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Post by auntym on Aug 11, 2022 11:21:03 GMT -6
lifeinjonestown.substack.com/p/on-chasing-history?utm_source=%2Fprofile%2F27376895-billy-cox&utm_medium=reader2Will Congress pursue the big picture on UFOs?by Billy Cox / substack.com/profile/27376895-billy-coxJul 23, 2022 OK, so the political status of UFOs on Capitol Hill is being upgraded — now what comes next? On the evening of November 21, 1963, John Gedney and two fellow train-hopping winos he called Buzz and Cal rode the rails into Dallas and spent the night in a homeless shelter. Next day, after getting haircuts, showers, shaves and clean clothes, the three were about to board a boxcar for the next ride out when they stumbled into history’s dragnet. Accidental suspects in the Kennedy assassination, Gedney and more than a dozen other vagrants in the trainyard were rounded up and thrown in the city jail. Gedney remembered when Lee Harvey Oswald, sporting a shiner from a scuffle with police, got hustled into the tank – they were close enough to spit on each other. Three days later, Gedney, Buzz and Cal were charged with vagrancy, sentenced to time served, then dispatched back into anonymity. Or so it seemed. But as the unacceptable disproportionality of a Lone Nut taking out the most powerful human on the planet sank in, counternarratives emerged and flourished. And the Three Tramps — Gedney, Gus Abrams and Harold Doyle — found themselves fingered by conspiracy culture as actors in the sprawling plot to murder JFK. Gedney’s skill set as a projected hired gun, however, was suspect. Disgracing himself before friends and family, shuffling in and out of jails across the country, throwing $ away on dogs, shivering through the DTs, rolling with bedbugs, lice, and floozies, chug-a-lugging paint thinner mixed with orange soda when the wine ran dry, guzzling Mennen aftershave lotion, ripping off fellow drunks, reaping payback from the karma wheel, Gedney’s contempt for everything in his sight generated images that can’t be unseen. E.g.: He once “crept into an unlocked car to sleep and puked on the floor when I could have easily opened the door and thrown up on the ground. Then, with a feeling of satisfaction, I etched the finish along the entire length of it. It was a good feeling.” Bogus IDs at the Pentagon We know all these flattering details because the man touted in fringe corners as The Tall Tramp felt so stigmatized by the paranoia crowd, he wrote an unsparing autobiography in 2001 to set the record straight. He called it The Making of a Bum: From Notoriety to Sobriety. And the only reason I mention it here is because of this passage. It’s a scene from a temp gig he landed when he was hanging out in Washington, D.C. It was as close as he ever came to the inner sanctum. “Several of us were sent to the Pentagon as laborers. Having some guy’s ID and security clearance badge with his picture on it made me nervous, but *bleep* if I didn’t look a little like him,” Gedney wrote. “We were moving furniture, rugs and files marked top secret. It didn’t bother me a bit when I had to go into the office of the secretary of defense or the atomic energy area down in the basement. “When we were hauling files down a long ramp, my hand truck got away from me and tipped over. Papers scattered across the floor, every one marked top secret. All I did was cram them back in a drawer any old way and went on about my business as if nothing had happened. I was sent there three different times with two IDs, neither of them mine. I finally got drunk one day, didn’t show up for work, and lost the job.” I couldn’t help thinking about the late John Gedney the other day as I tried to keep up with the firehose of UFO news spewing out of the legislative and executive branches. And I’ll get back to Gedney in a minute. But first – you have been paying attention, right? To all those acronyms the Defense Department has been assigning to UFO programs since Junior Bush was president? AAWSAP, then AATIP, then UAPTF, then AOIMSG? AOIMSG is gone — yay! Well, good news: AOIMSG is now kaput. And so is the UAPTF. That’s because they’re being funneled into something called the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO. Say AOIMSG. Bleah. Now say AARO. Out loud. “AARO!” For this, we can thank Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, who made the announcement on July 15. Consequently, AARO will be receiving “oversight and direction” from unnamed members on the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office Executive Council – AAROEXEC. According to Hicks, AARO’s mission will be pretty much what its predecessors were all about, i.e., trying to collect data on UFOs breezing through restricted airspace and figuring out how the hell they do it. But whoa, hold your horses, AARO may not be the final acronym. In a proposed amendment to the 2023 Intelligence Authorization Act (IAA), the U.S. Senate wants to conduct UFO research out of something called the Unidentified Aerospace-Undersea Phenomena Joint Program Office, or the UAPJPO. It’s an unprecedented move that, like its House counterpart, would legally shield government employees whose nondisclosure agreements prevent them from telling lawmakers what they know about UFOs. In fact, the language is downright aggressive. The Senate wants “a complete historical record of the intelligence community’s involvement” with UFOs, which includes an accounting of all efforts to “obfuscate, manipulate public opinion, hide, or otherwise provide unclassified or classified misinformation” about the phenomenon – going all the way back to 1947. As if not to be outdone, however, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence just a few days ago added a new stipulation to its own IAA bill. Now it wants the Comptroller General of the Government Accountability Office to investigate “efforts to recover or transfer related technologies” – read, UFO – “to United States-based industry or National Laboratories.” Not total idiots That’s kinda huge. And this is apparently what happens – lately, anyway – when you aggravate lawmakers with the sort of half-assed effort performed in front of the House Intel Committee on May 17 by Deputy Director of Navy Intelligence Scott Bray and Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security Ronald Moultrie. At least a few elected officials appeared to know more about UFOs, or have more curiosity, than those two monotone careerists did. So here’s hoping Deputy Secretary Hicks’ choice to lead the AARO – Sean Kirkpatrick, most recently the chief scientist at the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Missile and Space Intelligence Center – doesn’t take congressional audiences for total idiots. Maybe the brass is getting the message now. In a July 20 followup to Hicks’ press release, Moultrie, who will evidently be “managing” the AAROEXEC, listed “Mitigation and Defeat” — presumably of UFOs — as part of AARO’s mission statement. Exactly how one might get the phenomenon to surrender isn’t spelled out. Frankly, if we could just get UFOs to pay entry fees every time they flash through U.S. airspace, we could probably erase the national debt. And I’d call that a win. Mark Rodeghier of the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) sees at least one problem with the Senate language. Although “this bill has everything in the kitchen sink in it,” the director of one of the world’s oldest research groups says we’ve been down one of these roads before. And “I would be extremely annoyed if I was in the intelligence community being tasked to do that.” Where to even begin? Well, the alleged Roswell crash of 1947 is arguably the granddaddy of American conspiracy theories. And as the milestone closed in on its 50th anniversary during the early days of the Clinton administration, the stars appeared to be lining up for big moves. Art Bell’s paranormal radio ruled the late-night airwaves from Nevada’s high desert, “The X-Files” cult following included the White House, and New Mexico rep Steven Schiff caught heat from constituents demanding answers. So the GAO – known back then as the General Accounting Office – was ordered to figure it out. Cobwebs and dust In 1994, by chance, Rodeghier was teaching statistics workshops at the GAO headquarters in Washington. He strolled on over and introduced himself to a couple of staffers on the Roswell project. It was an informal session, but he says it was clear they lacked foundational knowledge of the UFO issue at large. When the GAO produced its report in 1995, it rewarded us with cobwebs and dust. Key records pertaining to the controversial events of July 1947 had long since been destroyed, perhaps illegally. Scrounging for eyewitnesses, the Clinton admin offered waivers to military personnel willing to step forward. The results were minimal, considering how most of the guys were dead. The Air Force then issued its flawed “Case Closed” brushoff in hopes that the nosy media would just go away, and most did. “It’s a fabulous thing” to want a complete documentation of Uncle Sam’s checkered history with UAP, Rodeghier says. And it’s “probably good that Congress isn’t telling the Defense Department to investigate itself. But the GAO isn’t going to reach out to ufologists, that’s for sure. When I talked with them (in 1994), it was only because I was being proactive – it never would’ve occurred to them to maybe consult with somebody like me for background. “I’d be really surprised if they did it now.” Which means GAO newbies to this UFO business would have to start from scratch. Again. Roughly three generations have passed since whatever happened in Roswell dug a deep well of endless speculation. And while it’s not hard to imagine the cynical and systematic shredding of handwritten notes, carbon copies, and “eyes only” status reports by the highest authorities, my bloodstream is getting toxic with conspiracy theories. Lately I just want to wear rose-colored glasses and attribute the paucity of cold hard facts to pre-digital 20th-century human ineptitude, indifference and imbecility. I want to think about things like overzealous cleaning ladies, toppled boxes, state secrets fluttering off like birds in the wind, and cheap labor like John Gedney, swaying in an aftershave hangover, knees buckling, trying hard not to vomit. lifeinjonestown.substack.com/p/on-chasing-history?utm_source=%2Fprofile%2F27376895-billy-cox&utm_medium=reader2
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Post by auntym on Oct 20, 2022 10:48:31 GMT -6
