By Justin Snead
The following timeline lists all known congressional actions and legislation regarding UFOs, which the Congress prefers to call Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon, or UAP.
Since the beginning of the “flying saucer” era of the 1940s and ‘50s, Congress has been sporadically involved in the topic, and individual members have made isolated requests for UFO-related information. Only in recent years has Congress begun to work in a more concerted and systematic way to collect data and analyses in order to explain what is causing the phenomenon. The timeline below begins in 2007, the start of this modern era of UFO investigations.
Jump to Archive of U.S. Congressional Statements & Actions on UFOs
New entries will be added as they occur or are uncovered in newly released documents.
September 7, 2007
The Senate approves the 2008 Supplemental Appropriations Bill, which will provide $250 billion for military and domestic programs. Senators Reid, Stevens, and Inouye have inserted a provision that directed funds to a potential five-year UFO study within the Defense Department, which would be called the Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Application Program (AAWSAP). This was a “black project” that was not known to the public or the rest of Congress until 2017. Reid wrote in The New York Times in 2021: “We wanted to take a close, scientific look at the technological implications of reported U.F.O. encounters.”
September 22, 2008
Bigelow Aerospace (BAAS) is awarded the AAWSAP contract. It was budgeted for $10 million in its first year, and $12 million in its second year. Jim Lacatski is Program Manager, and Colm Kelleher is Deputy Administrator. The AAWSAP team immediately begins investigating UFO sightings and other anomalous events.
AAWSAP also hired former Marine fighter pilot Colonel Douglas Kurth, who was a witness to the 2004 Tic Tac encounter, which was one of the first cases the team investigated. A video of the Tic Tac UAP–titled FLIR–would become one of the three UAP videos that the Pentagon officially releases in 2021. According to The New York Time’s first report on the leaked videos, FLIR shows “a whitish oval object, about the size of a commercial plane, chased by two Navy F/A-18F fighter jets from the aircraft carrier Nimitz off the coast of San Diego.”
June 2009
Senator Reid filed a request with the Secretary of Defense that the AAWSAP team be established as a “Restricted-Special-Access-Program” (SAP). Reid’s letter argued that the team had made “substantial progress,” but for a full understanding of the “unconventional aerospace-related findings” under investigation by AASWAP, “a high degree of operational security and read-on discretion is required.” The Pentagon denied this request in November 2009.
Reid was motivated to request SAP status for AAWSAP because his own request to view UFO-related materials had also been denied by the Pentagon. He told The New Yorker in 2021:
“I was told for decades that Lockheed had some of these retrieved [UFO] materials. And I tried to get, as I recall, a classified approval by the Pentagon to have me go look at the stuff. They would not approve that. I don’t know what all the numbers were, what kind of classification it was, but they would not give that to me.” At the time, Reid was Senate Majority Leader and member of the Gang of Eight, which reviews all sensitive national security information.
December 2010
The AAWSAP contract expires and the office is closed.
Also in 2010, Luis Elizondo, working in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (OUSD(I)), launches a smaller UFO investigative unit called the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), charged with studying the national security implications of UAP.
Early 2010s
Senators Rubio and Gillibrand, sitting on the Armed Services and Intelligence committees respectively, begin receiving classified reports of military encounters with UAP.
June 2013-March 2015
Naval aviators attached to the USS Roosevelt and Carrier Strike Group 12 are having almost daily encounters with UAP during training maneuvers. These occur along the East Coast from Virginia to Florida where the group is operating (Naval Air Station Oceana is based in Virginia Beach, and has jurisdiction over the Mid-Atlantic region). Two of the three UAP videos officially released in 2021 by the Pentagon–GOFAST and GIMBAL–were filmed during these encounters.
According to an internal Navy email from June 2019, the “2014 to 2015 timeframe” is when formal reporting on “these objects” began. Congress is presumably made aware of at least some of these reports.
December 16, 2017
The New York Times reports on the $22 million dollar AAWSAP UFO study, and Luis Elizondo’s ongoing involvement. Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Christopher Mellon was instrumental in breaking the story, as well as making the three UAP videos public. Mellon had also served as a staffer on the Senate Intelligence Committee (1989-1996), and Legislative Assistant on defense matters for Senator William Cohen when Cohen was on both the Senate Armed Services Committee and Senate Intelligence Committee (1985-1989).
