Testimony and several reports have exposed unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings across the country amid the national attention on apparent drone observations over recent weeks. Luiz Elizondo, the former head of the Defense Department's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, and other witnesses testified before Congress last month about an alleged government group "hid[ing] the fact that we are not alone in the cosmos." "I believe that we as Americans can handle the truth. And I also believe the world deserves the truth," Elizondo said, urging Congress to enact legislation protecting whistleblowers too afraid to come forward. This UFO was photographed when it hovered for 15 minutes near the Holloman Air Development Center in Alamogordo, N.M., on Dec. 16, 1957. The hearing was part of a larger effort by lawmakers to investigate UFOs, or unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAPs), and determine whether elements within the government are unlawfully withholding evidence from Congress.