douglasjohnson.ghost.io/probes-for-hidden-government-ufo-data-proposed-in-defense-and-intelligence-bills-now-advancing-in-congress-with-bipartisan-backing/Congressional Intelligence and Armed Services Committees Advance New Measures to Probe for Possible Hidden UFO Databy DOUGLAS DEAN JOHNSON / douglasjohnson.ghost.io/author/douglasjohnson/Jul 14, 2022 By Douglas Dean Johnson @ddeanjohnson on Twitter July 14, 2022 Building on the December 2021 enactment of the unprecedented Gillibrand-Rubio-Gallego law dealing with unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP, or UFOs), the congressional armed services and intelligence committees are now pushing forward with new legislative requirements to press the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community to accelerate their so-far sluggish implementation of the 2021 law. The new proposals also contain an array of mechanisms to probe for hidden or forgotten data on UFOs (AKA "unidentified aerospace-undersea phenomena," UAP) that government components or contractors may have gathered since 1947. WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 14, 2022, 10 PM EDT. Updated October 12, 2022, 10 AM EDT.) – Members of the U.S. Senate committees on intelligence and armed services are pressing forward with multi-pronged new legislation to expand searches for government-held data on UFOs – proposals that reflect the lawmakers' deep dissatisfaction with the sluggish response of the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community to enactment of the sweeping Gillibrand-Rubio-Gallego UFO law in December, 2021. Defense and intelligence authorization bills that are now advancing in Congress would create multiple new mechanisms to probe for possible past or current government-affiliated programs, archives, or witnesses that may possess significant information or material relating to what the new legislation re-labels as "unidentified aerospace-undersea phenomena" (UAP). The fullest expression of the potential legislative response is on display in the Fiscal Year 2023 Intelligence Authorization Act (IAA) (S. 4503), posted online July 14, 2022 by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI). The committee approved the bill on June 23, 2022, in a closed-door session. The 138-page bill contains 31 pages of revamped and expanded UAP-related requirements. These include provisions crafted to elicit fuller cooperation by the Director of National Intelligence and all intelligence agencies, and creation of a "secure system" to encourage current or past government and contractor employees with UFO data to channel that information to the central UAP office, and ultimately to Congress, without incurring legal jeopardy or risking job reprisals. The bill would also order both a government-wide search for UAP-related Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs), and a comprehensive study of intelligence agency UFO involvement going back to 1947, the latter to be conducted by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), an organ of Congress. The UFO-related material is found on pages 87-117 of the PDF version of S. 4503. Searchable text of the UAP-related sections (Sections 703, 704, and 705) is also accessible on Congress.gov here. CONTINUE READING: douglasjohnson.ghost.io/probes-for-hidden-government-ufo-data-proposed-in-defense-and-intelligence-bills-now-advancing-in-congress-with-bipartisan-backing/
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Post by auntym on Nov 6, 2022 16:05:44 GMT -6
lifeinjonestown.substack.com/p/confusion-at-odni?utm_source=twitter&sd=pfConfusion at ODNI?Anonymous sources conflicted over what is and isn't in the report to Congressby Billy Cox / substack.com/profile/27376895-billy-cox11-6-2022 New Mexico “downwinders” rally for transparency in the nuclear arena: Could resistance to congressional queries into UFOs emanate from evolving interests amassing libraries of state secrets since the dawn of the atomic age? So, let’s see if I’ve got this straight. Because of the 2022 midterm elections, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of Defense receive a Get Out of Jail Free card for blowing their deadline to deliver a UFO report – as required by law – to Congress by October 31. Is that right? And lawmakers are good with that because they’re too busy fighting for their political futures to care that their legislation is being blown off? Like everybody else, when last Monday’s deadline came and went, I thought, well, OK, they’ll probably do what bureaucracy always does with news it wants underplayed by dropping it around 5 p.m. Friday when everybody knocks off for Happy Hour. That’s what ODNI did in June 2021 with its nine-page “Preliminary Assessment” of UAP/UFOs, when it conceded it couldn’t explain 143 of 144 related incidents dating back to 2004. But 5 o’clock Friday came and went without a peep from officialdom. What gives? Well, maybe the bureaucrats made an end run already, delivering the package in a way nobody expected. More on that in a moment. But first, let’s set the stakes by reviewing what Section 1683 of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act actually requires the intelligence community to do. Congress produced a single-spaced five-page instruction manual for how federal records keepers should produce their UFO data for elected officials. The demands are sweeping and pointed, and only mildly ambiguous: Lawmakers are not only ordering an accounting of “all” UAP activity over the previous year – they want info on “all” UAP logged outside that time frame as well, no parameters. They want to see formal analyses of those encounters, performed by A-teamers from “geospatial intelligence, signals intelligence, human intelligence, and measurement and signals intelligence.” Furthermore – and who wouldn’t’ve wanted to be a fly on the