House lawmakers demand transparency from leaders on UAP amendment’s inclusion in Defense bill

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers made a public appeal for transparency over reports of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) Thursday, after it was reported top leaders in both chambers were attempting to kill legislation related to the effort. 

“Some members have stonewalled our efforts to get transparency, and this is also unacceptable,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) said during a press conference she convened.  

“No one member is above another, and the American people deserve to know as much about the existence in this universe as possible. They certainly have a right to know about whether or not if their safety is threatened,” she added. 

Interest in UAP sightings and has exploded since a July House hearing when three former Defense Department officials gave testimony on their experience with the phenomena, warning that the sightings could pose national security risks.

A bipartisan coalition that includes Luna, Reps. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) and Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) — a group that calls itself the UAP Caucus — has pledged to bring more transparency to the topic.

Included in that effort is a UAP-related amendment in the Senate’s version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a provision introduced by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.).  

The UAP Disclosure Act would require the release of government records on UAP no more than 25 years after their creation unless they are found to be of enough risk to national security that they require further classification. The act would also create an official UAP Records Collection and establish a review board for the office. 

A version of the UAP Disclosure Act seemed assured to be included in the final NDAA as the House has a similar provision included in its version of the massive Defense policy bill.

Both chambers passed their NDAAs in July and since have been negotiating a final version of the legislation.

But late last week, there were reports that House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), and House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) were looking to quash the act. The two even appeared to have the support of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and new House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in their effort. 

Thursday’s press conference appeared to be a last-minute effort by the House UAP Caucus to try and raise awareness about the behind the scenes wrangling.  

“We need the UAP Disclosure Act,” Luna said. “The American people are not stupid; we can handle this information. Other countries have declassified similar information, and it’s time that the United States stepped up to the plate and did the same.” 

Burchett, who offered the House language on UAP transparency, claimed he and the UAP Caucus has faced a lot of pushback from the intelligence community, members of Congress and the Pentagon. 

One breakthrough for the group, however, was the green light for a classified hearing to review an inspector general’s report from David Grusch, one of the three former Defense officials who gave testimony in front of a House Oversight and Accountability subcommittee in July. 

Grusch, an ex-Air Force intelligence official, gave the most explosive testimony of the day when he claimed the Pentagon and other agencies are withholding information about UAP, as well as hiding a long-running program attempting to reverse engineer the objects behind them. 

He also asserted that he “absolutely” believes the U.S. government is in possession of nonhuman technology and that he knows “the exact locations” of that material. 

Grusch added that he was unable to speak on much of his knowledge, however, as it is classified. Lawmakers sought a meeting with him in a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) but until now hadn’t been allowed to convene one. 

“We were previously denied this; we have now received permission from [Grusch] directly to go back into the SCIF to review that information,” Luna said.  

The lawmakers claimed that the Defense Department previously told them that Grusch didn’t have an active security clearance, so he couldn’t divulge his information, which Luna called a “stonewall” practice on the part of the Pentagon. 

The secrecy around the topic has frustrated and confused lawmakers. 

“Why are folks who are in charge of committees, whether they are in the House or in the Senate, opposed to this disclosure?” Moskowitz said. 

“This is not about whether there are aliens or there are not aliens,” he added. “The problem is when we ask those questions, rather than being provided information that would prove it false, they stonewall the information, and that is what piques the interest.”