Trump Waives UAP NDAs
Big news this week, as President Trump directed the Department of War and the Intelligence Community to waive all UAP-related NDAs for government employees speaking with AARO or PURSUE, the President’s UAP task force. Could this be the start of a wave of disclosure? Does it relate to the previous rumors of amnesty for whistleblowers?
AARO’s 2025 Annual UAP Report
- The Debrief: “This week, the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) finally released its 2025 annual report on unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP. You read that correctly: the long-delayed report for fiscal year (FY) 2025 has been MIA since its expected release date last October, and finally appeared at AARO’s website just three months (or so) ahead of the scheduled release date for its next annual report. Hey, better late than never.”
- Debrief: “Offering an overview of the office’s investigations of cases collected between June 2, 2024, and May 30, 2025, the new report conveys that AARO received 319 new UAP cases during the reporting period, bringing its total case holdings to 1,870 since the office’s creation. 274 incidents occurred in the air domain, while 44 involved objects observed in space, and one occurred in the maritime domain… According to AARO’s latest findings, there were no cases it resolved that point to advanced foreign technology or extraordinary capabilities exhibited by UAP, but close to 200 reports from its latest batch remain unexplained due to insufficient data.”
- Debrief: “As for those “objects observed in space,” AARO’s report makes it clear that none of the space-domain cases originated from space-based sensors, but instead mostly came from civilian pilots reporting through the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)… ‘AARO applied all-source analysis techniques and three-dimensional modeling to render a high confidence assessment for each of these cases as being attributable to satellite flaring,’ the report reads.”
Trump Waives UAP NDAs
- Fox News: “‘President Trump recently directed the Department of War and the intelligence community to allow former government employees or contractors, that have relevant information about the disclosure of UAP, to come forward to meet with designated government representatives — AARO or… PURSUE [the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters] — and have their prior NDAs abrogated,’ a senior administration official said.”
- Fox News: “Under the new process, former government employees and contractors who believe they possess relevant UAP information would first meet with designated officials at AARO or the President’s UAP taskforce, PURSUE, who hold the appropriate security clearances. During those authorized discussions, any applicable nondisclosure agreements could be waived, allowing witnesses to share information without fear of violating prior agreements.”
- Fox News: “Another senior administration official emphasized the move was not a ‘declassification directive’ and only allowed employees to come forward through government channels… ‘People who believe that they have information have expressed reluctance in coming forward," the official said. ‘We are eliminating that source of reluctance… Any information that is received that sheds light on the UAP mystery will ultimately be made public.’”
- UFO researcher Joe Murgia: “With this, reported, new Trump edict, the fact that it's only FORMER employees bothers me. What if the juiciest info. comes from folks currently working on these alleged UAP programs?”
- Disclosure Foundation: “Will these protections extend to current employees and contractors? Which agencies, private corporations and/or entities will they apply to? What oversight mechanism exists to facilitate this process, and how do we ensure that information won't get locked up inside of AARO or the PURSUE Task Force?”
- Former Director of AATIP, Lue Elizondo: “It is true that the president signed a presidential directive that has not been yet made public. So, we don't know exactly what's in there. And I applaud that effort… It's a great move forward. The problem is it doesn't alleviate us from our NDAs… There's a lot of confusion right now that, ‘Oh Lou, you don't have an NDA anymore. You can say whatever you want.’ That's not true. I am still held by my secrecy oath and until the government gives me the ability to to speak openly… it has not alleviated my ability to speak to the general public.”
- UAP whistleblower Dylan Borland: “I've had quite a weekend… Since people asked: No, I have not watched the latest King of the Hill season. As for the Trump ‘pursue’ stuff… I have opinions. I want to be very polite, but my intuition suspects that this is something not about future [whistleblowers] but getting the past info out… If Matthew Brown gets on me, maybe I'll pop off.”
Matthew Brown Article
- UAP whistleblower Matthew Brown: “Unfortunately, the process as publicly described is fatally flawed. Under the arrangement proposed so far, no current or prospective UAP whistleblower should entrust any of these government bodies with sensitive testimony or evidence.