wall when the gatekeepers started vomiting in their SCIFs over this next provision – Congress is demanding to see “an enumeration of any instances in which data relating to [UFOs] was not provided to the [ODNI] because of classification restrictions on that data or for any other reasons.” Or for any other reasons. Ruh-roh. Why do UAP keep trolling our nukes? Policymakers want to know the magnitude of this thing – how often are UAP puncturing restricted air space, and what are we doing about it? They want to understand the relationships in the Venn diagram, the phemomenon’s interest in the nuclear arsenal, in atomic weapons production, nuclear submarines, Nuclear Regulatory Commission projects, storage depots, civilian and military. Section 1683 wants reports of “adverse physiological effects” suffered by military and civilian personnel during UFO encounters. It wants updates on our “ability to capture or exploit discovered unidentified aerial phenomena.” It wants the specific names of the organizations/agencies conducting the analyses of these “transmedium” phantoms. If Section 1683 is honestly pursued, the origin story is on the line. Who decided to ice Congress, our republic, out of the UFOloop? When did it start? Why? The black space between the executive and legislative branches is so cluttered with illegal possibilities, even our disintegrating two-party system is, for the moment, united in astonishment. Confronting the enormity of the mystery might well require resources we’ve already depleted – political accord and wisdom. Fully realized, 1683 could challenge Uncle Sam’s secret world with a level of scrutiny not seen since the Church Committee hearings in the 1970s. Yet, powerful financiers could very well rip that opportunity to shreds in short order. Already, the approaching and now expired deadline for ODNI compliance is showcasing an information-management drama flailing with mixed spin. And this time around, the whole world’s watching – from the BBC to Fox News to Reuters, from Asia to South America, legacy media and constellations of podcasts alike. The messaging started, typically, with the New York Times, which originally set current events into motion with its breakthrough reporting five years ago. But on October 28, it got soaked by anonymous sources. That’s when reporter Julian Barnes used unnamed insiders to craft a story with the news value of birds fly, fish swim, cows moo, frogs pee in your hands and mosquitos suck. And ice is cold “Government officials,” Barnes proclaimed in an alleged sneak preview of the ONDI report, “believe that surveillance operations by foreign powers and weather balloons or other airborne clutter explain most recent incidents of unidentified aerial phenomena — government-speak for U.F.O.s — as well as many episodes in past years.” Only readers of – what? the NYT? – apparently don’t know that 90 to 95 percent of UFOs can always be explained, or that those percentages have serviced conventional wisdom since when? Truman or Eisenhower? But nobody gives a *bleep* about the knowns. The only legitimate news peg here would be if Barnes had flushed one of his sources onto the record in order to disqualify him/her for being so uninformed over the long view. Barnes also felt the need to hock this little loogie near the end of his piece, although it’s not clear who he was, or is, writing for: “Other officials insist that even though the evidence is imperfect, the grainy videos do not show space aliens.” But who said anything about space aliens? The implication here is that the three unclassified Navy UAP videos categorized as true unknowns by the Pentagon in 2020 maybe aren’t quite as unknown as they were two years ago. Barnes used quotes from Susan Gough, the Pentagon’s lead PIO on UAP, to underscore that possibility. “In many cases,” she told him, “observed phenomena are classified as ‘unidentified’ simply because sensors were not able to collect enough information to make a positive attribution.” In fact, Gough reasserted to CNN last year that not only do the three famous Navy vids remain unexplained, she also referenced additional footage captured by sailors on maneuvers off the southern California coast in 2019 as unknown. "There is no single explanation that addresses the majority of UAP reports," Gough added last week. So leave it to Fleet Street to counter the Gray Lady’s nothingburger three days later with its own anonymous sources. But unlike Barnes’ reporting, they made claims that could be imminently falsifiable. On Halloween, Josh Boswell and the Daily Mail mined his connections for tangible numbers associated with ODNI’s pending analysis. Into the sea ‘without making a splash’ Although Section 1683 stipulates ODNI was and is free to attach a classified appendix to its Congressional obligations, The Mail claims a single report – classified – has already been delivered to “the Armed Services, Appropriations, Foreign Affairs or Relations, and Intelligence committees of the House and Senate.” According to The Mail, ODNI’s analysis is 22 pages long and mentions 366 new cases, roughly half of which remain unexplained. “Yeah, there’s balloons up there, and balloons are sometimes mistaken for UAP,” one source told Boswell. “But there are shitloads of classified videos that are pretty profound and pretty clear. They don’t want to talk about this stuff, because they really, really don’t know what the hell they are. That’s the truth.” Complicating at least some of