UFO Amendments in the 2025 NDAA
This week we’re checking in with Congress. Understandably, it seems the UAP issue is taking a back seat in the run up to the election, but we’ve still got a bit of movement on two fronts. First, there are several UAP amendments being considered for the 2025 NDAA, including improved whistleblower protections and possibly reintroducing the full UAP disclosure act. We’ll also look into when and if we might get an additional public UAP hearing from the Senate or perhaps the House Oversight Committee.
Congressional UAP Comments
- Sen Kirsten Gillibrand, referring to AARO historical report: “Oh, it's definitely not case closed. I think that their report was just their analysis of everything they were shown and everyone they talked to, cause they had no basis to say there's a secret program. But of note, the two whistleblowers that I've met with did not meet with AARO and refused to meet with AARO.”
- Rep. Eric Burlison: “We need to call on AARO to declassify that same report they gave to Congress. Some of the images they're saying are top-secret because of the technology that collected the images, but the content should be made public… I think that AARO is not done, they still have some stuff to do. And I don't think that our job should be done either. And at the end of the day, we still have dark programs that are spending money that we don't have an answer for… Because that's been the interesting thing with AARO. They've been like, look, we answered the questions on like these 500 that we can identify. And it's like, no one cares about those.”
- AOC: “So let me start off this whole UAP discussion by just stating the obvious, which is that people don’t trust the government. And why would you? I mean, a lot of our budget is like five defense contractors in a trench coat asking for a trillion dollars, so you know, when you don’t have universal health care, but you spend $800 billion dollars a year and can’t pass an audit, I don’t trust it either.”
- “So what do I think? Do I think UAPs are real? UAP stands for Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon… Do I believe that there are phenomena that have been identified by pilots, commercial, military, etc, that have gone unidentified? Yeah, I think that’s fair to say. We’ve heard from some pretty credible witnesses… Do I think those are aliens? That’s a different question.”
- “I do think that there’s something going on. I know that in the past we have dragged defense contractors before the committee and I have questioned them, and we have found defense contractors hiding things. And one line of questioning I had resulted in tens of millions of dollars, just from one smaller contractor alone, getting returned to the public because of corrupt practices. We have truly documented incidents of defense contractors being shady. Do I think there are grounds to pull on that thread further? Yes, I do. And I think it should be pulled further. Do I know what it is? No. Am I gonna be a hater? No. But I’m always interested in corruption and cover ups. That’s my thing.”
2025 Intelligence Authorization Act (IAA)
Senate version approved May 22
- The Senate-approved version of the Intelligence Authorization Act (IAA) included several UAP provisions:
- D. Dean Johnson: “[The first provision] would extend a law, originally enacted in December 2023, to deny funding to any UAP-related controlled-access program within the Intelligence Community that has not been properly reported to designated members of Congress.”
- The Hill: “Key members of Congress delivered an astounding rebuke to the Pentagon’s UFO analysis office last week, doubling down on whistleblower allegations of secret U.S government UFO programs. Despite AARO’s sweeping denials of secret, unreported UFO activities, the Senate Intelligence Committee believes that such programs do indeed exist.”
- D Dean Johnson: “[The second provision would] enhance protections for IC whistleblowers, sponsored by democrat Sen Wyden from Oregon.”
- The Hill: “The [whistleblower] provisions appear crafted to encourage additional UFO whistleblowers to come forward, largely by mitigating the conditions that led to the vicious reprisals that Grusch alleges he endured.”
- “Wyden has not associated the SSCI-approved whistleblower provisions with UAP, but some of the proposed changes conceivably could have application to IC employees who believe that they have UAP-related information.”
- Wyden adds several protections: “Allowing whistleblower complaints to be provided directly to Congress if sending the complaint to the whistleblower’s agency, as is currently required, could compromise the anonymity of the whistleblower or result in the complaint being delivered to the subject of the complaint; Ensuring that whistleblowers can’t have their security clearances revoked on a pretext; Prohibiting, as acts of reprisal, public disclosures of whistleblowers’ identities as well as orders to undertake psychological examinations;”
- D Dean Johnson: “A third provision of The Senate IAA would require the Comptroller General to conduct "a review" of the operations of Pentagon's UFO office, AARO.”
- “The Comptroller General is the head of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which is an arm of Congress, not a part of the Executive Branch.”
- “Liberation Times understands that the Senate Intelligence Committee has lost confidence in AARO's ability to fulfill its responsibilities. This lack of confidence has persisted among some members since last year, leading to the introduction of the Senate's UAP Disclosure Act (UAPDA) of 2023, which proposed an Independent Review Board as the primary entity for UAP disclosure.”
- The Hill: “This formal review by Congress’s in-house investigative agency is a stark demonstration of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s lack of confidence in AARO. Key senators, in short, believe that the Pentagon’s UFO office is either not being truthful with the American public or is not executing its mission effectively.”
House version approved June 12
- D. Dean Johnson: “The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) on June 12 approved its version of the IAA with no UAP-specific language.”
