WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — Unidentified flying objects (UFOs) are taking up a lot of space in the political arena, with a group of senators recently alleging the existence of a longstanding program that retrieves and reverse engineers “nonhuman” technology.
NewsNation’s extensive reporting on UAPs (unidentified aerial phenomena) spurred congressional action, starting with an exclusive interview with retired Maj. David Grusch — a U.S. Air Force Veteran and UFO whistleblower — in June 2023 where he alleged the U.S. possesses “quite a number” of “nonhuman” vehicles.
Since then, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., lawmakers introduced provisions to look into this clandestine program and establish a government-wide UAP records collection. The latter was ultimately signed into law by President Joe Biden last December as part of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act.
“Some of the most high-profile names in recent Senate history were involved in this effort,” Marik Von Rennenkampff, a former analyst at the Departments of State and Defense, told NewsNation. “They are cautious politicians. They would not just put out 64 pages of legislation that mentions nonhuman intelligence. There it is, in black and white.”
The National Archives and Records Administration has presented precise instructions to federal agencies: reveal everything they know about UAPs by Oct. 20. The National Archives will have a legal mandate to release those records to the public if deemed appropriate.
So why are lawmakers convinced the U.S. government is concealing a top-secret UFO program?
What lawmakers are saying
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) — December 13, 2023
The top Democrat in the Senate has been a staunch advocate for more UAP transparency, noting that “multiple credible sources” have told him that information is being “withheld from Congress.”
“The United States government has gathered a great deal of information about UAP over many decades but has refused to share it with the American people. That is wrong and additionally breeds mistrust,” Schumer said.
The late Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), former Senate majority leader — April 27, 2020
Reid, whose home state Nevada is the home of the famed Area 51, pushed to increase funding for any and all UFO-related activity.
In 2020, when the Pentagon released footage of an unidentified aerial phenomena, Reid responded that while he was glad the footage was released, “it only scratches the surface of research and materials available,” Reid wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“The U.S. needs to take a serious, scientific look at this and any potential national security implications. The American people deserve to be informed.”
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) – December 13, 2023
Rounds — who led the amendment with Schumer — said the proposed legislation is modeled after the JFK Assassination Records Act.
Rounds said doing so has “successfully guided the release of records to the American public on another very sensitive matter of high interest to the American people.”
“And it does one more thing that we really need to recognize, and that is that there is, we believe, information and data that has been collected by more than just the Department of Defense, but by other agencies of the federal government as well, and by allowing for an outside, independent collection of these records we can make progress in terms of dispelling myths and providing accurate information to the American people.”
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) — July 27, 2023
In an interview with NewsNation, Rubio said that the latest string of UAP whistleblower claims should be taken seriously.
“I will say I find most of these people — at some point, or maybe even currently — have held very high clearances and high positions within our government, so you do ask yourself: ‘What incentive would so many people with that kind of qualification… have to come forward and make something up?’” Rubio said.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) — December 9, 2021
Gillibrand has maintained over the years that understanding UAPs is critical to national security in the United States.
“Our national security efforts rely on aerial supremacy, and these phenomena present a challenge to our dominance over the air. Staying ahead of UAP sightings is critical to keeping our strategic edge and keeping our nation safe,” Gillibrand said in a statement.
What is the government saying?
The Pentagon has repeatedly denied that a top-secret UFO program exists. In March, it issued a report to Congress shutting down all theories, claiming any evidence of UAP was the result of “misidentification.”
“No verifiable evidence that any UAP setting represented extraterrestrial activity that the U.S. government or private industry has ever had access to extraterrestrial technology, or that any information was illegally or inappropriately withheld from Congress,” Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder told reporters in a press briefing. “Alleged hidden UAP reverse engineering programs either do not exist or were misidentified authentic National Security Programs unrelated to extraterrestrial activity or technology exploitation.”
Ryder added: “What we found is that claims of hidden programs are largely the result of circular reporting by a small group, repeating what they heard from others, and that many people have sincerely misinterpreted real events or mistaken sensitive U.S. programs as UAP or being extraterrestrial exploitation.”
NASA also released its own investigation — which involved 16 scientists and other experts, including retired astronaut Scott Kelly — that stated, “At this point, there is no reason to conclude that existing UAP reports have an extraterrestrial source.”
More legislation has been presented in recent weeks
Despite the Pentagon and NASA’s findings, Schumer is expected to once again introduce sweeping legislation to further look into UAP programs within the next couple of months, a source familiar says.
At the House level, Republican Rep. Tim Burchett — one of the leading advocates in the Capitol advocating for UAP transparency — recently launched a new bill requiring Biden to direct the heads of each federal agency to declassify all documents related to UAPs.
“This bill isn’t all about finding little green men or flying saucers,” Rep. Burchett said. “It’s about forcing the Pentagon and federal agencies to be transparent with the American people. I’m sick of hearing bureaucrats telling me these things don’t exist while we’ve spent millions of taxpayer dollars on studying them for decades.”