the evidence is how it was gathered. “Examples,” writes Boswell, “include video shot by Reaper drones conducting surveillance in the Middle East that caught 'orbs' flying around then 'suddenly bolting off the screen'…. The ODNI source said there are dozens of classified UFO videos on government servers filmed by MQ-9 Reaper drones abroad.” A not uncommon scenario, says Boswell’s contact, involves drone operators looking for targets when “a little orb will go flying through the viewfinder.” The pilot “starts focusing on it and he just watches the orb for a while. We might get it for 30 seconds, we might watch it for 10 minutes. And then it will do something remarkable, like suddenly bolt off the screen.' “One tape seen by the source shows a UFO diving into the ocean 'without making a splash.” Shades of Aguadilla 2013. The Department of Homeland Security still refuses to release raw footage of that relatively small UFO as it tumbled, fast as a drunk driver, into the ocean off Puerto Rico without making a splash. Only, this one splits into two parts when it emerges. Then vanishes. Anybody want to bet which one of these unedited transmedium exhibitions we taxpayers get to see first? Or maybe The Mail and The Times both got it wrong. Maybe everything’s hunky dory at ODNI, and it performed its duties to the letter of the law. But we’re going to need righteous persistence from lawmakers in order to find out. Having pushed the UFO/UAP ball this far downfield, will they remain worthy of our trust? lifeinjonestown.substack.com/p/confusion-at-odni?utm_source=twitter&sd=pf
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Post by auntym on Dec 28, 2022 23:30:54 GMT -6
www.politico.com/news/2022/05/18/ufo-theories-congress-pentagon-00033497‘A glowing red orb’: Wild UFO theories move from the shadows to CongressRep. Mike Gallagher says he pressed Pentagon officials on the unproven claims in order to move past them.By BRYAN BENDER / www.politico.com/staff/bryan-bender05/18/2022 Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) says he doesn’t believe that a secret cabal of government officials and contractors are hiding a captured alien spaceship. But he wants to make sure — so that we can all move on to more serious business. Scott Bray, the deputy director of naval intelligence, and Ronald Moultrie, the top Pentagon intelligence official, were asked whether they were aware of an unverified 2002 document known as the “Wilson-Davis memo.” | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images One of the most eye-popping moments during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on UFOs on Tuesday was when the Wisconsin Republican pressed Pentagon officials on claims that a “glowing red orb” once shut down nuclear weapons in Montana and that a recently leaked document revealed that other-worldly vehicles — and possibly even extraterrestrial bodies — are being kept from government leaders and the public. Gallagher was quickly dubbed a hero on #UFOtwitter for having the guts to finally hold national security officials accountable. Others expressed surprise that a sitting congressman was willing to go there, given the lack of corroborating evidence in the public domain and the overall topic’s pop culture saturation with science-fiction fantasy over fact. But the retired Marine Corps officer who also sits on the House Armed Services Committee says it’s time to set some of these wild theories to rest. “The quicker DoD can disconfirm certain hypotheses that they should be able to easily disconfirm, the better we can focus time and energy on more plausible hypotheses,” he told POLITICO on Wednesday. During the hearing, Gallagher asked Ronald Moultrie, the top Pentagon intelligence official, and Scott Bray, the deputy director of naval intelligence, whether they were aware of an unverified 2002 document known as the “Wilson-Davis memo.” The document, which emerged publicly in 2019, purports to reveal a secret meeting with the then-director of the Defense Intelligence Agency outlining a labyrinth of secret government programs hidden from top officials and congressional oversight committees about crashed UFO materials and efforts to reengineer the technology. The claims have been hotly debated among ufologists but never corroborated. The DIA director at the time, Vice Adm. Thomas Wilson, has reportedly denied it all . Numerous national security experts and researchers have also dismissed it as a hoax. But one of the other primary individuals cited in the document, astrophysicist Eric Davis, has not directly addressed it in public, only fueling suspicions that there might be something to it. And Davis alluded to the possibility of some of the claims contained in the alleged memo as recently as last year in an interview in The New York Times . Davis, who is now a senior project engineer at the government-funded The Aerospace Corporation, has declined several POLITICO requests for interviews. “There’s nothing we can offer or help out with on your request,” a spokesperson for the federal think tank said on Wednesday. As for Moultrie and Bray, they told Gallagher that they were unfamiliar with the Wilson-Davis document. But in a separate line of questioning by Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the witnesses denied any knowledge of UFO material in government custody. “Are we holding materials organic or inorganic that we don’t know about?” Himes asked. “When it comes to material we have, we have