April 4, 2018
During an interview, the Conway Daily Sun asks Senator Jeanne Shaheen to comment on the recent spate of news stories about UFOs in U.S. airspace that was kicked off by The New York Times four months earlier. Her reply: “You know, we have not had anything around UFOs that I have seen in either the Armed Services Committee or any other committee that I’m on. I have to say, I’m a little more worried about Russia [and China] than I am UFOs these days.”
March 1-4, 2019
The Navy has more encounters with UAP in its Oceana training ranges. Photos and videos are taken of UAP that are shaped as triangles, acorns, and spheres.
June 11, 2019
The Senate Armed Services Committee introduces the National Defense Authorization Act for 2020 with a classified Annex related to UAP. The legislation directs the USD(I&S) to stand up a UAP Task Force “to investigate UAP activity.” The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) is to lead the investigations.
Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Ranking Member Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.) filed the classified section. It was signed into law December 20, 2019. This was not known to the public until internal Navy emails were released in 2022 through the Freedom of Information Act.
June 19-20, 2019
Senator Mark Warner of the Senate Intelligence Committee receives a UAP briefing from the Office of Naval Intelligence that he had requested. An ONI briefing team also provides a UAP briefing to four members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The fact that these briefings took place is widely reported in the media.
Warner releases a statement through a spokesperson: “If pilots at Oceana or elsewhere are reporting flight hazards that interfere with training or put them at risk, then Senator Warner wants answers. It doesn’t matter if it’s weather balloons, little green men, or something else entirely — we can’t ask our pilots to put their lives at risk unnecessarily.”
June 28, 2019
The Office of Naval Intelligence prepares for a series of congressional briefings on UAP to take place in July: “There are quite a few members of Congress who want updates.”
July 15, 2019
A UAP swarm of at least 14 objects converges over the USS Omaha off the coast of San Diego. Omaha crew film a spherical UAP as it floats down to the waterline and submerges into the ocean. This video was eventually leaked and made public nearly two years later in May 2021.
July 16-26, 2019
Office of Naval Intelligence briefing teams provide back-to-back sessions on Capitol Hill updating members of Congress on UAP. The briefings were scheduled earlier in the month, according to this July 1 email:
September 25, 2019
During a briefing with the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Senator Rubio, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, brings up “the UAP question.”
Naval Intelligence becomes very interested what took place during the session, according to this email from the following day:
October 8, 2019
The Office of Naval Intelligence briefs Congress on UAP, using a detailed PowerPoint presentation:
October 21, 2019
Several Senate Armed Services Committee staffers are invited to the Pentagon for a UAP briefing. According to reporting by The Debrief:
“Attendees at the meeting told The Debrief that they were provided information on two previous DoD-backed UFO programs: the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) and the Advanced Aerospace Threat and Identification Program (AATIP). They were also briefed on ‘highly sensitive categories of UFO investigations.’”
October 23, 2019
Staffers for the Senate Armed Service Committee and Senate Intelligence Committee receive a briefing on “unexplained aerial phenomena (UAP) detections” from ONI, OUSD(I), and Federal Aviation Authority.
In addition to receiving the same AAWSAP/AATIP history staffers received two days earlier, these committees are also briefed by Dr. Eric Davis, a physicist contracted with the Defense Department who also worked on AAWSAP. Little is known about the content of his briefing, except that it concerned “retrievals of unexplained objects.” Davis later revealed that he told the Senate staffers that UAP were “off-world” vehicles.
Christopher Mellon has since explained that he brought Davis to Capitol Hill, and that Davis “provided specific information lending credence to sensational reports that an official US government program is actively seeking to exploit recovered technology that was fashioned by some other species or perhaps advanced AI machines. Much of the information Dr. Davis provided remains highly classified.”
On August 13, 2020, Eric Davis wrote an email in which he responded to a question about whether he believed the Tic Tac were extraterrestrial. He responded: “Those craft are off-world as I’ve told two Senate committees’ staff and DoD agencies.” [Source pg 18]
December 5, 2019
The House Armed Service Committee is briefed on UAP.
December 12, 2019
The Senate Intelligence Committee receives a UAP briefing from OUSD(I). The briefing was requested by Chairman Richard Burr and Vince-Chair Mark Warner.
March 11, 2020
Naval Intelligence presents a UAP briefing “on the hill.”
