doubt it would wind up being as fun as it looks in some sci-fi movies.

We should also point out yet again, as I have previously, that the guy who started all of this, David Grusch, never actually said “extraterrestrials.” Go back and watch his interview with Australian investigative journalist Ross Coulthart on NewsNation. When Ross says “extraterrestrial,” Grusch corrects him and insists that he is saying “non-human intelligence” and he couldn’t definitely call it extraterrestrial. (Non-human could mean anything from dolphins to demons, though I would imagine dolphins would be fairly obvious and demons would be unlikely to be killed in a plane crash.) Also, in the same interview, when Ross uses the word “spacecraft,” Grusch says that you could say spacecraft, but it’s “probably not the right parlance.” Well, Dave, what would the right parlance be? What in the Sam Hill is going on and what does it all mean?

It sounds to me as if Grusch knows a lot more than he is willing or able to say so far. Perhaps we’ll find out more after next week’s hearings. Buckle up, campers. The ride may get a bit more bumpy from here going forward.