no material,” Bray responded. The fact the document was even broached — and then entered into the official hearing record — was shocking to those who have followed the saga. “In my work in museums, provenance is everything,” said Taras Matla, a researcher at Harvard University’s Galileo Project and associate director of the University of Maryland Art Gallery, where he specializes in art and UFOs. “There’s some indication that the Wilson memo was, indeed, drafted by Dr. Davis. However, there is zero supporting evidence that the content is true or that they even met in Las Vegas on that day. Admiral Wilson denies the meeting occurred.” Nevertheless, he said he believes it contains information “that warrants more investigation” and said Davis should come forward. “Now that this is a part of the record,” Matla said, “I think Dr. Davis has a responsibility to explain himself to Congress and the public.” CONTINUE READING: www.politico.com/news/2022/05/18/ufo-theories-congress-pentagon-00033497
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Post by auntym on Jul 13, 2023 20:23:47 GMT -6
www.politico.com/news/2023/07/13/house-gop-ufo-hearing-00106188CONGRESS House GOP plans to hold long-teased UFO hearing“That’s what it is about: aliens. … I think people deserve to know,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who is leading the effort, told POLITICO.An overhead view of the Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia. A small but vocal contingent of the Republican conference has been pushing for a hearing after the Pentagon and other national security agencies have said in recent months that they are investigating unidentified aircraft and hundreds of new reports of UFOs. | Alex Wong/Getty Images
By JORDAIN CARNEY / www.politico.com/staff/jordain-carney07/13/2023 The House Oversight Committee is finally planning to hold a long-teased hearing on UFOs. A small but vocal contingent of the Republican conference has been pushing for a hearing after the Pentagon and other national security agencies have said in recent months that they are investigating unidentified aircraft and hundreds of new reports of UFOs. Senior Republicans have now tentatively slated such a hearing for the last week of July, according to two Republicans familiar with the hearing. “That’s what it is about: aliens. … I think people deserve to know,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), one of the two Republicans, told POLITICO. Both Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and Speaker Kevin McCarthy have signed off on holding a hearing, with Burchett and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) asked to take the lead. A spokesperson for Comer noted that the hearing is still in its planning stages but it is “looking like it will happen towards the end of this month.” The Kentucky Republican said that it will be a subcommittee hearing. Despite the early stages, the hearing has already sparked pushback not only within the committee but from the Defense Department, according to Burchett. Another GOP member of the Oversight Committee, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said they plan to attend, but: “There are some people who want to stop it. There are some people who want to do it.” That lawmaker also said that they had been told the hearing will take place during the final week of July. “There’s just internal machinations between staff and members … Some don’t want to do it at this time right now, think it is a bad idea,” the member said, adding that there was a concern that “people will run wild with it.” An Oversight Committee staffer denied that there was pushback on the hearing, but indicated that staff is trying to work out witnesses. The Defense Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the hearing. Spokespeople for Luna didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The hearing would be this year’s latest example of Congress digging into the UFO space, after alien fever briefly gripped Washington as the United States shot down a series of balloons, at least some of which turned out to be Chinese spy aircraft. Sean Kirkpatrick, director of the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this year, telling senators that the Pentagon at the time was tracking roughly 650 incidents involving unidentified aircraft. An unclassified annual report released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in January said that they had found 510 cases through Aug. 30, 2022. Kirkpatrick told senators at the time that he had found no evidence of alien activity. But he also raised eyebrows when he co-wrote a draft academic paper with Harvard professor Avi Loeb, in which they floated that unexampled aerial incursions could be “probes” from an extraterrestrial “parent craft,” while acknowledging that they don’t know for sure if there are any functioning extraterrestrial crafts near Earth. www.politico.com/news/2023/07/13/house-gop-ufo-hearing-00106188
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Post by auntym on Jul 22, 2023 14:03:35 GMT -6