April 27, 2020
The Pentagon officially authenticates and publicly releases the three UAP videos, FLIR, GOFAST, and GIMBAL. The press release states:
“The Department of Defense has authorized the release of three unclassified Navy videos, one taken in November 2004 and the other two in January 2015, which have been circulating in the public domain after unauthorized releases in 2007 and 2017. … The aerial phenomena observed in the videos remain characterized as ‘unidentified.’”
Also in April, Scott Bray of the Office of Naval Intelligence disseminates new classification rules that pertain specifically to UAP encounters.
May 1, 2020
Naval Intelligence provides Congress with an update on the creation of the UAP Task Force: “The briefing will provide an overview of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena and the task force that has been established in order to manage the issue on behalf of the United States Government.”
The presentation likely contained UAP video and a presentation by one or more navy aviators.
Jeremy Corbell has reported that this or a different May 1 slide deck presentation was intended to be shared with military personnel: “Those familiar with the briefing articulated to me that the goal was to de-stigmatize the UAP problem and to promote more intelligence collection regarding UAP incursions and encounters with active military deployments.”
Corbell’s sources told him this presentation contained 10 videos and 10-12 photos of UAP, including the USS Omaha sphere, and the Oceana encounters.
May 14, 2020
The New York Times first reports on Navy encounters with UAP over Oceana and Mid-Atlantic Navy training ranges from 2013 to 2019.
May 18, 2020
Senator Rubio is named chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. According to Politico:
It represents a significant elevation for Rubio, who after a failed 2016 presidential campaign is once again seeing his star rise. With the appointment, Rubio becomes a member of the so-called “Gang of 8,” the group of congressional and intelligence committee leaders from both chambers who regularly receive the most sensitive classified briefings.
June 12, 2020
The Senate Intelligence Committee requests a UAP briefing from ONI and OUSD(I).
June 17, 2020
Senator Rubio, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee in May, adds UAP mandates to the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021. The report begins:
“The Committee supports the efforts of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force at the Office of Naval Intelligence to standardize collection and reporting on unidentified aerial phenomenon, any links they have to adversarial foreign governments, and the threat they pose to U.S. military assets and installations. However, the Committee remains concerned that there is no unified, comprehensive process within the Federal Government for collecting and analyzing intelligence on unidentified aerial phenomena, despite the potential threat.”
The legislation passed the Senate on July 23, and was signed into law December 27, 2020. This triggers the writing of a detailed preliminary report on UAP by the UAPTF, due to Congress by the end of June 2021.
June 23, 2020
Scott Bray of the Office of Naval Intelligence provides requested UAP briefing to 10 senators on the Senate Intelligence Committee:
August 4, 2020
The Pentagon officially launches the UAP Task Force, as mandated by Congress in 2019. It is led by the Navy under the direction of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security (OUSD(I)). The press release states:
“The Department of Defense established the UAPTF to improve its understanding of, and gain insight into, the nature and origins of UAPs. The mission of the task force is to detect, analyze and catalog UAPs that could potentially pose a threat to U.S. national security.”
September 22, 2020
The UAPTF briefs various House members. Scott Bray presents the briefing.
March 24, 2021
Senator Rubio talks to Fox News about UAP:
“We have to try to know what it is. Maybe there’s a logical explanation. Maybe it’s foreign adversaries who made a technological leap?”
Rubio also held up the prospect that agencies will need more time to complete the report. “I’m not sure they are going to come in on time,” he said. “I’m not sure by June 1 they have reached a hard conclusion about what they are dealing with and there may be more questions, or new questions, than full answers …”
“I can tell you it is being taken more seriously now that it ever has been.”
May 16, 2021
60 Minutes airs an in-depth report on congressional interest in UAP. Senator Rubio is prominently featured speaking out on the topic:
“I want us to have a process to analyze the data every time it comes in … until we get some answers. Maybe it has a very simple answer. Maybe it doesn’t.”
June 16, 2021
The House Intelligence Committee receives a classified briefing from the UAPTF and the FBI previewing the upcoming UAP Preliminary Report.
June 25, 2021
The UAPTF submits its report, titled Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, to Congress. The report states that 143 UAP have been identified by the military since November 2004, when the Tic Tac encounter occurred. All are unexplained. There are vague references to “breakthrough aerospace capabilities” and “unusual flight characteristics” of UAP. The report describes how some “UAP appeared to remain stationary in winds aloft, move against the wind, maneuver abruptly, or move at considerable speed, without discernable means of propulsion.” These statements are often hedged by claims that lack of data and “sensor errors, spoofing, or observer misperception” might explain UAP.
