INDIANAPOLIS (WXIN) — Indiana Congressman Andre Carson is calling for a deeper investigation into UFOs.

On this past Sunday’s “Face the Nation” on CBS, Carson said he wants congressional hearings on the issue following a declassified Pentagon report on dozens of sightings that can’t be explained.

In their report, U.S. intelligence and defense officials did not list outer space or extraterrestrial life as possible explanations for the sightings, but they also didn’t explicitly rule it out.

In an interview Wednesday, Carson said it’s a national security issue.

“If there is technology out there that we can’t explain, that has huge implications for the safety and security of the American people,” said Rep. Carson (D-Indiana), who chairs the subcommittee on counterintelligence and counterproliferation on the House Intelligence Committee.

The recent Pentagon report shows 144 sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) since 2004. The report says only one could be explained.

“Even though the report didn’t give us all of the answers, I think it’s very significant because it represents a big shift in the way our intelligence handles this issue,” Carson said.

Before the report was released, Carson chaired a classified briefing for his subcommittee on the findings.

“When we take UAPs more seriously and treat it like the potential security risk that it is, it brings us closer to getting answers,” he said.

U.S. officials cited several possible reasons for the sightings in their report, including airborne clutter such as balloons, atmospheric matter like ice crystals or technology from another country.

Although it didn’t explicitly list an extraterrestrial explanation, it’s not completely off the table, Rep. Carson said.

“I think a lot of folks would like for us to say that the sightings are extraterrestrial,” Carson said. “The intelligence community says we can’t completely rule that out, but it’s clear we have to do a lot more digging.”

Carson has not been able to give a timeline yet for when any Congressional hearings on UFOs could happen.