www.newsweek.com/what-one-ufo-hearing-witness-hopes-achieve-congressional-testimony-1814656The House Oversight Committee on Wednesday is scheduled to hear testimony from three witnesses who claim to have experience with unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) while serving in the U.S. armed forces. ARTEM PERETIATKO/GETTY What One UFO Hearing Witness Hopes to Achieve With Congressional TestimonyBY KAITLIN LEWIS / www.newsweek.com/authors/kaitlin-lewis7/22/23 The American public may get some insight into the government's knowledge of UFOs and extraterrestrial life forms this week during a House Oversight Committee hearing. On Wednesday, the panel is scheduled to hear from three witnesses about their experiences with UFOs, including former Navy pilot Ryan Graves, ex-Navy commander David Fravor and former U.S. intelligence officer David Grusch. All three witnesses have claimed to have encountered unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), while Grusch said in June that U.S. authorities have also uncovered wreckage of "non-human origin" aircraft. Investigations into U.S. intelligence of UAP have become a bipartisan effort in Congress. Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer pushed for an amendment to the national defense bill last week that would compel information regarding UFOs to be released to the public. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy also recently voiced his support for the Department of Defense (DoD) to provide greater information about UFOs to the American people. According to Graves, who spoke with Newsweek via email, many aircrew witnesses feel a "very real fear" of facing potential consequences for coming forward about UAP, adding that he felt a sense of "stigma" when he began to share his own experiences. The former Navy pilot has previously shared details of him and his flight crews encountering unexplained flying objects on a nearly "everyday" basis. "Congress needs to hear that military aircrew and civilian pilots are routinely observing mysterious objects making inexplicable maneuvers in our sky," Graves told Newsweek. "I hope they gain a sense of the stigma I experienced coming forward and the frustration that commercial pilots experience that there is no way to report UAP to the government." CONTINUE READING: www.newsweek.com/what-one-ufo-hearing-witness-hopes-achieve-congressional-testimony-1814656
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Post by swamprat on Jul 25, 2023 19:18:42 GMT -6
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Post by swamprat on Jul 26, 2023 13:21:08 GMT -6
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Post by auntym on Jul 26, 2023 17:18:27 GMT -6
Giorgio A. Tsoukalos @tsoukalos Disclosure just happened. We are not alone. We have never been, alone.United States Air Force officer David Grusch just stated under oath in a public hearing in front of distinguished Members of Congress that the U.S. is in possession of multiple (not one) non-human intelligence cadavers and multiple (not one) non-human technological flying craft. Today's hearing was unprecedented and historic. Planet Earth learned today that we are not the only intelligent beings in the Universe. Today the planet has learned officially that the U.S. has known about these "non-human intelligences" since the 1930s. Sworn testimony included a flying "black cube inside a clear sphere." A "hovering red square, the size of a football field". Objects going from zero to Mach 2 in the snap of a finger. From 12,000 feet to 80,000 feet (which is SPACE) in the snap of a finger. All of this is documented and recorded. According to all three sworn witnesses today, there is not a single nation on Earth that could potentially own this type of technology because, according to today's testimony, our planet hasn't yet achieved the structural material to manufacture an object that can withstand an instantaneous acceleration from zero to Mach 2 in the snap of a finger. Today's materials would disintegrate. Today's testimony of course reminds me of the ancient Vimana and Stupa and Ratha stories of the ancient Vedic texts of India which report of countless of these flying chariots having the capability of being in multiple places at once and disappearing in an instant. Today's testimony also mentioned that no human pilot could survive such instant acceleration from zero to Mach 2. Maybe some Vimana-type antigravity technology could potentially solve this problem? Unless we've all just been duped and deceived by a bunch of crazy people, Disclosure just happened in today's congressional hearing. Today, Planet Earth learned that we are not the only intelligent beings in the Universe. This is so ridiculously exciting. AND! Such a pleasure to meet you! Last edited 3:00 PM · Jul 26, 2023
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Post by auntym on Jul 26, 2023 17:26:06 GMT -6
time.com/6298287/congress-ufo-hearing/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_term=politics_congress&linkId=226927775Witness Tells Congress 'Nonhuman Biologics' Were Found at Alleged UFO Crash SitesBY NIK POPLI / time.com/author/nik-popli/ ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: JULY 26, 2023 Aformer intelligence official claimed the U.S. government has been covering up a longstanding defense program that collects and reverse engineers unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and has found "nonhuman biologics" at alleged UFO crash sites. The highly anticipated testimony from David Grusch, a former member of a U.S. Air Force panel on unidentified anomalous phenomena—also known as unidentified aerial phenomena—(UAP), was part of an effort by Congress to pressure intelligence agencies for more transparency into the existence of UFOs, a subject of heightened scrutiny following an increase in reported sightings by