A 9 page summary is made public while Congress gets a 17 page report plus appendices. The classified version contains more evidence, while the public version has none. The conclusions are generally the same in both, but redactions suggest the classified conclusions are more pointed, and there may be some more specific conclusions that we cannot infer through the redactions.
Chairman Schiff releases a statement:
“We look forward to reviewing the report and will host a classified briefing for the Members of the House Intelligence Committee later this year based on its findings and to build on the Member briefing held last week. As we continue to receive updates, we will share what we can with the American people as excessive secrecy will only spur more speculation.”
August 4, 2021
Senator Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, introduces the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 with the following UAP language requiring new reporting mechanisms:
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act and not less frequently than quarterly thereafter, the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, or such other entity as the Deputy Secretary of Defense may designate to be responsible for matters relating to unidentified aerial phenomena, shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress quarterly reports on the findings of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, or such other designated entity as the case may be.
All reported unidentified aerial phenomena-related events that occurred during the previous 90 days.
All reported unidentified aerial phenomena-related events that occurred during a time period other than the previous 90 days but were not included in an earlier report.
September 1, 2021
In a closed-door “mark up” session, the House Armed Services Committee approves its version of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act. It includes a UAP amendment authored by Representative Ruben Gallego. Among other provisions, the approved amendment requires the Secretary of Defense to:
- Establish an office to carry out the mission currently performed by the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force (in coordination with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence);
- Submit an annual report on unidentified aerial phenomena; and
- Terminate the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force.
- Provide “an update on any efforts underway on the ability to capture or exploit discovered unidentified aerial phenomena.”
On the same day, Representative Gallego’s office releases this statement:
“It is in the national security interest of the United States to know what is flying in our skies. Whether emerging tech from strategic competitors and adversaries or aerial phenomena from unknown origins, our military must have a full intelligence picture and the tools to respond quickly to these potential threats. My amendment creates a permanent office at DoD to comprehensively evaluate these UAPs, and I’m proud to announce its inclusion in the House version of the NDAA,” said Rep. Ruben Gallego, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations.
September 10, 2021
The House Armed Services Committee sends the final House version of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act to the full House of Representatives. It is publicly available on September 11.
Douglas Dean Johnson is the first to report on the UAP provisions, and publishes a blog post titled “U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee proposes expanded UAP-related mandates, including annual updates on any efforts ‘to capture or exploit’ UAP.”
On September 13, The Debrief reports that the Gallego amendment is “the first to call for the establishment of an office within government solely for the study of UAP.”
September 23, 2021
The 2022 NDAA passes the full House. The UAP language from the Gallego amendment is unchanged.
September 25, 2021
Representative Ruben Gallego expresses frustration about the UAPTF to Politico:
“I think there has been kind of a partial pastime of curiosity seekers that are within the Department of Defense but there has not been any professional initiative across the defense enterprise… so that we can actually make some deliberate and knowledgeable decisions.”
“I decided to actually put action to words,” Gallego said. “We had a briefing on this phenomenon. One of the things that came out of that briefing, without breaking too many walls here, was that there just needed to be better data collection. There needs to be standardized data collection across the services.”
November 4, 2021
Senator Kristen Gillibrand adds an UAP amendment to 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, which would establish a new office to investigate UPA titled the “Anomaly Surveillance and Resolution Office” and require annual public reports on UAP activity through 2026.
UAP-Congress-watcher Douglas Dean Johnson writes that the Gillibrand Amendment “would go considerably further than the Gallego provision already approved by the House, or the much narrower provisions proposed by the House and Senate intelligence committees, to require the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community to create new institutional arrangements and devote substantial resources to investigating and analyzing UAP, and to draw on UAP-related expertise from outside the government.”
November 17, 2021
Senator Gillibrand gives first interview on her UAP legislation:
“If it is technology possessed by adversaries or any other entity, we need to know. Burying our heads in the sand is neither a strategy nor an acceptable approach.”
“We’ve not had oversight into this area for a very long time. I can count on one hand the number of hearings I had in 10 years on this topic. That’s fairly concerning given the experience our service members have had over the last decade. Having no oversight or accountability up until now to me is unacceptable.”
