{"type":"people","slug":"eric-burlison","title":"Eric Burlison","url":"https://disclosdex.com/people/eric-burlison","description":"Missouri representative who tied UAP disclosure to Oversight hearings, whistleblower protections, records preservation, and AARO scrutiny","date":"2023-07-25T00:00:00.000Z","tags":["Politician"],"updated":"2026-05-18T00:00:00.000Z","disclosureRating":4,"connectionCount":15,"content":{"markdown":"Eric Burlison is the Republican U.S. representative for Missouri's 7th Congressional District, serving in the 118th and 119th Congresses after winning the seat in 2022.[^1][^2] His UAP relevance comes from a public Oversight hearing record, an informal House UAP network, legislation on records and whistleblowers, and later Task Force work on declassification.[^3][^4][^5]\n\n## Missouri Seat and Oversight Authority\n\nCongress.gov lists Burlison as a Republican House member for Missouri's 7th District from 2023 onward.[^1] His official House biography describes him as a sixth-generation Missourian, former software consultant and investment adviser, former Missouri state representative, and Missouri state senator for the 20th District from 2019 to 2023.[^2]\n\nIn the 119th Congress, Burlison's official committees page listed him under Oversight and Accountability and Transportation and Infrastructure, with Oversight assignments on the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs as chairman and the Department of Government Efficiency subcommittee.[^3] The same page listed the UAP Caucus among his caucuses.[^3] Those roles are separate from proving any UAP claim, but they place him inside the House network that hosted the UAP hearings, letters, and declassification task-force activity discussed below.[^3][^5][^14]\n\n## Constituent Questions and Grusch Claims\n\nBurlison's first clear UAP entry point was local and procedural. On July 25, 2023, his office solicited questions from Missouri's 7th District constituents for the next day's Oversight hearing on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, naming Ryan Graves, David Fravor, and [David Grusch](/people/david-grusch) as witnesses.[^6]\n\nAt the July 26, 2023 hearing, Chairman Glenn Grothman waived Burlison onto the subcommittee for questioning.[^7] Burlison opened by describing himself as skeptical and pressed Grusch on whether he had personally seen recovered craft or bodies, whether Grusch could discuss those claims in open session, whether \"interdimensional\" framing was documented or theoretical, and whether some retrieval cases could involve one government component mistaking another component's aircraft for something alien.[^7] Grusch answered that he could not discuss some details publicly, had not personally witnessed bodies, described interdimensionality as a theoretical framework discussion, and said he was not aware of a historical case matching Burlison's hypothetical agency-confusion scenario.[^7]\n\nThat exchange matters because Burlison did not simply repeat Grusch's claims. The transcript shows him separating testimony from personal observation, asking for direct documentation, and testing a prosaic compartmentalization explanation for some alleged crash-retrieval stories.[^7]\n\n## Caucus Network and Select-Subcommittee Push\n\nOn August 22, 2023, [Tim Burchett](/people/tim-burchett)'s office announced the launch of the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Caucus and said Burchett, [Jared Moskowitz](/people/jared-moskowitz), [Anna Paulina Luna](/people/anna-paulina-luna), Nancy Mace, Burlison, and [Andy Ogles](/people/andy-ogles) sent a follow-up letter to the Intelligence Community Inspector General about Grusch's testimony.[^4] That source places Burlison inside the early bipartisan House UAP network rather than only in a one-off hearing role.[^4]\n\nOn March 12, 2024, Burlison led a bipartisan letter to Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries requesting a select subcommittee under House Oversight to investigate the federal government's UAP response.[^8][^9] The letter cited Grusch's 2023 testimony, alleged crash-retrieval and reverse-engineering programs, spending questions, special-access restrictions, and the need for access to classified and unclassified UAP material.[^9] Signers included Burlison, Burchett, Moskowitz, Luna, Ogles, Mace, Troy Nehls, and Matt Gaetz.[^9]\n\n## Records and Whistleblower Legislation\n\nOn May 16, 2024, H.R. 8424, the UAP Transparency Act, was introduced by Burchett with Moskowitz, Luna, and Burlison named in the bill text.