UFO whistleblower David Grusch testified under oath his life was threatened and he was instructed to keep quiet about a secret government-run crashed UFO retrieval program.
Grusch added that he knows colleagues who were injured while reverse engineering UFO tech and by "people" within the government.
Grusch, Ryan Graves and David Fravor answered lawmakers' questions during Wednesday's House Oversight Committee hearing, which highlighted decades of alleged government secrecy around UFOs, now referred to as unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP).
"I can't get into the specifics in an open forum but … what I personally witnessed myself and my wife was very disturbing," said Grusch, a former U.S. intelligence officer and Air Force veteran. "I've faced brutal, unfortunate tactics" of retribution that he called "administrative terrorism."
He also said the government "absolutely" has UFO tech and "biologics" of "non-human origins" since the 1930s and knows the exact locations where they're being held.
He said he couldn't divulge specifics in an open forum because there's an open whistleblower reprisal program case against him, but he told lawmakers he can detail them in a classified setting.
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Graves, a former F-18 pilot with over a decade of service in the U.S. Navy, described his firsthand account of run-ins with UAPs, including the objects' abilities to accelerate, hold position against hurricane-force winds and outlast U.S. fighter jets.
And Fravor, a retired squad leader of the Black Aces who served 18 years as a Navy pilot, spotted what's become known as the "Tic Tac UFO" during a 2004 training mission, which is largely considered the strongest evidence of UFO and extraterrestrial existence.
It was "far superior to anything we had at the time, have today or are looking to develop in the next 10-plus years," Fravor said in his opening statement.
Each of their stories are well documented, but their testimony under oath takes news interviews to the next level and documents their comments in an official congressional record as a bipartisan movement pushes for UFO transparency and records disclosure.
All three whistleblowers described UFOs' physics-defying maneuvers, the objects' lack of propulsion systems and control surfaces, such as wings or engines, and the roadblocks to reporting UAPs.
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Each argued against the government's secrecy and over classification of UFO- and extraterrestrial-related records that have led to mistrust from the American people, developed a stigma around the topic and created a national security issue.
"I can tell you that advanced UAP are a national security and an aviation safety problem," Graves said in his opening statement. "Over time, UAP sightings became an open secret among our aircrew. They were a common occurrence, seen by most of my colleagues on radar and occasionally up close."
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., who has spearheaded the fight for UFO transparency, said, "We can't trust a government that does not trust its people."
Last week, the Senate passed bipartisan legislation to declassify and release UFO-related records that brought political foes like Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., together.
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House Oversight Committee Chairman Robert Garcia, D-Calif., said it's important to move forward in a bipartisan manner "to cut through misinformation and to look at the facts in a serious and thoughtful manner."
After listening to the witnesses' testimony for more than two hours, Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., said there's "clearly a threat to the national security of the United States."
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Grusch, a decorated Air Force veteran and intelligence officer, turned up the heat on the UFO topic to a boiling point after he went public and essentially forced Congress' hand to make the hearing happen.
But it hasn't come without consequences for Grusch.
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Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., asked Grusch, "Have you had instances that you were in fear for your life for addressing these issues?"
"Yes. Personally, yeah," he responded.
Susan Gough, a spokesperson for the Department of Defense authorized to speak on UFO-related matters, sent Fox News Digital a comment about 15 minutes into the 2½-hour hearing.
She said, to date, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) "has not discovered any verifiable information to substantiate claims that any programs regarding the possession or reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial materials have existed in the past or exist currently.
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"DoD takes public interest in UAP seriously," Gough said in her email. "The department is fully committed to openness and accountability to the American people, which it must balance with its obligation to protect sensitive information, sources and methods. DoD is also committed to timely and thorough reporting to Congress.
"AARO has established a safe and secure process for individuals to come forward with information to aid AARO in its congressionally-mandated historical review. AARO welcomes the opportunity to speak with any former or current government employee or contractor who believes they have information relevant to the historical review."
Gough said individuals "are still obligated to protect classified information and may not disclose classified information to the media, the public or anyone who does not have proper access," which includes public congressional hearings.
"There is no impediment to AARO receiving all UAP-related information, past or present, regardless of level or origin of classification," she said.
"By law, AARO may receive all UAP-related information, at all levels of classification, regardless of whether the original classification authority for such information is within DoD or the intelligence community."
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Grusch is a former combat officer in Afghanistan who served the National Reconnaissance Office as its representative to Congress’ Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force from 2019 to 2021.
WATCH: INTERVIEW WITH DAVID GRUSCH
Graves encountered several unexplained phenomena during his career, but 10 years later, he and his squadron still don't have answers to what they saw.
"While I was in the Navy, myself and others in my squadron had an experience that continues to this day and at first was something that we didn’t have a name for," Graves said in previous interviews.
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Fravor is a former squadron leader who served 18 years as a Navy pilot who spotted what's become known as the "Tic Tac UFO" during a 2004 training mission about 60 to 100 miles off the coast between San Diego and Ensenada, Mexico.
The initial sighting was described as a "white Tic Tac, about the same size as [an F/A-18] Hornet [fighter plane], 40 feet long with no wing …. just hanging close to the water" that seemed to mirror the pilot's movements before it suddenly disappeared.
The AARO, which is a specialized department at the Pentagon that investigates UAPs, is investigating about 800 cases, according to Director Sean Kirkpatrick. About 2% to 5% of the 800 cases that AARO is investigating are "truly anomalous," Kirkpatrick said.
NASA is also investigating UAPs, running on a separate but parallel track as AARO.
Both NASA and AARO are expected to release separate reports this summer.
