Stephen Bassett

First and only UFO lobbyist in the U.S.

Name	Stephen Bassett
Age	80
Born	1946
Famous for	Lobbying for UFOs in front of the U.S. Congress

It’s no longer about lights in the sky; it’s about lies on the ground. We don’t need further proof; we simply need confirmation—these are the words Stephen Bassett lives by as the U.S.’s first and only UFO lobbyist. 

He believes that, for our understanding of the UAP/UFO phenomenon to move forward, world leaders, especially the U.S., need to end the “truth embargo”—the deliberate cover-up of the reality of this phenomenon—once and for all. 

Let’s get to know this man, Stephen Bassett, and the things he has done in the last 30 years to achieve his goal.

Who Is Stephen Bassett?

Stephen Basset was the son of a Navy officer, spending his growing years moving from place to place wherever his father was assigned, including California, Florida, and the Philippines.

In his senior year of high school, amid the Vietnam War, he was accepted to the Air Force Academy, but he wasn’t drafted because he failed the physical exam.

Later, he entered Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, and earned his physics degree in 1970.

Bassett admitted that he didn’t have enough time and smarts to practice his degree, and so he spent the next 25 years bouncing between jobs: 

• An Environmental Protection Agency official
• A professional tennis player
• A business consultant

Thankfully, he received subsidies from his father’s inheritance, which gave him some financial freedom to do what he wanted during this period. 

It wasn’t until 1995 that he finally found a cause he could dedicate himself to.

How Did Stephen Bassett Became Interested in UFOs?

Since childhood, Stephen Bassett has been into science fiction. One day, in the winter of 1995, he read Abduction: Human Encounters with Aliens by John E. Mack, the renowned Harvard psychiatrist and professor and Pulitzer Prize winner.

Reading the contactees’ and abductees’ accounts of their extraterrestrial encounters awakened his interest in the UAP/UFO phenomenon.

In January 1996, he joined Mack’s Program for Extraordinary Experience Research (PEER) in Boston as a volunteer, having worked in its development office. He was on a quest “to assist all those who were laboring to get information out to the public.”

What Drove Stephen Bassett to Take an Active Role in Ufology? 

I’m realizing there are massive secrets out there in the possession of our U.S. government that have been contained from us.

Stephen Bassett considers his participation in the UFO advocacy “a gift of a second life.” So, it’s understandable that he felt frustrated at how people in government, academe, and the media made fun of the subject during his time with PEER.

He argued that the UFO community had enough evidence “to prove the extraterrestrial presence ten times over.”

Eventually, he realized that the powers that be wouldn’t pay attention to it, no matter how much evidence they piled up on their front door. What they needed was to resolve the issue by political means.

So, in July 1996, he left PEER and moved to close to the center of power: Washington.

What Has Stephen Bassett Done Since Then?

In Washington, no one takes your issue seriously unless you have a lobbyist, a PAC, and press clippings. My job is to make sure we have all those things.

Stephen Basset only has one goal: to have the government end what he coined the “truth embargo.” This truth embargo refers to the world leaders’ intentional act of keeping information about the UAP/UFO phenomenon from getting out. 

Here are the things he has done since 1996 to realize this 30-year-old goal:

He Registered as a UFO Lobbyist

Bassett has always believed that the path toward ending the truth embargo lies in the House and the Senate. So, the moment he arrived in Washington, he immediately filed his official lobbying registration forms. 

In his capacity as a UFO lobbyist, he will:

• Press Congress to hold public hearings on the UFO issues
• Seek the U.S. government’s formal acknowledgement of the extraterrestrial presence

He Established PRG and X-PPAC

To help in realizing his goal, Bassett founded two organizations: 

• Paradigm Research Group (PRG) in July 1996
• Extraterrestrial Phenomena Political Action Committee (X-PACC) in July 1999

The Paradigm Research Group

PRG is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit established to provide pro bono representation for like-minded organizations, such as CSETI, Stargate International, and The Enterprise Mission. 

It assists them in:

• Holding press conferences
• Seeking UAP legislation and congressional hearings
• Connecting with witnesses wanting to share their testimony

The Extraterrestrial Phenomena Political Action Committee

X-PPAC is a political action committee (PAC) established under PRG to “directly target the politics of UFO/ET phenomena.”

It has three missions:

• Get the government to stop hiding information about possible extraterrestrial life and to work with the public to create related policies.
• Reduce the massive secrecy system that has grown in the U.S. government since World War II.
• Release the hidden technology kept secret under the National Security Act. This technology could help address environmental damage and other serious threats humanity faces.

As of now, X-PACC is on hiatus and will remain that way until disclosure happens.

