The United States Congress Tuesday held its first hearing in half a century on unidentified flying objects. And no, there is still no government confirmation of extraterrestrial life. 

Testifying before a House Intelligence subcommittee, Pentagon officials did not disclose additional information from their ongoing investigation of hundreds of unexplained sightings in the sky. But they said they had picked a director for a new task force to coordinate data collection efforts on what the government has officially labeled "unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP)."

Ronald Moultrie, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, said the Pentagon was also trying to destigmatize the issue and encourage pilots and other military personnel to report anything unusual they see. 

"We want to know what's out there as much as you want to know what's out there," Moultrie told lawmakers, adding that he was a fan of science fiction himself. "We get the questions not just from you. We get it from family and we get them night and day."

Scott Bray, deputy director of naval intelligence, stood next to a television to show a short video taken from an F-18 military plane. The video shows a blue sky with passing clouds. In a single frame – which it took several minutes for staff in the room to queue up – there is an image of one balloon-like shape.

"As you can see, finding UAP is harder than you may think," Bray said.

Rep. André Carson, an Indiana Democrat who chaired the hearing, called on investigators to show they "are willing to follow the facts where they lead."

Rep. Rick Crawford, an Arkansas Republican, noted that the investigations were not "about finding alien spacecraft but about delivering dominant intelligence."

"The inability to understand objects in our sensitive operating areas is tantamount to intelligence failure that we certainly want to avoid," he said.

(With input from AP)