On World UFO Day, Congress Wants 'Unidentified' Sightings to Be Declassified
Newsweek -July 2, 2020
This
year
the
unofficial
July
2
holiday
known
as
World
UFO
Day
may
have
a
real
reason
to
celebrate:
members
of
Congress
are
calling
for
significant
disclosures
regarding
what
the
military
has
dubbed
"unexplained
aerial
phenomena," or UAP.
In
mid-June,
the
Senate
Intelligence
Committee
submitted
a
draft
of
the
Intelligence
Authorization
Act.
While
primarily
outlining
new
funding
to
intelligence
organizations,
the
Committee
also
attached
a
report
which
includes a call for the Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper to produce a primarily unclassified report on "Advanced Aerial Threats" like UAP.
That's right, the government wants the receipts.
"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
phenomena,
any
links
they
have
to
adversarial
foreign
governments,
and
the
threat
they
pose
to
U.S.
military
assets
and
installations,"
the
section
from
the
Committee
Comments
on
the
funding
bill
reads.
"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."
After the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 is signed into law, the Senate Intelligence Committee will anticipate the submission of a report on UAP from the DNI within 180 days of its enactment.
The
Committee
laid
eight
specific
directives
for
the
report,
including
a
"detailed
analysis"
of
UAP
"data
and
intelligence"
from
the
Office
of
Naval
Intelligence
and
its
subordinate
Unidentified
Aerial
Phenomena
Task
Force,
in
addition
to
UAP
data
collected
via
other
intelligence
methods.
The
FBI
is
also
expected
to
provide
an
analysis
of
its
data,
"derived
from
investigations
of
intrusions
of
unidentified
aerial
phenomena
data
over
restricted
United
States
airspace."
Additional
directives
outline
coordination
between
agencies
going
forward,
including
the
naming
of
an
official
for
coordinating
"timely
data
collection
and
centralized
analysis"
throughout
the
federal government.
While
described
as
UAP
or
even
"anomalous
aerial
vehicles"
within
the
report,
the
only
explanation
contemplated
explicitly
isn't
the
extraterrestrial
hypothesis
that
looms
so
large
in
the
public
imagination.
Instead,
the
Committee
called
for
"an
assessment
of
whether
this
unidentified
aerial
phenomena
activity
may
be
attributed
to
one
or
more
foreign
adversaries,"
further
requesting
threat
assessments
regarding
"breakthrough
aerospace capabilities" developed by a "potential adversary."
"The
fact
that
the
Senate
is
asking
for
a
report
on
Unidentified
Aerial
Phenomena
is
huge
news
and
should
be
highly
commended,"
John
Greenewald
of
the
declassified
government
records
database
The
Black
Vault
told
Newsweek in emailed comments. "It has been decades since Congress and the Senate have shown an interest in the topic and require that the intelligence community produce anything relating to the topic."
Newsweek
has
reached
out
to
the
offices
of
the
Committee's
acting
chairman,
Senator
Marco
Rubio
of
Florida,
and
minority
party
member
of
the
Committee,
Senator
Kamala
Harris
of
California,
but
did
not
receive
comment back by time of publication.
The
2017
unauthorized
release
of
three
videos
showing
Navy
pilots
encountering
unexplained
aerial
phenomena
has
spurred
renewed
interest
in
UFOs,
both
from
the
public
and
members
of
the
government.
Further
disclosures followed, including military officials describing multiple UFO intrusions on to military airspace per month and connections between the Pentagon and a private organization that investigated poltergeists.
In
April,
the
Navy
officially
declassified
the
videos.
Depicting
apparent
UFOs
captured
on
infrared
and
commented
upon
by
Navy
pilots,
the
videos
appear
to
show
unidentified
craft
performing
accelerations
and
maneuvers
beyond
the
capabilities
of
known
aerospace
technologies.
However,
independent
researchers
have
presented
comparative
evidence
demonstrating
how
conventional
aircraft,
including
commercial
flights,
can
generate
similar visual results when captured in infrared. A remarkably similar UFO video released by the Chilean Navy was eventually found to have a terrestrial explanation.
Still,
the
unclassified
report
has
the
potential
to
offer
significant
disclosures
regarding
what
the
government
knows
concerning
UFOs
and
unexplained
aerial
phenomena.
But
there
are
a
number
of
caveats
that
could
limit
how much is revealed.
The
first,
of
course,
is
passage
of
the
Intelligence
Authorization
Act
for
Fiscal
Year
2021
through
Congress
and
signing
by
President
Donald
Trump.
But
even
assuming
its
advancement
through
the
legislature,
the
request
to
the
DNI—appearing
in
the
comments
appended
to
the
bill—is
technically
nonbinding.
Furthermore,
the
Committee's
report
includes
a
classified
annex
that
may
include
additional
stipulations
on
what
will
or
will
not
be
public regarding UAP investigations. A classified annex may also be appended to any report delivered to the Committee by the DNI, further constricting what enters the public record.
Greenewald, who specializes in obtaining formerly declassified documents via Freedom of Information Act requests, explained that even classified information has the potential to eventually inform the public.
"Even
though
they
plan
on
a
classified
annex,
they
do
have
to
justify
that
classification
internally,"
Greenewald
said.
"With
the
use
of
the
FOIA,
requests
can
be
made
for
that
information
to
be
reviewed
for
release,
and
if
they withhold it based on various FOIA exemptions, legal action can be taken to bring it to the courts."
Even
if
an
eventual
report
released
by
the
DNI
to
Congress
has
little
to
offer
the
public,
what
has
already
been
revealed
incidentally
by
the
Senate
Intelligence
Committee
may
open
new
avenues
of
exploration
for
UFO
and
UAP
researchers.
It
was
previously
not
known,
for
example,
that
the
FBI
investigated
UAP
intrusions
into
restricted
U.S.
airspace.
The
Committee
request
also
reveals
an
apparent
lack
of
coordination
between
agencies,
offering a peek at a seeming behind-the-scenes lack of clarity regarding the phenomena.
"This
entire
news
is
fantastic,
no
matter
what
happens
to
the
classified
annex
portion,"
Greenewald
told
Newsweek.
"That
public
report
will
hopefully
shed
some
light
on
what
this
phenomena
is,
what
it
does,
if
or
why
it
poses a threat and how the powers that be handle it all. At least, that's the hope."
With 180 days to wait after the bill's passage, the eventual report has the potential to provide us with even more to celebrate come World UFO Day 2021.
Source: Newsweek