Reporter: Gary Tuchman, CNN

In the latest Democratic debate, presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich said he's seen one. So has Jimmy Carter. So did a pilot who traveled from Iran to Washington so he could speak out about his encounter with a UFO.

But for years, polling has shown that a majority of americans believe the government simply isn't telling all it knows about those lights in the sky, whatever they are.

If you flew on Air France from Nice to London on January 28, 1994, your captain says he saw a UFO 1,000 feet long just outside your window.

"It seemed to be a huge flying disc," explained Jean-Charles Duboc, Retired Air France Captain.

The now retired pilot is one of 14 men, mostly former government and military officials from 7 different countries, talking about their experiences with unidentified flying objects.

"The most incredible aspect of it is that it became transparent and disappeared in about ten to twenty seconds," says Duboc.

UFO believers often hold conferences, but this one was a little different. it took place in Washington, DC, and the cast of characters was almost strangely, well conventional. One of the believers: former Governor of Arizona Fife Symington.

"I saw something that defied logic and challenged my reality," describes Symington. "If you were here ten years ago, and looked at the lights and the view you would have been astounded. You would have been amazed."

The so called Phoenix lights were seen by many people throughout southern Arizona in 1997. Skeptics say they were military aircraft, or flares, but not the former governor.

"And I suspect that unless the defense department tells us otherwise, it was probably some form of alien spacecraft."

Lots of agreement on this panel, but a retired Iranian air force pilot says he saw a UFO while flying.

"It looked similar to a star, but bigger and brighter."

General Parviz Jafari, retired from the Iranian Air Force, says he fired on the UFO, but much of his plane became inoperative.

Jafari: "All the instruments were fluctuating. The radio had garble. I couldn't talk with the pilot.

Tuchman: "Do you think they were aliens?

"Oh yes. Yes. I'm sure."

A retired U.S. Air Force sergeant stationed in England said he walked up to a UFO that landed in a forest.

"It maneuvered through the trees and shot off at an unbelievable rate of speed, tell Sgt. James Penniston, retired rom the U.S. Air Force. "It was gone in the blink of an eye."

This month alone, a man running for president said he saw a UFO on MSNBC.

"I did and the rest of the account. It was an unidentified flying object," says Dennis Kucinich, Democratic presidential candidate.

And so did a man who was president -- Jimmy Carter.

"I and about 25 others saw something in the air that changed colors and was round.

Although Carter says he doesn't think it was possible that it was from another planet, most of the people at the conference differ on that point and want the FAA to investigate all of these claims, but the FAA says that's not its job.

"We manage the aircraft that we're talking to," says a FAA representative. "UFO's are called UFO's because they're unidentified, and we're not talking to them."

and it's precisely because no one's talking that everybody here is trying harder to make them believe.