Tim Burchett is an American Republican politician and U.S. Representative for Tennessee's 2nd District whose public UAP role comes through congressional oversight, hearings, caucus work, and disclosure legislation rather than a firsthand anomaly claim.123
Tennessee Career Before the UAP Docket
The House Historian identifies Burchett as Timothy Burchett, born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on August 25, 1964, educated at Bearden High School and the University of Tennessee, and elected to Congress after service in the Tennessee House, Tennessee Senate, and Knox County mayor's office.1 His official biography says he took office in January 2019 after eight years as Knox County mayor and 16 years in the state legislature.4
The House Clerk lists Burchett in the 119th Congress as the Republican member for Tennessee's 2nd District, headquartered politically around Knoxville, with assignments on Foreign Affairs, Oversight and Government Reform, and Transportation and Infrastructure.2 His committee page records his Oversight subcommittee work on Delivering on Government Efficiency and Government Operations, and Chairman James Comer announced on January 9, 2026, that Burchett would chair the DOGE Subcommittee.56 His UAP work has run through House Oversight rather than a defense or intelligence committee.253
From Frustrated Hearing Observer to Public Advocate
Burchett's public UAP relevance was visible before the July 2023 whistleblower hearing. In an August 10, 2022 opinion piece, he argued that the June 2021 ODNI preliminary assessment and the May 2022 House Intelligence hearing had produced too little public information, and he called for Pentagon records, unclassified testimony from military witnesses, stigma reduction, and public reporting channels.7 That piece framed the issue as public transparency and flight safety, while acknowledging that many UFOs are misidentified weather phenomena, aircraft, balloons, or U.S. and foreign technology.7
By July 2023, Andrew Zhang reported for Politico that Burchett was one of Capitol Hill's loudest voices for UAP transparency, had said he was certain the federal government was covering up UFO documents, and was pushing for a House Oversight hearing with witnesses including David Grusch.8 Politico also reported the contemporaneous counterpoint: the Pentagon said no proof of alien life had surfaced, while the National Security Council said the administration was taking UAP reporting seriously through a dedicated Pentagon organization.8
Oversight Hearings and Witness Channels
At the July 26, 2023 House Oversight hearing, Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency, the printed transcript lists Ryan Graves, David Grusch, and David Fravor as witnesses; it also indexes three materials submitted by Burchett, including Jeremy Corbell's "The UAP Puzzle," a George Knapp statement, and an advanced-propulsion Defense Intelligence Reference Document.3 During questioning, Burchett pressed Fravor on the Tic Tac object's reported capabilities, asked Grusch about retaliation and alleged recovery programs, and returned to the problem of protected channels for UAP whistleblowers.3
The hearing did not authenticate Grusch's classified allegations in public. Grusch said program names, facilities, corporations, and details had been provided to inspectors general or committees and could not be discussed openly, while Burchett and other members argued that congressional access was being constrained.3
Caucus Work and Disclosure Bills
Burchett's office announced on August 22, 2023, that he had launched a bipartisan UAP Caucus and led Jared Moskowitz, Anna Paulina Luna, Nancy Mace, Eric Burlison, and Andy Ogles in a letter to Intelligence Community Inspector General Thomas Monheim about Grusch's testimony.9 The release said the members sought follow-up information about people and facilities allegedly connected to crash retrieval and reverse-engineering programs.9
On May 16, 2024, Burchett introduced H.R. 8424, the UAP Transparency Act, with Moskowitz, Luna, and Burlison; the bill would have required federal departments and agencies to declassify and post UAP-related documents, reports, and records within 270 days after enactment.10 On February 11, 2025, he introduced H.R. 1187, a new UAP Transparency Act in the 119th Congress, with the same 270-day public-release structure and quarterly reporting to House Oversight and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.11
Burchett also moved the issue into statutory whistleblower language. On August 29, 2025, he introduced H.R. 5060, the UAP Whistleblower Protection Act, for himself and Luna; the bill text would add protections for federal civilian employees, FBI employees, Defense Department personnel and contractors, federal civilian contractors, and intelligence-community personnel who disclose use of federal funds to evaluate or research unidentified anomalous phenomenon material.12
The 2024 and 2025 Hearing Cycle
The November 13, 2024 hearing, Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth, featured retired Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet, Lue Elizondo, Michael Shellenberger, and Mike Gold as witnesses.13 The transcript says Mace thanked Burchett, Burlison, Luna, Moskowitz, and Robert Garcia for pushing UAP transparency, and records that Burchett had documents related to the alleged Immaculate Constellation program distributed to members and entered into the record.13
The September 9, 2025 House Oversight Task Force hearing, Restoring Public Trust Through UAP Transparency and Whistleblower Protection, placed Burchett inside Luna's declassification task-force format.14 The transcript lists Jeffrey Nuccetelli, Alexandro Wiggins, George Knapp, Dylan Borland, and Joe Spielberger as witnesses, with Burchett questioning Knapp about alleged contractor custody of material, FOIA avoidance, Russian files, and claimed corporate possession of records or material.14 In a later round, Burchett asked Borland whether AARO's public extraterrestrial-evidence statement was misleading; Borland answered by distinguishing "scientific evidence of extraterrestrials" from what he claimed was happening.14
Official Counter-Record
The 2021 ODNI preliminary assessment said limited high-quality reporting prevented firm conclusions, identified 144 U.S. Government reports, found one high-confidence balloon explanation, and warned that UAP probably lacked a single explanation.15 AARO's 2024 historical review said it found no evidence that a U.S. Government investigation, academic-sponsored research, or official review panel had confirmed a UAP sighting as extraterrestrial technology, and no empirical evidence that the government or private companies had reverse-engineered extraterrestrial technology.16 AARO's fiscal year 2024 consolidated report said it received 757 reports during the covered period, resolved 118 as prosaic objects, left many cases unresolved, and had discovered no evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity, or technology.17