[^10] The bill would have directed agencies holding UAP records to declassify and publish those records within 270 days of enactment and would have required quarterly implementation reports to Congress.[^10]\n\nOn November 12, 2024, H.R. 10111, the UAP Whistleblower Protection Act, was introduced by Burchett with Mace, Luna, and Burlison named in the bill text.[^11] The bill proposed adding disclosures about federal taxpayer funds used to evaluate or research UAP material to whistleblower-protected categories for federal civilian employees, the FBI, and the Department of Defense.[^11]\n\nOn August 29, 2025, Burlison's office said he had submitted the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act of 2025 as an amendment to the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act.[^12] His office described the proposed amendment as prohibiting destruction or alteration of UAP records, creating a National Archives UAP records collection, establishing an independent review board, requiring public disclosure within 25 years unless the President certified a national-security reason for delay, and creating continuing congressional oversight.[^12] Those were proposed legislative mechanisms, not evidence that the underlying UAP claims had been proven.[^12]\n\n## Task Force Role and 2025 Hearing Questions\n\nOn February 18, 2025, House Oversight announced that Luna would chair the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets and listed Burlison among the Republican members with Mace, Burchett, Lauren Boebert, Eli Crane, and Brandon Gill.[^5] On March 27, 2025, Burlison's office announced Grusch as a special advisor to support Burlison's UAP transparency work and his work on the declassification task force.[^13]\n\nThe Task Force held the September 9, 2025 hearing \"[Restoring Public Trust Through UAP Transparency and Whistleblower Protection](/events/2025-09-09-restoring-public-trust-uap-hearing),\" with witnesses [Jeffrey Nuccetelli](/people/jeffrey-nuccetelli), Chief [Alexandro Wiggins](/people/alexandro-wiggins), [George Knapp](/people/george-knapp), [Dylan Borland](/people/dylan-borland), and [Joe Spielberger](/people/joe-spielberger) of the Project On Government Oversight.[^14] The Oversight wrap-up said members examined disclosure concerns, information held by federal agencies, [All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office](/organizations/all-domain-anomaly-resolution-office) transparency issues, intelligence-community transparency, and whistleblower protections.[^15]\n\nThe hearing transcript records Burlison participating in discussion of a video described during the proceeding as October 30, 2024 MQ-9 footage of an object off Yemen being hit by a Hellfire missile and continuing to move.[^16] Burlison said he would not speculate on what the object was and asked why Congress was being blocked from information.[^16]\n\nBurlison then asked Knapp about a claim attributed to James Lacatski concerning government possession of a non-human intelligence craft, and asked Borland whether he had classified exposure to undeniable confirmation of non-human intelligence technology and whether BAASS Systems was involved in reverse-engineering exploitation.[^16] Borland answered that the matter required a SCIF discussion.[^16] The transcript therefore documents Burlison pursuing the claim chain while also showing that the witness did not provide public confirmation in the hearing room.[^16]\n\nThe same hearing record shows Burlison asking Wiggins what internal protocols, witness debriefings, and cross-agency documentation should exist so credible sightings are preserved for oversight bodies.[^16] Oversight's wrap-up highlighted that question, and Wiggins answered that active-duty personnel needed a clear reporting path and protection from reprisal.[^15][^16] Later, Burlison asked Luna whether the Task Force had subpoena authority, and Luna answered that subpoenas would have to go through the full committee.[^16]\n\n## 2026 File Releases and Preservation Requests\n\nOn May 8, 2026, Burlison's office commended President Donald Trump's administration for what the office called an initial release of new UAP files.[^17] The same press release said the release was part of the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters, an interagency effort involving the White House, ODNI, the Department of Energy, the Department of War's AARO, NASA, the FBI, and intelligence components, with files to be housed at WAR.GOV/UFO.[^17] The verifiable claim in this dossier is the member-office statement and described release mechanism, not an independent validation of every file's contents.