- Brown: “Whistleblowers are required to report through AARO, Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), or PURSUE… Permission to speak is not protection from retaliation. AARO has mischaracterized testimony and undermined witnesses. ODNI has failed to correct grave abuses against UAP whistleblowers. PURSUE has released censored, ambiguous material while far stronger government evidence remains hidden. The danger is clear: whistleblowers could be sent back into the same system they are trying to expose—where their identities, testimony, and evidence may be collected, buried, distorted, reclassified, or used against them.”
- Brown: “An effective disclosure framework should include three essential tools: release from secrecy obligations, immunity from prosecution, and conditional amnesty for those whose cooperation is necessary to expose and dismantle an unconstitutional system of secrecy and suppression… In addition… seven changes to the draft presidential directive should be considered.”
- Brown: “1. Remove AARO and ODNI from leadership; 2. Permit direct disclosures to Congress; 3. Define all waived secrecy obligations in writing; 4. Protect whistleblowers and their families; 5. Preserve evidence and notify Congress; 6. Set firm declassification and release deadlines; 7. Create a White House task force, led by civilian appointees and observed by Congress and the Judiciary, with authority to identify, review, declassify, and release UAP records across the Executive Branch;”
- Brown: “One. AARO and ODNI should have no leadership role in this process. Their institutional biases, records of dishonorable conduct, and refusals to correct past wrongdoing disqualify them from any position of trust within this process.” (His article includes detailed descriptions of how AARO, ODNI, and PURSUE have failed the disclosure movement.)
- Brown: “Two. This presidential directive should permit protected disclosures directly to members of Congress and authorized congressional staff, including those serving on relevant oversight committees and UAP-focused committees and task forces. Congress cannot perform its constitutional oversight function if the Executive Branch controls its access to whistleblowers and their information.”
- Brown: “Without these provisions, the nascent disclosure process may amount to little more than sending whistleblowers—and the evidence they carry—back to the same recalcitrant bureaucracies that concealed the truth in the first place, while exposing those whistleblowers to the full spectrum of retaliation from parties opposed to public disclosure of the UAP reality.”
- AAWSAP scientist Dr Eric Davis: “Trump’s order did not forbid committing acts of official or unofficial off-books retaliation against whistleblowers… I think [Matthew Brown’s] article illustrates why whistleblowers are afraid to go to law-enforcement when they face repercussions outside of the workplace… There is mistrust for the whole system because of bad behavior and deception within government agencies as described in this article.”
- Rep Eric Burlison: “If you are a current or former government employee or contractor interested in taking advantage of this directive, I am offering my office’s assistance in contacting and getting your information to any agency… We are uncertain whether the abrogation of NDAs will apply to testimony received by Congress before referral to the executive branch. Therefore, at this time, if you are thinking of speaking to the executive branch pursuant to this directive, I strongly recommend that, in addition to an attorney, you request that either I or another member of Congress be present with you.”
- Matthew Brown: “Important announcement from Rep Burlison. The current directive from the President DOES NOT free whistleblowers to speak to the public. AARO and ODNI are hostile to UAP whistleblowers and cannot be trusted. If you have a credible and urgent need to blow the whistle on government or private sector wrongdoing related to UAP, protect yourself first, be cautious, and consider Rep. Burlison a trusted ally.”
The UAP NDA Memo
- Rep Burlison: “Today, I'm releasing preliminary implementation guidance shared by the Trump administration regarding President Trump's UAP NDA directive.”
- Dep DNI Aaron Lukas: “This memorandum provides preliminary guidance for the release of all UAP information to the PURSUE Task Force for review and declassification. Consistent with Presidential Direction, the Department of War (DoW) and the Intelligence Community (IC) will implement a process to ensure current and former government employees and contractors with relevant information on UAPs shall have prior non-disclosure agreements… oaths, or commitments waived when speaking with authorized government representatives of the AARO or PURSUE.”
- Lukas: “All members of the IC will, within 30 days of the receipt of this memorandum, coordinate with the ODNI to establish a PURSUE designee, and inform their workforce of the President's order. Subsequently, ensure the workforce is aware that any previous or existing NDAs prohibiting disclosure to the President, or designees like PURSUE, are no longer in force and that anyone with knowledge of UAP information should report all such information to AARO, or to an authorized PURSUE representative. Detailed reporting procedures will be disseminated to IC components within the next 30 days. In addition, DoW and ODNI will be issuing to departments and agencies detailed implementation guidance for the broader PURSUE transparency project.”
