UAP disclosure, transparency, and politics
Selected developments & revelations (2017-2025)
The New York Times article
Many argue that UAP received a new status in December 2017. This was the moment the New York Times published “Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program”, which revealed the existence of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) (which was actually AAWSAP mentioned below).
The article disclosed that the United States government had been secretly studying UFOs through a $22 million program championed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (photo). The article featured videos of UFO encounters with navy pilots and brought unprecedented mainstream attention to the UAP phenomenon.
AATIP and AAWSAP
The Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) was initially established in 2008 through the efforts of Senator Harry Reid, with support from Senators Ted Stevens and Daniel Inouye.
The two-year program, which studied a broad spectrum of anomalies (not just UFOs), was directed by rocket scientist Dr. James Lacatski at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in Washington DC and was contracted to Robert Bigelow’s subsidiary company, Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS). Scientist Dr. Colm Kelleher was integral to the research efforts and the manager at BAASS in Nevada.
AATIP emerged as a successor project focused specifically on military UAP encounters. The counterintelligence officer Luis Elizondo served as its director at the Pentagon until his resignation in 2017, citing excessive secrecy and lack of proper attention to potential national security implications.
The UAP Disclosure Act – UAPDA
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D) and Senator Mike Rounds (R) introduced the “UAP Disclosure Act” in 2023 and 2024, proposing:
– Creation of a presidentially appointed review board of 9 persons to examine classified UAP programs.
– Provisions for “eminent domain” to acquire UAP-related materials from private contractors.
– Enhanced whistleblower protections for UAP program personnel.
– Requirements for all federal agencies to release UAP-related records. (This piece of the legislation was passed and signed by President Biden. However, the deadline given to federal agencies has been extended to September 30th 2025.)
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform – Hearing 9. September 2025
Title: Restoring Public Trust Through UAP Transparency and Whistleblower Protection
Description pending.
Testimonies from:
Jeffrey Nuccetelli, U.S. Air Force Veteran
Chief Alexandro Wiggins, UAP witness
George Knapp, UAP Journalist
Dylan Borland, U.S. Air Force Veteran
Joe Spielberger, Senior Policy Counsel, Project On Government Oversight.
House Oversight and Accountability / UAP Disclosure Fund – Briefing 1. May 2025
Title: Understanding UAP: Science, National Security & Innovation
Nonpartisan briefing, hosted by the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability and sponsored by the bipartisan Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets provided Members with insights into the scientific significance, national security relevance, and innovation potential of UAP-related data.
Speakers
Government Transparency: Reps. Anna Paulina Luna, Eric Burlison, Tim Burchett, Nicholas Begich.
Scientific Inquiry: Dr. Avi Loeb (Harvard/Galileo), Dr. Eric Davis (AATIP), Mike Gold (NASA UAP Study/Redwire), & Anna Brady Estevez (American Deep Tech/NSF).
National Security: Former officials Chris Mellon (Dep Asst Sec Def-Intel) & Kirk McConnell (Senate Armed Services/Intel).
Witness Accounts & Data: Moderator Lue Elizondo (AATIP), RAdm Tim Gallaudet (Ret., NOAA/Navy).
New Taskforce on the Declassification of Federal Secrets,
11. February 2025
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R) and Chairman James Comer (R) from the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform announced the creation of a bi-partisan taskforce to declassify UAP secrets among other things.
The taskforce will not have its own subpoena power. However, the Oversight Committee will be able to assist the taskforce with this, Comer stated at the press conference.
Congressional Hearing, 19. November 2024
Hearing held by the Senate Committee on Armed Services‘ subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities. Led by chairwoman Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D) – flanked by Senator Joni Ernst (R).
Testimony from:
The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office’s (AARO) new director Dr. Jon T. Kosloski, who gave an update on AARO’s investigations, findings and plans for the future.
Congressional Hearing, 13. November 2024
Title: “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth.”
Held by the House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Accountability.
Chaired by Rep. Nancy Mace (R) & Rep. Glenn Grothman (R).
Testimony under oath:
– Rear admiral (Ret.)Tim Gallaudet testified that he was deployed off the east coast of the U.S. in Jan. 2015. Here, he and other naval officers received an email with a UAP video – an email that vanished from all of their inboxes “without explanation” the next day. The anomalous object, he said, exhibited “flight and structural characteristics unlike anything in our arsenal.” For Gallaudet, the content of the video, and its disappearance, serves as “confirmation that UAPs are interacting with humanity.”
– Former Pentagon official and AATIP director Luis Elizondo stated: “UAP are real. Advanced technologies not made by our government or any other government are monitoring sensitive military installations around the globe. Furthermore, the U.S. is in possession of UAP technologies, as are some of our adversaries. I believe we are in the midst of a multi-decade, secretive arms race, one funded by misallocated taxpayer dollars, and hidden from our elected representatives and oversight bodies.”
– Journalist Michael Shellenberger alleged that the US government has been running “an active and highly secretive” Unacknowled Special Access Program (USAP) called Immaculate Constellation, which includes “hundreds, maybe thousands” of images and videos of UAPs.
– NASA Independent Study Team member Dr. Michael Gold stressed the need for academics to “overcome the pernicious stigma that continues to impede scientific dialogue and open discussions” about unexplained phenomena. Furthermore, Gold underscored that NASA has a treasure trove of data, which can be analysed with AI and machine learning tools.
The bi-partisan UAP Caucus’ press conference, 30. November 2023
Members of the House of Representative’s UAP Caucus, led by Representatives Tim Burchett (R) and Jared Moskowitz (D), held a press conference expressing frustration with what they described as a lack of transparency from intelligence agencies regarding UAP information.
The representatives stressed that various agencies were impeding Congress’ constitutional oversight role by withholding information about UAP incidents and related materials.
They described facing significant institutional resistance when requesting access to classified UAP data.
The press conference was part of a broader push by some members of Congress for greater transparency around UAP issues.
Other representatives present:
– Eric Burlison (R)
– Andy Ogles (R)
– Matt Gaetz (R)
– Anna Paulina Luna (R)
Congressional Hearing, 26. July 2023
The hearing held by the House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Accountability featured testimony under oath from:
– Former employee at the Pentagon’s UAP Task Force David Grusch on alleged illegal and classified UFO crash-retrieval and reverse-engineering programs and recovered non-human bodies. Grusch stressed retaliation against whistleblowers and presented his assessment of oversight inadequacies. He testified that he had information about program names, locations and operational details. Moreover, he knew the names of several people working directly with the recovered non-human technology. Grusch stated that he would only be able to disclose this information in a classified setting, but that much of this information had already been provided in his complaint to the ICIG (Intelligence Community Inspector General) Thomas Monheim. The latter has deemed Grusch’s case “credible and urgent”.
– Former Commander David Fravor provided a detailed account of the 2004 USS Nimitz UAP encounters, discussing the technical capabilities observed and shared his analysis of sensor data. His testimony highlighted important training implications for military personnel.
– Former fighter pilot Ryan Graves presented compelling information about first-hand pilot UAP encounters and raised serious aviation safety concerns. His recommendations for reporting systems and analysis of encounter patterns have influenced subsequent policy discussions.