What happened
In July 2023 Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Mike Rounds, joined by Marco Rubio, Kirsten Gillibrand, Todd Young and Martin Heinrich, introduced the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act as an amendment to the annual defense bill. Modeled on the 1992 JFK Assassination Records Collection Act, it would have created a UAP Records Collection at the National Archives with a presumption of immediate disclosure, an independent presidentially appointed review board to decide what stayed secret, a 25-year deadline for release, and federal eminent domain over any recovered technologies of unknown origin and biological evidence of non-human intelligence held by private companies. The Senate passed its bill with the amendment, but House leaders, led by Intelligence chair Mike Turner and Armed Services chair Mike Rogers, objected. The final law, signed on 22 December 2023, kept a National Archives records collection and disclosure process but dropped the review board and the eminent domain clause. Schumer and Rounds publicly expressed disappointment.
The official explanation
Opponents in the House argued the amendment duplicated existing UAP provisions, including those that created AARO, and raised concerns about the cost and scope of a new independent board and about seizing private property. Turner dismissed what he called a 'pro-alien caucus.' Supporters suspected defense-industry influence, though no evidence of that was presented. Skeptics note that a law providing for disclosure of records if they exist is not evidence that such records do.
The anomalous case
The bill's own text is the anomaly. The Senate majority leader, a bipartisan group of senior senators, and Rubio, vice chair of the Intelligence Committee, wrote legislation defining 'non-human intelligence' and 'technologies of unknown origin' and asserting government ownership of any such material in private hands. Schumer said the public had a right to learn about technologies of unknown origins and non-human intelligence, and later said Congress had been told by multiple credible sources that UAP information had been withheld from it. Lawmakers do not usually write eminent-domain clauses for things they believe do not exist. When the most consequential provisions were stripped out after quiet opposition, transparency advocates in both parties, including Representatives Tim Burchett and Anna Paulina Luna, saw confirmation that someone did not want the question answered.
The strongest argument that this was something genuinely unknown or classified, with each claim attributed to the person who made it.
Documents
- Schumer, Rounds introduce UAP Disclosure Act (press release) official, democrats.senate.gov
Sources
- Schumer, Rounds Introduce New Legislation To Declassify Government Records Related To Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena & UFOs Senate Democrats (Office of the Majority Leader)
- Congress scraps provision to declassify information about UFOs, aliens Straight Arrow News
- The Battle for UAP Disclosure in Washington The Debrief
- National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 Wikipedia
Witness reports elsewhere
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