Congress has requested and required that the Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of Defense answer their questions about UAP (UFOs) by compiling a report that is due in June 2021. But what exactly does Congress want to know? See below.
Timeline:
June 8, 2020 – Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (S. 3905) reported to the Senate.
June 17, 2020 – Senator Rubio from Select Committee on Intelligence filed Report No. 116-233, which contained the UAP language.
July 23, 2020 – S.3905 passed by the Senate as part of National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (S.4049)
December 27, 2020 – COVID relief bill signed by President Trump. The IAA was included in the bill.
Here is the summary of the bill that contained the original language mandating the UPA report: “This bill authorizes various intelligence-related activities for FY2021 and contains other related provisions.”
This is a kitchen sink document, where the Senate Intelligence Committee members attach all sorts of orders on topics such as child care for government agents to the proper use of the whistle blower statute. Reporting indicates that Senator Rubio added the UAP section.
The UAP section is just over half way down the document, under the section Committee Comments
Advanced Aerial Threats
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 Committee understands that the relevant intelligence may be sensitive; nevertheless, the Committee finds that the information sharing and coordination across the Intelligence Community has been inconsistent, and this issue has lacked attention from senior leaders.
Therefore, the Committee directs the DNI, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the heads of such other agencies as the Director and Secretary jointly consider relevant, to submit a report within 180 days of the date of enactment of the Act, to the congressional intelligence and armed services committees on unidentified aerial phenomena (also known as ``anomalous aerial vehicles''), including observed airborne objects that have not been identified.
The Committee further directs the report to include:
1. A detailed analysis of unidentified aerial phenomena data and intelligence reporting collected or held by the Office of Naval Intelligence, including data and intelligence reporting held by the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force;
2. A detailed analysis of unidentified phenomena data collected by:
a. geospatial intelligence;
b. signals intelligence;
c. human intelligence; and
d. measurement and signals intelligence;
3. A detailed analysis of data of the FBI, which was derived from investigations of intrusions of unidentified aerial phenomena data over restricted United States airspace;
4. A detailed description of an interagency process for ensuring timely data collection and centralized analysis of all unidentified aerial phenomena reporting for the Federal Government, regardless of which service or agency acquired the information;
5. Identification of an official accountable for the process described in paragraph 4;
6. Identification of potential aerospace or other threats posed by the unidentified aerial phenomena to national security, and an assessment of whether this unidentified aerial phenomena activity may be attributed to one or more foreign adversaries;
7. Identification of any incidents or patterns that indicate a potential adversary may have achieved breakthrough aerospace capabilities that could put United States strategic or conventional forces at risk; and
8. Recommendations regarding increased collection of data, enhanced research and development, and additional funding and other resources. The report shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.