“I don’t see opposition to this on any level.”
November 23, 2021
As a response to the Gillibrand Amendment, the Pentagon announces that the UAP Task Force will become the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG). The Debrief reached out to Senator Gillibrand’s office for comment:
“While we appreciate DoD’s attention to the issue, the AOIMSG doesn’t go nearly far enough to help us better understand the data we are gathering on UAPs.” Lizzie Landau, Press Secretary at the Office of Senator Gillibrand, told The Debrief.
December 7, 2021
The final, negotiated language of the 2022 NDAA is made public. Later that day Douglas Dean Johnson publishes the first and most comprehensive account of the NDAA’s UAP sections. Those sections require:
- Annual comprehensive reports on all UAP activity that occurred in the previous year; must also cover attempts to capture and exploit UAP, health effects of UAP encounters, and UAP near U.S. nuclear assets; to be released on October 31 through the year 2026
- Biannual briefings on the most recent UAP activity
- The creation of a new office to replace the UAPTF
- That the term UAP be defined as trans-medium, inclusive of the ability “to transition between space and the atmosphere, or between the atmosphere and bodies of water.”
The House passes the NDAA at almost 11 p.m. that evening. A week later, on December 15, the Senate approves the final bill with no changes. President Biden signs it into law on December 27.
March 2022
Congress passes the Consolidated Appropriations Act. It requires the new UAP office to report to Congress quarterly rather than twice a year, as stipulated by the 2022 NDAA. It also stipulates that the National Air and Space Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base be involved with the new UAP office’s investigations. NASIC was the home of the Pentagon’s long-running UFO office, Project Blue Book, until it was closed in 1969.
According to Stars and Stripes:
The law requires that all Department of Defense and federal Intelligence Community components share UAP information with NASIC, as well as the Pentagon office on the issue…
“Someone on the intelligence committees thought they (NASIC) should be very much in the loop,” said Douglas Dean Johnson, a Maryland blogger and retired consultant who followed the legislation since its beginnings last summer…
Though Congress formalized a role for NASIC, members are saying little. A spokeswoman for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence declined comment and referred questions to the office of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who once was relatively outspoken on the subject, saying last year he wanted the government to take the subject of UFOs/UAPs “seriously.” Ansley Bradwell, press secretary for Rubio, declined to comment.
May 2, 2022
In April the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services committees received the first UAP briefing required by the 2022 NDAA. Some members, including Senators Rubio and Gillibrand and Representative Burchett, used a Politico article to publicize their displeasure with the content of the briefing and the slow speed at which the new UAP office is being stood up:
“Lawmakers receiving the latest secret briefings on UFOs say national security agencies still aren’t taking seriously the reports of highly advanced aircraft of unknown origin violating protected airspace… some leading sponsors of recent legislation want more analysts and surveillance systems dedicated to determining the aircrafts’ origin — and not just more reports of their existence.”
May 10, 2022
Liberation Times reports the following:
Last week one Pentagon insider commented to Liberation Times that Congress was upset with the slow progress of AOIMSG, commenting:
“Congress is extremely upset with how unhurried DoD has been with regards to standing up and empowering AOIMSG. Senators and their staffers are wanting answers about what UAP are and where they are from.
“These same Senators have seen the classified videos of UAP displaying performance capabilities well beyond anything in our arsenal and they want answers.”
May 17, 2022
The House Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation holds the first public congressional hearing on UFOs in over fifty years.
Ronald Moultrie (Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security) and Scott Bray (Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence) testify about their progress standing up the new UAP office, AOIMSG. They stress these main points:
- stigma around the topic is no longer tolerated in the military and there is a clear reporting protocol for all service members who witness UAP
- most data on UAP cannot be shared publicly because it would reveal sources and methods
- the inexplicable nature of most UAP is due to the fact that there is “too little data to create a reasonable explanation”
- many UAP sightings can be attributed to mid-identification of conventional objects, and that most are likely drones “such as quadcopters and unmanned aerial systems.”
Committee members ask many questions, including about the apparent ability of UAP to fly without discernible means of propulsion; historical UFO cases; rumors of black-buget crash retrieval projects within DOD. In his opening statement, Representative Casron, chair of the subcommittee, complains about the slow pace of standing up the new UAP office and naming a director:
“We fear sometimes that the DOD is focused more on emphasizing what it can explain, not investigating what it can’t.”