- “The HPSCI-approved bill does contain whistleblower provisions: ‘The Committee is focused on ensuring Intelligence Community employees can communicate their concerns to the congressional intelligence committees through the Inspectors General. This year the Committee has included a number of provisions to improve the whistleblower process, including enabling former IC employees to make better use of the 'urgent concern' process.”
2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)
UAPDA v2.0
- Sen. Mike Rounds has twice confirmed that they’re discussing reintroducing his and Sen Schumer’s UAP Disclosure Amendment from last year: “Tweaks. I can’t talk much more than that about it. There’s some work being done.”
- Rep. Matt Gaetz, on UAP in NDAA: “I’d like to see the provisions that didn’t survive conference last time survive conference this time,”
- Garry Nolan, co-founder SOL Foundation: "The [UAPDA] is being re-discussed, and it's being rewritten to address last year's problems. Just because the opposition won one battle doesn't mean that the war is over. I'm quite positive about what the outcome is going to be. If not this year, if not next year, then the year after."
- Matthew Pines, security advisor for Sentinel One: “Reading the tea leaves and making an informed supposition, the political stakes seem to be coming to a head with the soon-to-be-re-introduced Schumer-Rounds UAP Disclosure Act.”
- Condorman, an aerospace engineer we’ve quoted before, replied “I can concur there is a loud buzz about this subject with aerospace contractors.”
- Another reply: “Fellow employee of a major aerospace contractor here, and yes, a significant number of my peers are now tuned into the issue. These are not conspiracy-minded people.”
Other UAP Amendments
- Rep. Tim Burchett introduced a new bill, the UAP Transparency Act, which would require the president to direct the heads of each federal department to declassify all UAP documents.
- “The UAP Transparency Act is only a page and a half long because it’s simple. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Just declassify the files… They spend all this time telling us they don't exist, then release the files, dagnabbit.”
- Joshua White, a policy consultant: “This is what you might call a ‘Press Release Bill.’ You know it won’t pass, or even get a vote, but you put it out there and you get a Fox News hit out of it. It’s drive-by legislating.”
- Ryan Graves, Navy Pilot: “I’m happy to report the Safe Airspace for Americans Act has been proposed as an amendment to the FY25 NDAA. This legislation will require the FAA to accept UAP reports and protect pilots from retribution for reporting, something our witnesses are often requesting!”
- Rep. Robert Garcia: “I’m offering three UAP amendments for the National Defense Authorization Act. We must continue to responsibly push for safe reporting of UAPs and bring that transparency to the public. This is critical for our national security. My first amendment creates a UAP reporting mechanism for civilian pilots. My second amendment includes UAP disclosure provisions from last year that were blocked, including a UAP Records Review Board. My final amendment ensures AARO has access to convert intel for investigations.”
House version approved June 14
- Unfortunately, the House Rules Committee did not include any of the UAP-related amendments for floor votes:
- Rep. Garcia: “My 3 UAP amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act have been blocked from being considered by House Republican leadership. We must continue to fight for transparency and take seriously national security concerns and the public interest. We will continue pushing.”
- D. Dean Johnson: “Rejection by the House Rules Committee will have no direct effect on the possibility of some version of the UAPDA being included in the Senate's forthcoming version of NDAA.”
Senate version: in progress
- The Senate Armed Services Committee sent their version of the NDAA to the Senate floor for consideration, and also does not include any UAP legislation.
- UAP Disclosure Fund: “New amendments can still be introduced on the floor (as was done for UAP legislation in July of 2023).”
- D. Dean Johnson: “If any senator intends to attempt to add a version of the UAPDA to this year's NDAA (which I do not know), I would expect it to occur through negotiations over packages of amendments when the bill comes to the Senate floor, the timing of which is as yet uncertain. That is the route by which the UAPDA cleared the Senate in July 2023 (although it was later gutted in conference with the House of Representatives, mainly due to opposition from the Pentagon).”
What’s Next for NDAA/IAA?
- UAP Caucus: “While none of the UAP amendments made it to the floor in the House, this is more procedural than pushback. The Senate is finalizing its version with crucial UAP-related elements like the GAO review of AARO, defunding unreported UAP programs, a revised version of the UAPDA, among others possibly. Stay tuned as the battle moves to conference committee.”
- D Dean Johnson: “In many years, but not all, the Intelligence Authorization Act (IAA) is merged with the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) at a later stage in the legislative process. When this is done, the House of Representatives and the Senate vote on a merged NDAA-IAA, and the two measures are sent to the President as a single bill.”
Upcoming UAP Hearings
- Sen Kirsten Gillibrand: “I let [interim AARO director Phillips] know that I'd like to have a public hearing [in the Senate] this summer… I’m hoping for July… So he's gonna put together some data and information to disclose in a public hearing to show what work they've done, especially examples of things that were unknown that they've been able to figure out and examples of things that were unknown that they still haven't figured out so that the public can see the difference between what technology brings to this analysis to inform lawmakers on what we need to do.”