He Participated in Politics

To speed up the progress of ending the truth embargo in Congress, Bassett had engaged in politics in two instances. 

The first was with Republican Frances Emma Barwood, a city councilwoman in Phoenix, AZ. He helped her with:

• Dealing with her political opponents’ attempts to discredit her for publicly speaking about the lack of proper investigation of the Phoenix Lights
• Launching her election campaign as Arizona’s Secretary of State and as the candidate who’d publicly address the extraterrestrial issue 

The second was his run for Maryland’s 8th district in 2002 as an independent congressional candidate. He knew he had no chance of winning. This was all a UFO activist campaign in disguise, and he explained the strategy behind it in his interview with PRAVDA.ru: 

The strategy is to get on the ballot and then challenge the two-party candidates with questions relating to the core themes, to take advantage of all the national press this particular race will attract, and to give confidence to other candidates across the country to come forward and speak to the issue of the UFO/ET reality. 

He Held a Mock Congressional Hearing

Bassett says that getting that congressional hearing will mean the end of the UFO cover-up. So, as early as January 2003, plans were underway to hold a week-long mock hearing. “Its purpose is nothing less than disclosure,” he added.

Fast-forward 10 years, and he and the PRG finally held the Citizen Hearing on Disclosure (CHD) at the National Press Club in Washington. From April 29 to May 3, 2013, 42 witnesses from 10 countries presented their accounts and evidence before six former members of Congress.

Among those who participated were:

• Sen. Mike Gravel
• Cong. Roscoe Bartlett
• Cong. Merrill Cook
• Cong. Darlene Hooley
• Cong. Carolyn Kilpatrick
• Cong. Lynn Woolsey
• Daniel Sheehan
• Joseph Buchman
• Stanton Friedman
• Nick Pope
• John Callahan
• Steven Greer
• Wilson Picler
• Jessie Marcel Jr.
• Paul Hellyer
• Robert Salas
• Linda Moulton Howe
• Ademar José Gevaerd
• Richard Dolan
• James Fox
• Jaime Antonio Huneeus
• Roger Leir
• Gary Heseltine
• Robert Wood
• Grant Cameron
• James Penniston

Then, in November 2014, PRG shipped 10-disk DVD sets containing a total of 30 hours of video to all congressional offices nationwide. Here, they’ll see “how a real congressional hearing would play out”—from the type of witnesses there would be and the quality of their testimony to the committee members’ reactions and questions.

Along with the DVDs were letters signed by the 42 witnesses requesting new congressional hearings. The PRG also sent announcements about this shipment to the social media accounts and email addresses of these congressional offices.

If interested, you can watch the hearing for free on their website: https://www.citizenhearing.org/watch-the-testimony. 

He Engages the Media and the Public

The officials on Capitol Hill haven’t been warm in their welcome of Bassett. In fact, in his first three years as a UFO lobbyist, he only met three Congress members. The rest of the time, he was facing interns. 

This resistance had him change tactics. Rather than courting the powers that be, he’d “lobby the media.” With plenty of media coverage, he’ll be able to put himself in front of not only the U.S. government but also the general public as someone with a cause worthy to be taken seriously.

And it worked—the Washingtonian Magazine, New York Times, Mother Jones, Politico, and other major publications couldn’t get enough of the U.S.’s first UFO lobbyist. You can read a full archive of them on PRG’s website: https://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/articles/PRGarticles.html. 

His journey and insights held in those papers helped him:

• Garner support from people inside and outside the UFO community
• Get connected with high-profile UAP/UFO witnesses 

What Legacy Has Stephen Bassett Carved in Ufology?

UFO researcher Richard Dolan once commended Steve Bassett for being the steady voice and inspiration “to keep the dream going” within the UFO community. And we can’t help but agree with Dolan.

Bassett has shifted the focus of full disclosure from proving sightings to pressing the U.S. government to publicly acknowledge what it knows about the phenomenon. He has lobbied lawmakers, entertained the media, and educated the public for 30 years and counting to realize this goal. 

His tenacity toward this advocacy alone made him one of the most recognizable and enduring figures in modern ufology.

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FAQ

Is Stephen Bassett a government official?

No. Bassett is a UFO lobbyist and activist—the first and only one in the U.S. as of 2026. His main objective is to have the U.S. government end the truth embargo. 

What is the disclosure movement?

The disclosure movement refers to the advocacy of the UFO community to have the government acknowledge and confirm that extraterrestrials have been engaging with humankind. 

Is the U.S. government coming close to full disclosure?

It might be close, especially now with President Trump’s post on social media about having relevant government offices release UAP/UFO files to the public.

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