A former intelligence officer from the US Air Force, who was set to testify at a whistleblower hearing regarding UFOs, passed away, prompting calls for an FBI probe into the circumstances surrounding his death.

Matthew James Sullivan, aged 39, died on May 12, 2024, under circumstances initially reported as suicide. Nonetheless, the official cause of death remains undisclosed, and local media did not cover the incident at the time.

Congressman Eric Burlison of Missouri revealed to the Daily Mail that Sullivan was expected to be a pivotal witness for congressional investigations into Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, commonly referred to as UFOs.

Burlison expressed “grave concerns” over the suspicious nature of Sullivan’s death, hinting that the intelligence officer might have been silenced to prevent him from disclosing information about non-human spacecraft and extraterrestrial encounters.

“Consider Matthew Sullivan’s credentials and his extensive experience. He was certainly privy to the highest levels of classified information and aware of some of our nation’s critical secrets,” Burlison stated. “And many others in his position are as well.”

The congressman further noted that an investigation by the Intelligence Community Inspector General revealed “serious allegations of misconduct and potentially unlawful activities,” suggesting that Sullivan’s death might not be a straightforward case of suicide.

Burlison said: ‘The fact that he had been scheduled by the UAP Task Force. That he had been scheduled to come and speak… After hearing about this tragedy, I felt it was worth looking into.’ 

On Thursday, he made a formal request to FBI Director Kash Patel to have agents investigate Sullivan’s death as a potential crime.

‘The sudden and suspicious circumstances surrounding his death raise significant concerns about potential foul play and the safety of other individuals involved in this matter,’ Burlison wrote in a letter to the FBI shared with the Daily Mail.

Matthew James Sullivan (Pictured) was a US Air Force veteran who was allegedly set to testify as a whistleblower in Congress’s ongoing investigation into UFOs

The US government has continued to maintain that there has never been any physical evidence proving the existence of UFOs or aliens

Sullivan had been contacted by UAP whistleblower and retired US Air Force Major David Grusch prior to the intelligence officer’s sudden death, which reportedly left Grusch ‘extremely distraught.’

Grusch, who is now a senior advisor to Burlison, spent 14 years in the Air Force before working as an intelligence officer for the National Reconnaissance Office, which builds and launches surveillance satellites for the Pentagon.

He eventually became a whistleblower, testifying before Congress in 2023, after allegedly learning that elements of the US government had been hiding UFO retrieval and reverse-engineering programs for decades.

‘Grusch was helping him come forward as a whistleblower,’ Burlison confirmed to the Daily Mail on Friday.

The congressman added that he had not spoken to Sullivan directly and did not know what information he was prepared to disclose regarding his time in the Air Force and as a Department of War contractor, working at some of the nation’s most secretive bases.

Specifically, Sullivan had an extensive background tied to military intelligence and advanced technology being used by the US worldwide. He also worked for multiple groups that allegedly have decades-old ties to America’s UFO secrets. 

After serving as a ‘5th Generation aircraft intelligence chief,’ Sullivan worked for the National Air and Space Intelligence Center as a deputy director at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The Ohio complex has long been linked to the alleged retrieval of crashed alien spacecraft since the Roswell incident in 1947.

Sullivan also worked for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which has been called the Pentagon’s ‘idea factory’ because of its documented role in creating futuristic tech, such as the Internet, GPS and stealth technology.

Congressman Eric Burlison (Pictured) has been a member of the House Oversight Committee investigating claims that the US government has not been truthful about the existence of UFOs

Matthew Sullivan (Pictured) was an Air Force intelligence officer and also worked as a defense contractor in some of the nation’s most secretive bases

Burlison suggested that the FBI needed to investigate Sullivan’s suspicious death as part of the growing number of missing and dead scientists throughout the US in recent years, saying that the veteran’s knowledge of classified data fit the alleged pattern.

The congressman added that he had already been in contact with members of the FBI, who neither confirmed nor denied whether the US intelligence community had been investigating Sullivan’s death or the 11 other deaths and disappearances documented since 2022.

Several scientists and administrative officials with ties to NASA, nuclear research, aerospace programs and classified projects have vanished or turned up dead in recent years. 

Many of the individuals, including personnel from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Los Alamos National Laboratory, had access to sensitive information on space missions, nuclear technology or advanced defense systems, prompting speculation about possible connections.

Burlison and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer are preparing a joint letter to the FBI, listing several of these cases lawmakers want investigated as part of a possible conspiracy. 

To this point, Sullivan’s case has reportedly only been in the hands of a ‘local Virginia medical examiner case.’

The Daily Mail has reached out to local authorities in Virginia for comment on the circumstances surrounding the Falls Church resident’s death.

Pictured: Virginia resident and Air Force veteran Matthew Sullivan seen with his wife

The lawmaker from Missouri noted that, at this time, there were no new whistleblower hearings on UAPs currently scheduled.

However, Burlison noted he had spoken with potential witnesses who were fearful they would be a victim of foul play before having a chance to testify about their work with UFO-related projects.

‘There’s some that came forward, that have come forward to try to be public just to avoid any kind of foul play,’ he explained.

‘In a lot of ways, going public can be a protection in and of itself. I do know of at least one individual that did come forward, and has been very public, and did so because he felt that his life was in danger.’