[^17]\n\nAlso on May 8, 2026, Burlison's office said he sent MIT Lincoln Laboratory a letter requesting preservation and review of an identified reel-to-reel recording tied to early federal UAP investigations.[^18] The office identified the recording as \"AF-ATIC-FILM, 03/52,\" labeled \"flying saucer talk,\" with former Air Force officer Edward J. Ruppelt listed as briefer, and said Burlison asked MIT Lincoln Laboratory to determine the recording's status and coordinate with the National Archives and Records Administration.[^18] That request is a records-preservation action; it does not establish what is on the recording.[^18]\n\n## Counter-Record and Evidentiary Limits\n\nThe official counter-record is substantial. In March 2024, the Department of Defense said AARO's historical review found no verifiable evidence that the U.S. government or private companies had access to or were reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology, and no confirmation from any U.S. government investigation, academic-sponsored research, or official review panel that a UAP sighting represented extraterrestrial technology.[^19]\n\nThe FY 2024 ODNI and AARO annual report said AARO received 757 UAP reports for the May 1, 2023 to June 1, 2024 reporting period, resolved 118 cases to prosaic objects, had found no evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity, or technology, and remained constrained by lack of timely and actionable sensor data.[^20] The same report said many cases remained unresolved and that 444 cases were placed in an active archive because they lacked sufficient data for analysis.[^20]\n\nBurlison's documented role is therefore best read as congressional disclosure advocacy and oversight pressure: constituent questioning, caucus coordination, select-subcommittee requests, bill support, declassification task-force membership, witness questioning, and archive-preservation requests.[^4][^6][^9][^10][^11][^12][^16][^18] The public record does not independently verify non-human technology claims; it shows Burlison repeatedly trying to force records, witnesses, agencies, and contractors into reviewable channels.[^16][^19][^20]\n\n## References\n\n[^1]: [Congress.gov: Representative Eric Burlison](https://www.congress.gov/member/eric-burlison/B001316)\n[^2]: [Representative Eric Burlison: About](https://burlison.house.gov/about)\n[^3]: [Representative Eric Burlison: Committees and Caucuses](https://burlison.house.gov/about/committees-and-caucuses)\n[^4]: [Representative Tim Burchett: Rep. Burchett launches UAP caucus, leads letter to Intelligence Community Inspector General about UAP retrieval programs](https://burchett.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-burchett-launches-uap-caucus-leads-letter-intelligence-community-inspector)\n[^5]: [House Oversight Committee: Chairman Comer and Rep. Luna Announce Republican Appointments to Declassification and Transparency Task Force](https://oversight.house.gov/release/chairman-comer-and-rep-luna-announce-republican-appointments-to-declassification-and-transparency-task-force/)\n[^6]: [Representative Eric Burlison: Burlison Soliciting Constituent Questions for UAP Hearing Tomorrow (7/26)](https://burlison.house.gov/media/press-releases/burlison-soliciting-constituent-questions-uap-hearing-tomorrow-726)\n[^7]: [Congress.gov: Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency](https://www.congress.gov/event/118th-congress/house-event/116282/text)\n[^8]: [Representative Eric Burlison: Rep. Burlison Leads Letter Requesting the Creation of a Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Select Subcommittee](https://burlison.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-burlison-leads-letter-requesting-creation-unidentified-aerial-phenomena)\n[^9]: [Congress of the United States: March 12, 2024 UAP Select Subcommittee Letter](https://burlison.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/burlison.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/UAP%20Select%20Subcommittee%2003.12.pdf)\n[^10]: [Congress.gov: H.R. 8424, UAP Transparency Act](https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/8424/text)\n[^11]: [Congress.gov: H.R. 10111, UAP Whistleblower Protection Act](https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/10111/text/ih)\n[^12]: [Representative Eric Burlison: Rep. Burlison Introduces UAP Disclosure Act of 2025 as Amendment to NDAA](https://burlison.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-burlison-introduces-uap-disclosure-act-2025-amendment-ndaa)\n[^13]: [Representative Eric Burlison: Rep. Burlison Welcomes Former U.S. Air Force Officer David Grusch as Special Advisor](https://burlison.