Alien Cover-up Conspiracy? Barrister Claims 'Congress Has Been Misled for 80 Years' Over UFO Tech

Barrister Jonathan Caplan KC told Sky News on Wednesday that Congress has been misled about UFOs for 80 years, insisting there is 'no question' aliens have visited Earth.

The King's Counsel, who says he has studied the phenomenon for around five decades, made the claim while promoting his new book, Not for Disclosure, in an interview with presenter Wilfred Frost.

Public interest in the subject surged after former US intelligence officer David Grusch testified under oath to Congress in 2023 that, he alleged, the United States had recovered crashed non-human craft, a moment that, according to the book's publishers, shifted global attention overnight.

Caplan's book, released in June by Century, an imprint of Penguin Random House, went on to become a Sunday Times bestseller.

Frost, clearly taken aback, pointed out that Caplan's entire legal career rests on evidence and proof, then asked him directly whether he genuinely believed aliens had visited Earth. 'There's no question,' Caplan replied, without hesitation.

He said the debate had moved past whether the phenomenon is real. In Washington, he told Frost, it is 'an open secret' that the phenomenon is real, and he argued that the real fight now is over disclosure.

'The debate now is trying to force disclosure because Congress has been misled for 80 years,' Caplan claimed on air. 'And governments in many countries around the world have followed the same policy to hide this phenomenon from more public exposure.'

How Caplan Attempts To Back His UFO Claims

Caplan was careful to draw a line between his position and the accounts of people who simply say they've seen something odd in the sky.

He told Frost his conclusions rest on data, not witness testimony alone, and cited reports of unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs, appearing over nuclear facilities and during military exercises.

He traced the origins of official secrecy to the 1940s, when he says the US moved to debunk the subject, a stance he claims Britain and other Five Eyes nations later adopted. Caplan argued that many intelligence officials have since come forward to him privately to attest to what he calls a genuine phenomenon.

He went further, alleging that public money had been diverted to fund UAP programmes without proper Congressional oversight, a claim he repeated but did not support with specific figures during the broadcast.

It is worth noting that none of these allegations has been independently verified beyond Caplan's own account, so readers should treat his claims, particularly those about funding, with caution.

Caplan's book, running to nearly 300 pages, also discusses material he links to John F. Kennedy and what he describes as secret meetings involving President Truman and his defence secretary James Forrestal, alongside documents tied to the so‑called Majestic 12 group.

The Spectator called it 'the most persuasive defence yet of the cover‑up theory,' though reviewers there also highlighted some of Caplan's more eyebrow‑raising claims, including his suggestion that as many as 40 different alien species may have been encountered.

Two Theories Behind the Alleged Alien Secrecy

Pressed on why governments would sit on such explosive information, Caplan offered two explanations rather than one tidy answer.

He argues that whichever nation cracks the underlying technology would gain a serious military and economic edge, and he claims that both the US and other countries have recovered crashed craft material dating back to 1940.

The second theory is messier and, frankly, a bit more human. Caplan suggested that governments themselves may not have the answers, no clarity on where these objects originate, what their occupants might want, or whether they pose any threat at all.

Releasing that uncertainty to the public, he argued, risks triggering exactly the kind of panic officials have spent decades trying to avoid.

He added that, in his view, the US, China and Russia all run active programmes examining the issue, though he gave no further detail on their scope during the interview.

As of publication, Sky News had not aired or published any follow‑up statement from the Pentagon or Congress responding to Caplan's specific allegations, and none of his central claims about hidden funding, crashed material or alleged alien encounters has been independently confirmed.

Whether Washington ever does force the disclosure Caplan describes remains, for now, an open question.