Sen. Schumer's new UAP act targets the White House and the Department of Energy using a 20,000,000$ Review Board
For the third time, the National Defense Authorization Act is being used to propose legislation regarding unidentified anomalous phenomena.
This long-awaited Act contains the term 'non-human intelligence' 22 times and is exceptionally brutal towards anyone working on a reverse engineering program under the administration's umbrella. However, the text does not appear to be sufficiently robust to address some alleged state secrets.
The first part of the Act is the most interesting:
All Federal Government records concerning unidentified anomalous phenomena should carry a presumption of immediate disclosure and all records should be eventually disclosed to enable the public to become fully informed about the history of the Federal Government's knowledge and involvement surrounding unidentified anomalous phenomena.
It is difficult not to consider the long-rumoured actions of parts of the US administration over the past 80 years. For example, one could consider the dramatic case of Paul Bennewitz and his contacts with officers from the Air Force's Office of Special Investigations.
As has been stated many times in official reports, the US Department of Defense does not usually consider UAPs to pose a threat to national security. One might wonder, then, why it is so highly classified. Schumer's Act clearly states that such files should be made public.
Legislation is necessary to create an enforceable, independent, and accountable process for the public disclosure of such records.
This sentence may allude to the difficulties encountered by the previous two versions of the UAPDA in the US Congress. By granting the text legitimacy under the authority of the Act, it is also protected from external pressure.
Legislation is necessary because credible evidence and testimony indicates that Federal Government unidentified anomalous phenomena records exist that have not been declassified or subject to mandatory declassification review as set forth in Executive Order 13526 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note; relating to classified national security information) due in part to exemptions under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.), as well as an over-broad interpretation of “transclassified foreign nuclear information'', which is also exempt from mandatory declassification, thereby preventing public disclosure under existing provisions of law.
This somewhat cryptic sentence may reveal one of the United States' greatest secrets. The Atomic Energy Act establishes :
a program for Government control of the possession, use, and production of atomic energy and special nuclear material whether owned by the Government or others, so directed as to make the maximum contribution to the common defense and security and the national welfare, and to provide continued assurance of the Government’s ability to enter into and enforce agreements with nations or groups of nations for the control of special nuclear materials and atomic weapons
As strong radiation has been detected in some close encounters, this program could legally conduct operations to retrieve non-human spacecraft, as this falls within its remit.
For probalby the same reason, the text references “transclassified foreign nuclear information”, described by the Department of Energy as :
Information concerning the atomic energy programs of other nations that has been removed from the Restricted Data category for use by the intelligence community and is safeguarded as NSI under E.O. 13526. Documents marked as containing TFNI are excluded from the automatic declassification provisions of the Order until the TFNI designation is properly removed by the Department of Energy.
The Act continues, this time targeting the White House:
Legislation is necessary because section 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly referred to as the “Freedom of Information Act''), as implemented by the Executive branch of the Federal Government, has proven inadequate in achieving the timely public disclosure of Government unidentified anomalous phenomena records that are subject to mandatory declassification review.
Legislation is necessary to restore proper oversight over unidentified anomalous phenomena records by elected officials in both the executive and legislative branches of the Federal Government that has otherwise been lacking as of the enactment of this Act.
If it was ordered by the President of the United States and followed the relevant regulations, a crash retrieval program could be perfectly legal. However, if it were to become rogue and stop communicating, very few people would be aware of it. Furthermore, if it was created decades ago, it would have had time to develop its own intelligence resources without oversight, as described by whistleblower David Grusch.
Another possibility is that the program is operating under the direct orders of the executive branch, which would explain why the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community could not access its details, according to Rep. Burlison.
The Schumer Act aims to protect and declassify information relating to unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP).
No unidentified anomalous phenomena record shall be destroyed, altered, or mutilated in any way.
No unidentified anomalous phenomena record created by a person or entity outside the Federal Government (excluding names or identities consistent with the requirements of section __06) shall be withheld, redacted, postponed for public disclosure, or reclassified.
To achieve this, it establishes a Review Board, a group constituted by the President and overseen by the Senate. It would comprise at least nine members.
Persons nominated to the Review Board-- (A) shall be impartial citizens, none of whom shall have had any previous or current involvement with any legacy program or controlling authority relating to the collection, exploitation, or reverse engineering of technologies of unknown origin or the examination of biological evidence of living or deceased non-human intelligence; (B) shall be distinguished persons of high national professional reputation in their respective fields who are capable of exercising the independent and objective judgment necessary to the fulfilment of their role in ensuring and facilitating the review, transmission to the public, and public disclosure of records related to the government's understanding of, and activities associated with unidentified anomalous phenomena, technologies of unknown origin, and non- human intelligence and who possess an appreciation of the value of such material to the public, scholars, and government and shall include at least:
1 current or former national security official
1 current or former foreign service official
1 scientist or engineer
1 economist
1 professional historian
1 professional historian
All Review Board nominees shall be granted the necessary security clearances and accesses, including any and all relevant Presidential, departmental, and agency special access programs, in an accelerated manner subject to the standard procedures for granting such clearances.