- Sol Foundation: “Dep DNI Lukas’ memorandum additionally states that members of the intelligence community ‘should report all such information’ to the PURSUE team, which means that participation in the described process is not optional.”
- Harvard Astrophysicist, and leader of Trump’s new UAP Science Advisory Council Avi Loeb: “The total legal immunity for whistleblowers is communicated through an absolute waiver of past or existing NDAs, meaning that employees and private contractors can no longer be prosecuted, stripped of security clearances, or face civil penalties for exposing highly classified UAP data, provided they speak to authorized members of AARO or the PURSUE Task Force.”
- Loeb: “The Intelligence Community has a strict 30-day deadline to appoint a designated “PURSUE representative” within every agency. This forces the decentralized spy networks (like the CIA, NSA, and DIA) to create clear, official pipelines for internal data collection.”
- Loeb: “Intelligence agencies are legally obligated to actively notify their personnel that their lifetime secrecy oaths regarding UAPs are null and void when cooperating with investigators. This directly combats institutional buy-in and the fear of professional retaliation.”
- Loeb: “By naming the AARO and PURSUE as the sole authorized entities, the executive branch is stripping legacy defense compartments of their monopoly on UAP data, funneling all historical and current records into central oversight databases.”
- Disclosure Foundation: “The new memorandum… has been thoroughly reviewed by our legal team and carries significant impact… Interestingly, the Memorandum goes further than mentioning mere NDA's, and also extends to the waiver of ‘agreements, oaths, and commitments…’ When someone comes forward under this express waiver, relying on its assurances, nearly all legal jurisdictions would honor such a waiver. While the Administration's waiver cannot impact the terms of contracts between private entities (like a civilian employee and their defense contractor employer), any ‘NDA, agreement, oath, or commitment’ made with the United States Government concerning UAP information is potentially impacted by this directive.”
- Former State Dept Analyst Marik Von Rennenkampff: “Preliminary guidance from ODNI waives any NDAs ‘prohibiting disclosure to the President,’ a clear nod to the allegation that presidents have not been informed of certain UAP/UFO activities.”
- Matthew Brown: “This is an extraordinary admission from ODNI. Illegal UAP NDAs exist, and they were specifically written to prevent the lawfully elected President of the United States from accessing information held within his own government. But this still does not free UAP whistleblowers to speak to Congress or the American people. It provides no immunity, no protection, and no remedy for those threatened or punished for violating unconstitutional NDAs.”
References
- AARO: FY25 Consolidated Annual Report on UAP
- The Debrief: AARO’s Latest UAP Report Finds No Evidence of Exotic Technology, but Mysteries Remain
- Fox News: Long-hidden UFO information at center of Trump push to free former officials
- Murgia: “The fact that it’s only former employees bothers me.”
- Disclosure Foundation: “How do we ensure info won’t get locked up inside AARO or PURSUE?”
- Elizondo: Setting the record straight
- Borland: “I suspect this is not about future whistleblowers but about past information.”
- Brown: “Permission to speak is not protection from retaliation.”
- Brown: Catch and Kill
- Davis: “Trump’s order did not forbid committing acts of retaliation against whistleblowers.”
- Davis: “Brown’s article illustrates why whistleblowers are afraid to go to law enforcement.”
- Rep Burlison: Statement on President Trump's UAP NDA Directive
- Brown: “AARO & ODNI are hostile to UAP whistleblowers… consider Rep Burlison a trusted ally.”
- Rep Burlison: “Today I’m releasing guidance regarding Trump's UAP NDA directive.”
- DDNI: Preliminary Guidance for Implementation of NDA Waiver
- Sol Foundation: “Participation in the described process is not optional.”
- Loeb: UAP Disclosure is No Longer Optional
- Disclosure Foundation: “Nearly all legal jurisdictions would honor such a waiver.”
- Marik: “A clear nod to the allegation that presidents have not been informed of UAP activities.”
- Brown: “Illegal UAP NDAs written to prevent the president from accessing information.”
Episode 92, posted on
- Previous: Lunar Monoliths