June 23, 2022
The Senate Intelligence Committee passes its version of the 2023 Intelligence Authorization Act in closed-door session. The bill is posted online on July 14.
Among other provisions, the legislation requires the Government Accountability Office to compile a comprehensive historical report on the intelligence agencies’ involvement with UFOs since January 1, 1947, when the US government collected its first UFO reports. The report must:
“itemize a complete historical record of the intelligence community’s involvement with unidentified aerospace-undersea phenomena, including successful or unsuccessful efforts to identify and track… and any intelligence community efforts to obfuscate, manipulate public opinion, hide, or otherwise provide unclassified or classified misinformation about unidentified aerospace-undersea phenomena or related activities.”
The legislation calls for the reformation of AOIMSG into a new office called the Unidentified Aerospace-Undersea Phenomena Joint Program Office. The new Office will continue to be led by DoD, with a Deputy Director named by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Section 704 of the legislation creates a process for “any Government or Government contractor activity or program related to unidentified aerospace-undersea phenomena” to be shared with Congress through the new office, with protection from legal liability or reprisals:
“The system established under paragraph (1) shall provide for the immediate sharing with Office personnel and supporting analysts and scientists of information previously prohibited from reporting under any nondisclosure written or oral agreement, order, or other instrumentality or means…”
In his summary of the 2022 UAP legislative process, Douglas Dean Johnson writes: “It appears that this array of new congressional UAP-related proposals were initiated within the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and the SSCI, which have coordinated to a degree with their counterparts on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI). The proposals are advancing with bipartisan support in both houses.”
July 13, 2022
Representatives Gallagher and Gallego propose a UAP amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2023. It contains an immunity provision for witnesses of “any event relating to unidentified aerial phenomena… any government or government contractor activity or program related to unidentified aerial phenomena.” It passes on a voice vote. The full 2023 NDAA passes the House on July 14.
July 20, 2022
The House Intelligence Committee passes its version of the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 behind closed doors. This bill contains one UAP-related provision, which is similar to the Senate’s Government Accountability Office study of UFO history going back to 1947.
Douglas Dean Johnson notes: “However, in the HPSCI-approved version, there is one additional item on the list of things that the GAO must review, this being ‘efforts to recover or transfer related technologies to United States-based industry or National Laboratories…’”
Also on July 20, in a report submitted with the Senate’s IAA, the Senate Intelligence Committee further stipulated that the new office is not to waste its or Congress’s time reporting on misidentified conventional objects:
“Temporary nonattributed objects, or those that are positively identified as man-made after analysis, will be passed to appropriate offices and should not be considered under the definition as unidentified aerospace-undersea phenomena.”
On the same day as these releases, in response to Congress’s wishes, the DOD announces the establishment of a new UAP office called the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick is named as director.
August 25, 2022
At a congressional town hall in New York City, Senator Gillibrand speaks about Dr. Kirkpatrick and the new UAP office:
“[H]e understands he’s supposed to work with the private sector and all the people who have all the data and information. He’s also asked to go back and look at all the archival data…. And they’re taking it seriously, they’re not going to hide it. Because there is so many of us now in the intel committee, and armed services, that we’re going to stand by the service members who’ve documented this. They have video, they have radar, they have heat sensors, they have everything. They have it. I’m not going to let it go. I’m one hundred percent committed.”
December 15, 2022
The Senate passes the 2023 NDAA, unchanged from the House version that passed on December 8. President Biden signed the legislation into law on December 22. The UAP sections, summarized and excerpted below:
SEC. 1673. UNIDENTIFIED ANOMALOUS PHENOMENA RE18 PORTING PROCEDURES
This section mandated secure reporting procedures for “(A) any event relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena, and (B) any activity or program by a department or agency of the Federal Government or a contractor of such a department or agency relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena, including with respect to material retrieval, material analysis, reverse engineering, research and development, detection and tracking, developmental or operational testing, and security protections and enforcement.”
