(NewsNation) — At a House of Representatives committee hearing on unidentified anomalous phenomena Wednesday, lawmakers are hearing from a number of witnesses about what they have seen and heard about UFOs. The hearing, titled “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth," opened with Rep. Nancy Mace, R- S.C., laying out the goals including finding out the extent of Pentagon programs investigating UAPs and any information that may have been recovered, including any information or lack thereof on alien life or technology of non-human origin. Mace noted a lack of trust in agencies including the Defense Department due to a reluctance by those entities to declassify information. What UAP witnesses recommend for congressional action "As we continue to investigate these phenomena, we must do so with the mind of protecting our country, advancing scientific discovery and upholding the trust of the American people, who right now I don't think have trust, which is obvious. I don't have trust," said Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Wisc. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., also addressed the stigma around the subject, pointing to a lack of official information that pushed UFOs and UAPs to the fringes. "A void of information has allowed conspiracy theories to fester," Moskowitz said. Witnesses decry culture of secrecy around UFOs Retired Navy Rear Adm. Timothy Gallaudet said in his opening statement that he first became aware of UAPs during his career as a meteorologist with the Navy and pushed back against secrecy about UAPs. "We should boldly face this new reality and learn from it," Gallaudet said. He also said he felt a moral obligation to come forward and vouch for the credibility of whistleblowers who have come forward with their UAP experiences, many of whom have faced ridicule for their claims. Pentagon insider Luis Elizondo accused a small group of government insiders of keeping the truth about UAPs from the public. "Excessive secrecy has led to grave misdeeds against loyal civil servants, military personnel and the public, all to hide the fact that we are not alone in the cosmos," he said. Who is Michael Gold? Ex-NASA official to testify at UAP hearing When asked directly if the government has secret UAP craft retrieval programs, Elizondo gave an unequivocal yes but declined to answer if he had been read into such programs in a public setting. Former NASA administrator Michael Gold pushed back against stigma about UAPs, noting that it discourages scientific efforts to determine what is happening. Elizondo described UAPs as "an enigma and a frustration," noting that the technology outperforms anything the U.S. currently has. Much of the testimony rehashed previous claims about secret programs with an emphasis on national security, the need for scientific research without stigma and concerns about why information is being kept from both the public and Congress. NewsNation digital producer Steph Whiteside contributed to this article.