- Rep. Jim Himes, asked about Gillibrand’s upcoming Senate UAP hearing: “Senators need to get briefed by AARO and then move on. Just way too much energy, and there is no “there” there… I got an extensive brief three or four weeks ago by [AARO], And I mean it just pains me to say, because there’s thousands of people out there who wake up in the morning desperate for there to be evidence of alien life, but there’s none. They looked at every single compartmented program — and yeah there was a program here or there that was set up in the event that we found something, but there’s just nothing there… So, before senators start talking about it, they need to get briefed… Now, are there two or three or four or five phenomena that we don’t have the science around that we don’t — or some sighting or whatever — no, it’s not perfection. But, you know, again, I wish we had aliens but we don’t.”
- Rep. Jared Moskowitz, asked about Himes’ statement: “What do you think AARO is gonna walk in and be like, ‘yeah, it's true?’ I mean, we know that there are UAPs. And we know that there are UAPs they can't explain. Why can't they explain them? So, you know, look — I don't do this deep-state nonsense. But no, there is definitely a concerted effort by our government to keep information from us. When the stealth helicopters came out of Area 51 to go kill Osama bin Laden, nobody knew those helicopters existed. Okay? And the only reason we know they exist is because one of them crashed.”
- Rep. Tim Burchett: “[Grusch’s list of cooperative and hostile witnesses]’ll be part of the next hearing, some of those folks. I'm afraid to give out too many names, because, as you know, what happened the last time we had like 12 people that were coming in. We ended up with three. We had some people that were scared…”
- Rep. Jared Moskowitz, asked about a public UAP hearing: “I mean, look, my Republican colleagues have been pushing the Speaker on this. They’ve told me we're going to get a Select [UAP] Committee. I signed that letter, it didn't happen. I think, right now it looks like it's done.”
- Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, asked about Gillibrand’s upcoming Senate UAP hearing: “Yeah, it’s likely. We just need a couple of months to prepare for it… I will say this, I've been very frustrated, because I feel like — especially with the work that we've done — we really haven't had a lot of conversations with the Senate and we're completely open to that. Actually, Tim mentioned this last week, and as our chairman of our UAP Caucus, he's going to be working on helping to facilitate the next hearing [in the House Oversight Committee] which I think will be on USOs / UAPs.”
- Rep. Tim Burchett, asked about the schedule for house UAP hearing: “Something like [the fall, after the house recess], Luna and I’ve been talking about it, trying to get a good date.”
- Rep. Glenn Grothman, who chaired the hearing with David Grusch, asked about a public UAP hearing: “I don’t think it’s gonna be [July]. I think there’ll be a next hearing, but we’ll see. Maybe in September, or after the election.”
References:
- To The Stars: UFOs Are Real shirt
- UFO Rabbit Hole: The Disclosure Field Guide [Pt 2]: Black Budgets & The Secret Space Program
- AskAPol: Sen. Gillibrand's informed AARO: "I'd like to have a public hearing this summer"
- AskAPol: Rep. Burlison: "we still have dark programs that are spending money"
- AOC: explains her interest in UAP hearings
- Liberation Times: Senate Targets Pentagon's UFO Office for Accountability Review
- The Hill: Key senators believe the Pentagon’s UFO office is lying
- D Dean Johnson: Senate Intelligence Committee UFO proposals posted
- Sen Wyden: New Protections for IC Whistleblowers
- D Dean Johnson: House approves 2025 IAA
- AskAPol: Sen. Rounds: UAPDA negotiations underway
- AskAPol: Sen. Rounds on UAPDA: "not a whole lot of anything there"
- AskAPol: Rep. Matt Gaetz on UAPs & House NDAA markup
- Garry Nolan: UAPDA is being rewritten to address last year’s problems
- Matthew Pines: UAPDA is soon to be reintroduced
- Condorman: Loud buzz about UAPDA with aerospace contractors
- Fox News: Burchett moves to declassify UFO docs: 'If you got nothing to hide, release the files'
- Joshua White: This is what you might call a “Press Release Bill.”
- Ryan Graves: Safe Airspace Act has been proposed as an amendment to the FY25 NDAA.
- Rep Garcia: I’m offering three UAP amendments for the National Defense Authorization Act.
- D Dean Johnson: House Rules Committee turns thumbs down on UAP amendments
- Rep Garcia: My 3 UAP amendments have been blocked by house leadership
- UAPDF: Initial version of Senate NDAA does not include any UAP legislation
- D Dean Johnson: 2023 UAPDA was added as an amendment
- AskAPol: Gillibrand: "Probably July" for public UAP hearing in US Senate
- AskAPol: Rep. Jim Himes: "Senators need to get briefed and then move on"
- AskAPol: Moskowitz: "We know that there are UAPs they can't explain.”
- AskAPol: Burchett: Grusch's list of cooperative & hostile witnesses will "be part of the next hearing"
- AskAPol: Luna & Burchett: Next UAP hearing likely to come after August recess
- AskAPol: Tim Burchett: UFO hearing & new whistleblower protections still in works
- AskAPol: Grothman: “I think there’ll be a next [UAP] hearing” Sept. or after election
Episode 48, posted on