Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is part of a bipartisan group of senators who have offered an amendment to the annual Defense authorization bill requiring the federal government to collect and make public records related to unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) and unidentified flying objects (UFOs).
The proposed amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act would direct the National Archives and Records Administration to create a collection of records on UAPs and UFOs to be disclosed to the public immediately unless a review board provides reasons to keep them classified.
“For decades, many Americans have been fascinated by objects mysterious and unexplained and it’s long past time they get some answers,” Schumer said in a statement. “The American public has a right to learn about technologies of unknown origins, non-human intelligence, and unexplainable phenomena.
“We are not only working to declassify what the government has previously learned about these phenomena but to create a pipeline for future research to be made public,” he added.
Schumer said he is carrying out the legacy of former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who more than a decade ago pushed funding for the Pentagon’s secret Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program.
Lawmakers’ interest in learning more about UFO sightings soared after that project became public and media outlets began publishing video clips of unexplained aerial phenomena captured by the cameras and sensors on military jets.
After that project became public, Senators, congressmen, committees, and staff began to pursue this issue and uncovered a vast web of individuals and groups with ideas and stories to share.
The amendment has the support of Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) — the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee — Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.).
The lawmakers say “the sheer number and variety” of stories about UFOs have led some of them and their colleagues to believe the executive branch may be concealing information about possible visits from extra-planetary civilizations.
“Our goal is to assure credibility with regard to any investigation or record keeping of materials associated with Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena,” said Rounds. “Relevant documents related to this issue should be preserved. Providing a central collection location and reputable review board to maintain the records adds to the credibility of any future investigations.”
“There is a lot we still don’t know about these UAPs, and that is a big problem,” Rubio said.
“We’ve taken some important steps over the last few years to increase transparency and reduce stigmas, but more needs to be done. This is yet another step in that direction and one that I hope will spur further cooperation from the executive branch,” he added.
“Understanding UAPs is critical to our national security and to maintaining all-domain awareness,” Gillibrand said.
The push to declassify more information about UAPs and UFOs comes after Air Force veteran David Grusch, a former member of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, told NewsNation that the U.S. government has recovered non-human craft for decades
Grusch implied in the interview that the government has recovered more than spacecraft materials.
“Well, naturally, when you recover something that’s either landed or crashed, sometimes you encounter dead pilots and believe it or not, as fantastical as that sounds, it’s true,” he said in the NewsNation interview. NewsNation and The Hill are both owned by Nexstar.
NewsNation confirmed Grusch’s credentials but did not view or verify evidence that the whistleblower said he provided to Congress or the Department of Defense Inspector General.
The House Oversight Committee is planning to hold a hearing later this month on UFOs that will be led by Reps. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) and Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.).
The amendment is modeled on the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 which required the public disclosure of documents related to former President Kennedy’s assassination 25 years after its enactment.
The Schumer-Rounds amendment would give the federal government eminent domain over any recovered technologies of unknown origin or biological evidence of nonhuman intelligence now held by private individuals or organizations.
This story was updated at 12:27 p.m.