Thank you. I know now we’re going to be making some closing remarks, and so I just want to just say a few things first to our witnesses.
I want to thank all of you for being here with us today. I know that it takes a lot, a lot of courage. You’re telling really important information to this committee, and I just want to thank you also for all three of your service to our country.
I also want to just note that today’s hearing was both important but also serious. And I want to thank our subcommittee chairman, Mr. Groffman, I think, for running a very fair and substantive hearing.
I do want to thank the committee staff on both sides for the amount of work that it took to put this hearing in place and certainly to all the members that have been involved in this issue prior to the hearing. I also want to note for our witnesses and for the public that I’m a freshman member of Congress and I’ve only been here for seven months, but this is by far the most bipartisan conversation and discussion that I have seen happen in the Congress. And I think that a topic of this significance, as it relates to our national security, as it relates to information that we’re trying to gather for the American public, does bring people together.
And I think that’s been really great to see. I think it’s also important to note for the public today in our hearing, we had on our side also both our full ranking member, which is Mr. Raskin, and our vice ranking member, which is Ms. Ocasio Cortez, both here at our hearing. I think it shows the importance and seriousness that our side of the aisle is taking to this important hearing, but also the broader issue as it relates to working with our Republican counterparts on this committee. I want to additionally add that I think and I encourage I think it’s really important that we have and continue these discussions and these hearings.
Clearly, there’s a lot of information that we don’t know, but it’s also very clear that we have to continue our investigation and accountability on asking the right questions and ensuring that they’re part of the public record. One thing that was important today is some folks might wonder why are we asking questions that might already be out there or that have been asked before? It’s important that they’re asked and put into the public record as it relates to this committee. And so I want to thank you for answering some questions multiple times.
I know not just in maybe meetings you had with some members, but also here in the public. Let me also just add an additional note, that it’s important also that our friends in the media and those that are not just reporting on this hearing, but that have reported on this topic and that may in the future. The media has an important role in this process.
And it’s very important that the media engages does independent investigation and reports on not just what happened today, but what they see independently as what is happening around UAPs in the broader community. That is also an important public benefit that we have in trying to get the information and the facts as it relates to this. Let me also just say finally that as a teacher and an educator and a longtime teacher and researcher, that I also really believe in following facts, in doing your homework and making sure that you follow science as we try to get as much information as possible.
And so I want to thank you all for agreeing to do that today. Transparency is a cornerstone of government. We live in a vast galaxy, a lot of unanswered questions.
And thank you all for being here today. Mr. Chairman.