The above information must be disclosed “to personnel and supporting analysts and scientists of the [AARO] Office (regardless of the classification of information contained in the disclosure or any nondisclosure agreements).” The only exception this is if “the observed object and associated events and activities” are part of a special access program (SAP), and crucially the SAP in question, “as of the date of the disclosure, has been explicitly and clearly reported to the congressional defense committees or the congressional intelligence committees.” Otherwise, reporting to AARO must occur within 72 hours. Also, the Defense Secretary and the Director of National Intelligence must provide clear public guidance on how to avail themselves of this reporting mechanism. Such an individual “shall not be subject to a nondisclosure agreement” and shall not be subject to any reprisals such as “the revocation or suspension of security clearances, or termination of employment.” This process is official termed “authorized disclosure.”
SEC. 6802. MODIFICATION OF REQUIREMENT FOR OFFICE TO ADDRESS UNIDENTIFIED ANOMALOUS PHENOMENA.
Designates the UAP office as the “All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office.” The Director and Deputy Director will be appointed by the Secretary of Defense in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence. Some of the duties include:
- “Developing procedures to synchronize and standardize the collection, reporting, and analysis of incidents, including adverse physiological effects, regarding unidentified anomalous phenomena across the Department of Defense and the intelligence community.”
- “Evaluating links between unidentified anomalous phenomena and adversarial foreign governments, other foreign governments, or nonstate actors.”
- ‘‘Evaluating the threat that such incidents present to the United States.”
The following two passages require the production of a full intelligence analysis of UAP data: “The Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Director of National Intelligence, shall designate one or more line organizations that will be primarily responsible for scientific, technical, and operational analysis of data gathered by field investigations conducted pursuant to sub section (d) and data from other sources, including with respect to the testing of materials, medical studies, and development of theoretical models, to better understand and explain unidentified anomalous phenomena.”
“The Director of the Office, acting in coordination with the Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence, shall supervise the development and execution of an intelligence collection and analysis plan to gain as much knowledge as possible regarding the technical and operational characteristics, origins, and intentions of unidentified anomalous phenomena, including with respect to the development, acquisition, deployment, and operation of technical collection capabilities necessary to detect, identify, and scientifically characterize unidentified anomalous phenomena.”
AARO must also develop a science plan that will produce “scientific theories to–(1) account for characteristics and performance of unidentified anomalous phenomena that exceed the known state of the art in science or technology, including in the areas of propulsion, aero dynamic control, signatures, structures, materials, sensors, countermeasures, weapons, electronics, and power generation; and (2) provide the foundation for potential future investments to replicate or otherwise better understand any such advanced characteristics and performance.”
Historical Record Report is required:
- Produced by the Director of AARO
- Released 540 days after passage [July 2024]
- “a written report detailing the historical record of the United States Government relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena”
- “focus on the period beginning on January 1, 1945”
- “any program or activity that was protected by restricted access that has not been explicitly and clearly reported to Congress”
- “any efforts to obfuscate, manipulate public opinion, hide, or otherwise provide incorrect unclassified or classified information about unidentified anomalous phenomena or related activities”
Some key requirements of the Annual Report:
- “Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, and annually thereafter for four years” [Week of June 19]
- “All reported unidentified anomalous phenomena-related events that occurred during the one-year period.”
- “Identification of any incidents or patterns regarding unidentified anomalous phenomena that indicate a potential adversarial foreign government may have achieved a breakthrough aerospace capability.”
- “An update on any efforts under way on the ability to capture or exploit discovered unidentified anomalous phenomena.”
- “health-related effects”
- “submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex”
New definitions:
- The term ‘transmedium objects or devices’ means objects or devices that are—(A) observed to transition between space and the atmosphere, or between the atmosphere and bodies of water; and ‘(B) not immediately identifiable.
The term ‘unidentified anomalous phenomena’ means— (A) airborne objects that are not immediately identifiable; (B) transmedium objects or devices; and (C) submerged objects or devices that are not immediately identifiable and that display behavior or performance characteristics suggesting that the objects or devices may be related to the objects described in subparagraph (A).”
December 16, 2022
Pentagon press roundtable on the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), transcript. Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, director of AARO, conducts his first press interview, with Ronald Moultrie, at the Pentagon.
February 16, 2023
Sixteen members of the Senate Armed Services Committee request that AARO be fully funded. Senators Gillibrand and Rubio drafted the formal request.
“AARO provides the opportunity to integrate and resolve threats and hazards to the U.S., while also offering increased transparency to the American people and reducing the stigma. AARO’s success will depend on robust funding for its activities and cooperation between the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community. As such, we respectfully request your assistance in securing the necessary funding and organizational support for AARO’s success and longevity.”
