Removing the Stigma

Representative Robert Garcia of California has focused his UAP advocacy specifically on the stigma that prevents military pilots from reporting encounters — one of the most significant structural barriers to understanding the phenomenon. Garcia has pushed for legislative and policy changes that would allow pilots to report UAP sightings without fear of career consequences.

His collaboration with Ryan Graves — who founded Americans for Safe Aerospace precisely to address this problem — has translated Graves' testimony into specific policy proposals. Garcia has argued that the data gap created by institutional discouragement of UAP reporting is itself a national security problem, independent of whatever the phenomenon turns out to be.