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-burlison-welcomes-former-us-air-force-officer-david-grusch-special-advisor)\n[^14]: [House Oversight Committee: Restoring Public Trust Through UAP Transparency and Whistleblower Protection](https://oversight.house.gov/hearing/restoring-public-trust-through-uap-transparency-and-whistleblower-protection/)\n[^15]: [House Oversight Committee: Hearing Wrap Up: Government Must Be More Transparent About UAPs](https://oversight.house.gov/release/hearing-wrap-up-government-must-be-more-transparent-about-uaps/)\n[^16]: [Congress.gov: CHRG-119hhrg61718, Restoring Public Trust Through UAP Transparency and Whistleblower Protection](https://www.congress.gov/119/chrg/CHRG-119hhrg61718/CHRG-119hhrg61718.pdf)\n[^17]: [Representative Eric Burlison: Burlison Commends President Trump's Historic Release of UAP Files](https://burlison.house.gov/media/press-releases/burlison-commends-president-trumps-historic-release-uap-files-0)\n[^18]: [Representative Eric Burlison: Burlison Requests Review of Identified 1952 UAP Recording](https://burlison.house.gov/media/press-releases/burlison-requests-review-identified-1952-uap-recording)\n[^19]: [Department of Defense: Statement by Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder on the Historical Record Report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, Volume 1](https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3700894/statement-by-pentagon-press-secretary-maj-gen-pat-ryder-on-the-historical-recor/)\n[^20]: [ODNI and AARO: Fiscal Year 2024 Consolidated Annual Report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena](https://www.odni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/DOD-AARO-Consolidated-Annual-Report-on-UAP-Nov2024.pdf)","readingTime":"9 min read"},"relatedRecords":[{"ref":{"type":"people","slug":"tim-burchett","title":"Tim Burchett","url":"https://disclosdex.com/people/tim-burchett"},"direction":"mutual","weight":2},{"ref":{"type":"updates","slug":"2026-historical-corpus-expansion","title":"Historical corpus expansion and dossier deepening","url":"https://disclosdex.com/updates/2026-historical-corpus-expansion"},"direction":"inbound","weight":1},{"ref":{"type":"people","slug":"andy-ogles","title":"Andy Ogles","url":"https://disclosdex.com/people/andy-ogles"},"direction":"outbound","weight":1},{"ref":{"type":"events","slug":"2025-09-09-restoring-public-trust-uap-hearing","title":"Restoring Public Trust Through UAP Transparency and Whistleblower Protection","url":"https://disclosdex.com/events/2025-09-09-restoring-public-trust-uap-hearing"},"direction":"outbound","weight":1},{"ref":{"type":"people","slug":"jeffrey-nuccetelli","title":"Jeffrey Nuccetelli","url":"https://disclosdex.com/people/jeffrey-nuccetelli"},"direction":"outbound","weight":1},{"ref":{"type":"people","slug":"alexandro-wiggins","title":"Alexandro Wiggins","url":"https://disclosdex.com/people/alexandro-wiggins"},"direction":"outbound","weight":1},{"ref":{"type":"people","slug":"dylan-borland","title":"Dylan Borland","url":"https://disclosdex.com/people/dylan-borland"},"direction":"outbound","weight":1},{"ref":{"type":"people","slug":"joe-spielberger","title":"Joe Spielberger","url":"https://disclosdex.com/people/joe-spielberger"},"direction":"outbound","weight":1},{"ref":{"type":"organizations","slug":"all-domain-anomaly-resolution-office","title":"All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)","url":"https://disclosdex.com/organizations/all-domain-anomaly-resolution-office"},"direction":"outbound","weight":1},{"ref":{"type":"people","slug":"anna-paulina-luna","title":"Anna Paulina Luna","url":"https://disclosdex.com/people/anna-paulina-luna"},"direction":"outbound","weight":1},{"ref":{"type":"people","slug":"david-grusch","title":"David Grusch","url":"https://disclosdex.com/people/david-grusch"},"direction":"outbound","weight":1},{"ref":{"type":"people","slug":"jared-moskowitz","title":"Jared Moskowitz","url":"https://disclosdex.com/people/jared-moskowitz"},"direction":"outbound","weight":1},{"ref":{"type":"people","slug":"george-knapp","title":"George Knapp","url":"https://disclosdex.com/people/george-knapp"},"direction":"outbound","weight":1},{"ref":{"type":"people","slug":"dina-titus","title":"Dina Titus","url":"https://disclosdex.com/people/dina-titus"},"direction":"inbound","weight":1}],"citation":{"canonicalUrl":"https://disclosdex.com/people/eric-burlison","title":"Eric Burlison","publisher":"Disclosdex","retrievedFrom":"https://disclosdex.com/api/v1/people/eric-burlison","license":"CC-BY-4.0"},"occupation":"U.S. Representative"}