“The amount outlined in the classified attachment is crucial to AARO’s scientific plan, and the lack of funding for these capabilities presents a serious impediment to AARO’s mission.”
February 21, 2023
Some members of Congress attend a classified briefing on a military base in Florida where they are shown video and data of four UFOs flying along side an American fighter pilot. Matt Gaetz and Tim Burchett in attendance. [source: Twitter video clips]
April 21, 2023
Top US intelligence officials, including Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, CIA director William Burns, and Gen. Paul Nakasone, director of the National Security Agency (NSA), convened at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio for a national security briefing on Friday. The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence was also in attendance, and both U.S. Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) and Ranking Member Jim Himes (D-CT) described the event as “historic.”
The purpose of the briefing was to ensure that intelligence officials are knowledgeable about activities occurring at Wright-Patterson, which houses the National Space Intelligence Center (NSIC) and National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC). Both centers were among the items addressed during Friday’s briefing. Congress’ recently expanded mandate for NASIC in the arena of UFOs, or “UAPs” as they’re often called today, short for “unidentified aerial phenomena.”
Wright-Patterson is located in Congressman Turner’s home district, which he has represented since 2003. [Source: MARCA News]
April 19, 2023
Senator Gillibrand convenes a Senate hearing on AARO, questioning director Sean Kirkpatrick. [transcript]
April 27, 2023
Senators Warner and Rubio submit a letter to Secretary of Defense Austin expressing concerns over AARO mandates not being implemented.
June 7, 2023
Representative Burchett revealed on Steve Bannon’s podcast: “he ‘has a commitment’ from both House speaker Kevin McCarthy and House Oversight Committee chair James Comer to hold a hearing on UAPs, though he says it’s not a top priority for party leaders. ‘We’re only going to get about one bite at the apple,’ Burchett said.” [Wired]
June 22, 2023
Senate Armed Services Committee approves NDAA 2024.
June 26, 2023
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wi.) submitted to the House Rules Committee a proposed UFO-related amendment (no. 287) to the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 2670). D. Dean Johns writes it is similar to the Senate version: “The amendment would curtail future funding of unreported special-access programs, and mandate reporting of and making available of government-linked “non-earth origin or exotic unidentified anomalous phenomena material” to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO).”
July 11, 2023
Senate Armed Services Committee reports out NDAA 2024.
July 14, 2023
Senators Schumer and Rounds introduce a “UAP Disclosure Act”:
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) are leading an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act which would mandate government records related to Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) carry the presumption of disclosure. The Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) Disclosure Act of 2023 is modeled on the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 and will create a UAP Records Collection.
July 26, 2023
House Oversight committee hearing on UAP. David Grusch, Ryan Graves, and David Fravor speak as witnesses. Bipartisan round of questioning focuses on the need for transparent from the DOD and IC regarding UAP.
July 27, 2023
Senate passes a joint NDAA-IAA 2024 package, with “multiple and far-reaching provisions related to Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP/UFOs).” It includes the Schumer-Rounds “UAP Disclosure Act”; established government ownership of any recovered alien craft or “biological” material; provides more funding for AARO; cuts funding for any non-disclosed UFO program; additional whistleblower protections. The bill now goes to the House.
July 27, 2023
Four members of the House call on the Speaker to create a Select Committee to investigate the “United States government’s response to UAPs”
September 21, 2023
House Oversight Committee members briefed on the NASA UAP panel final report by two NASA representatives. It was a closed door session. Representative Burchett attended and released a video of his thoughts.
October 26, 2023
Several members of the House attended a classified UAP briefing in a SCIF. Presenters were from the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (DOD OIG). Members included: Moskowitz, Ocasio-Cortez, Burchett, Burlison, Luna, Perry, among others. Several reported afterward that all the members were frustrated with the lack of answers, and the assertion that these members do not have sufficient clearance to access the requested information.
In a statement posted to X by NewsNation’s Joe Khalil, the DOD OIG said, “The Department of Defense Office of Inspector General is not responsible for determining the classification of the information in our oversight work, nor do we determine the level of security clearances for congressional leaders,” adding, “The DoD OIG is committed to being as transparent and communicative as possible with our congressional leaders, and welcome and further opportunity to discuss our body of work.”
[Sources: News Nation; Daily Wire; Matt Laslo]