Eric Burlison

Eric Burlison is a Republican U.S. representative from Missouri and a core member of the House UAP disclosure bloc. In 2025 he hired whistleblower David Grusch as a special advisor, putting the movement's central witness on a congressional payroll.

A software consultant and state legislator before Congress, Burlison arrived in 2023 describing himself as skeptical of alien claims but troubled by classification abuse. Briefings, he has said, moved him toward taking the records fight seriously.

Burlison participated in the 2023 and 2024 UAP hearings, pressed the Intelligence Community Inspector General over the handling of the Grusch complaint, and pursued legislative text on UAP records access and whistleblower protection. Hiring Grusch in 2025 gave the House bloc in-house expertise on the classified landscape and was widely read as a statement that the whistleblower's information warranted permanent staff work. He has continued pressing for release of specific records through the PURSUE era.

Burlison is more measured than some colleagues: he emphasizes what Congress has not been shown rather than asserting what exists. His contribution is the Grusch hire and the steady conversion of hearing testimony into records requests.

Critics questioned the propriety and symbolism of hiring an active whistleblower as staff; supporters called it the most concrete pro-disclosure act any member had taken. Skeptics note his evidence remains the same testimony as everyone else's.

Burlison remains in the House with Grusch on staff, working the records and oversight track.