It would be surprising if the Executive Branch allowed individuals who are neither elected nor part of the administration to access such sensitive data on its actions. Furthermore, it would have the power to :
request the Attorney General to subpoena private persons to compel testimony, records, and other information relevant to its responsibilities under this division
hold hearings, administer oaths, and subpoena witnesses and documents
A subpoena issued under paragraph (1)(C)(iii) may be enforced by any appropriate Federal court acting pursuant to a lawful request of the Review Board.
The Chairmen and Ranking Members of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Oversight and Accountability of the House of Representatives, and staff of such committees designated by such Chairmen and Ranking Members, shall be granted all security clearances and accesses held by the Review Board, including to relevant Presidential and department or agency special access and compartmented access programs.
Granting such power to a group is reminiscent of the Church Committee hearings that transformed the intelligence community in 1975.
The Review Board shall be considered to be an agency of the United States for purposes of section 6001 of title 18, United States Code. Witnesses, close observers, and whistleblowers providing information directly to the Review Board shall also be afforded the protections provided to such persons specified under section 1673(b) of the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (50 U.S.C. 3373b(b)).
The Review Board shall have access to all testimony from unidentified anomalous phenomena witnesses, close observers and legacy program personnel and whistleblowers within the Federal Government's possession as of and after the date of the enactment of this Act in furtherance of Review Board disclosure determination responsibilities in section __07(h) and subsection (c) of this section.
Recently, concerns have been raised by whistleblowers due to elected officials repeatedly changing their hearing dates at the last minute and then complaining that they did not want to attend. With the next hearings planned for September, according to Representatives Burlison and Luna, one can only hope that they will make progress on the issue.
According to the whistleblowers, distrust is also increasing due to AARO's dismissal of testimonies and the terrible cost to their careers of becoming a whistleblower.
The Act also provides a communication plan.
Controlled disclosure campaign plan.
--With respect to unidentified anomalous phenomena records, particular information in unidentified anomalous phenomena records, recovered technologies of unknown origin, and biological evidence for non-human intelligence the public disclosure of which is postponed pursuant to section __06, or for which only substitutions or summaries have been disclosed to the public, the Review Board shall create and transmit to the President, the Archivist, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, and the Committee on Oversight and Accountability of the House of Representatives a Controlled Disclosure Campaign Plan, with classified appendix, containing
-- (A) a description of actions by the Review Board, the originating body, the President, or any Government office (including a justification of any such action to postpone disclosure of any record or part of any record) and of any official proceedings conducted by the Review Board with regard to specific unidentified anomalous phenomena records; and
(B) a benchmark-driven plan, based upon a review of the proceedings and in conformity with the decisions reflected therein, recommending precise requirements for periodic review, downgrading, and declassification as well as the exact time or specified occurrence following which each postponed item may be appropriately disclosed to the public under this division.
Notice following review and determination.
Contemporaneous notice shall be made to the President for Review Board determinations regarding unidentified anomalous phenomena records of the executive branch of the Federal Government, and to the oversight committees designated in this division in the case of records of the legislative branch of the Federal Government. Such notice shall contain a written unclassified justification for public disclosure or postponement of disclosure, including an explanation of the application of any standards contained in section __06.
As the Review Board will need the determination of the President to disclose information, the declassification of information is far from being won.
Exercise of Eminent Domain.--The Federal Government shall exercise eminent domain over any and all recovered technologies of unknown origin and biological evidence of non-human intelligence that may be controlled by private persons or entities in the interests of the public good.(b) Availability to Review Board.--Any and all such material, should it exist, shall be made available to the Review Board for personal examination and subsequent disclosure determination at a location suitable to the controlling authority of said material and in a timely manner conducive to the objectives of the Review Board in accordance with the requirements of this division.
The review board's most debated power is back for a third round. The Act would allow the administration to seize all debris in the possession of private researchers, with no guarantee as to the extent of the US's oversight of its contractors who may have withheld such materials.
Information held under seal of a court.--The Review Board may request the Attorney General to petition any court in the United States or abroad to release any information relevant to unidentified anomalous phenomena, technologies of unknown origin, or non-human intelligence that is held under seal of the court.*
the Attorney General should assist the Review Board in good faith to unseal any records that the Review Board determines to be relevant and held under seal by a court or under the injunction of secrecy of a grand jury;
Materials can also get caught up in litigation, particularly when there are allegations that private contractors have been given an unfair technological advantage without a request for proposals or get caught up in jurisdictional disputes.
(2) the Secretary of State should contact any foreign government that may hold material relevant to unidentified anomalous phenomena, technologies of unknown origin, or non- human intelligence and seek disclosure of such material;
Interestingly, Marco Rubio actual Secretary of State, former senator and one of the strongest voices in support of Congressional initiatives regarding UAP, may prove to be a great advocate for the part of the act requiring the Secretary of State to contact other nations.
This text is by far the most ambitious that has been presented to the Senate and, according to Rep. Burlison, should be quickly followed by similar efforts in the House of Representatives. However, there is still a long way to go before January, and those who oppose UAP have proven themselves to be both discreet and fierce.