military personnel and pilots in recent years. Although extraterrestrial life has long been shrouded in stigma, confusion, and secrecy, lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum have been rallying around the push for more research on the topic as a national security matter. “UAPs, whatever they may be, may pose a serious threat to our military and our civilian aircraft, and that must be understood,” Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California said. “We should encourage more reporting, not less on UAPs. The more we understand, the safer we will be.” Testifying under oath at a House subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, Grusch told lawmakers he believes the U.S. government is in possession of UAPs based on his interviews with 40 witnesses over four years, claiming that he was informed of "a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse-engineering program" during the course of his work examining classified programs. He said he was denied access to those programs when he requested it, and accused the military of misappropriating funds to shield these operations from congressional oversight. The Pentagon denies Grusch’s claims about a UAP crash-retrieval and reverse-engineering program. "To date, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) has not discovered any verifiable information to substantiate claims that any programs regarding the possession or reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial materials have existed in the past or exist currently," Sue Gough, a Pentagon spokesperson, tells TIME in a statement. "The Department is fully committed to openness and accountability to the American people, which it must balance with its obligation to protect sensitive information, sources, and methods," the statement continued in part. "DoD is also committed to timely and thorough reporting to Congress." During his testimony, Grusch added that he knows of “multiple colleagues” who were physically injured by UAP activity and by people within the U.S. government, but declined to share more details. He also said that “nonhuman biologics” were found at alleged UAP crash sites when asked about the pilots of the craft. No government officials testified at Wednesday’s hearing, though Sean Kirkpatrick, the director of the Pentagon’s office focusing on UAPs, told a Senate subcommittee in April that the U.S. government was tracking 650 potential cases of unidentified aerial phenomena, playing video from two of the episodes. During that public testimony, Kirkpatrick emphasized there was no evidence of extraterrestrial life and that his office found “no credible evidence” of objects that defy the known laws of physics. The House Oversight subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs heard additional witness testimony Wednesday from former U.S. Navy fighter pilots Ryan Graves and retired Commander David Fravor, who both claimed they had encountered aircraft of a nonhuman origin. “These sightings are not rare or isolated,” said Graves, who served in the Navy for over a decade. “Military aircrews and commercial pilots, trained observers whose lives depend on accurate identification, are frequently witnessing these phenomena.” Graves told lawmakers that his aircrew encountered UAP during a training exercise off the coast of Virginia Beach, Va, when their lead jet came within 50 feet of what he described as a “dark gray or black cube inside of a clear sphere.” He estimated it to be five to 15 feet in diameter, motionless against the wind, fixed directly at the entry point. The mission was immediately terminated, and his squadron submitted a safety report that he claims received no official acknowledgement of the incident. CONTINUE READING: time.com/6298287/congress-ufo-hearing/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_term=politics_congress&linkId=226927775
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Post by auntym on Jul 26, 2023 21:53:20 GMT -6
James Carrion @jamescarrion
Well I don't know why I came here tonight I've got the feeling that something ain't right I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair And I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs Clowns to the left of me Jokers to the right Here I am stuck in the middle with you
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Post by swamprat on Jul 27, 2023 9:14:38 GMT -6
I asked my pal Billy Cox what he thought of the hearing. Here is his response:
Far exceeded my expectations. More importantly, it was great to see congress on the same page for once. I'm a bit more optimistic now.
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Post by swamprat on Jul 31, 2023 8:24:12 GMT -6
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Post by auntym on Aug 1, 2023 13:40:04 GMT -6
Russian military fired at UAPs: Investigative journalist | NewsNation Prime
NewsNation
Jul 30, 2023
Nick Pope, investigative journalist and a former member of the British Government's Ministry of Defence, joins "NewsNation Prime" to discuss the claims about UAP interactions following the House Oversight Committee hearing.
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Post by auntym on Aug 3, 2023 10:28:18 GMT -6
www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/08/01/ufos-are-they-a-threat-to-national-security/ee332bd8-306e-11ee-85dd-5c3c97d6acda_story.htmlAre UFOs a Threat to National Security?Analysis by Tyler Cowen / August 1, 2023 Last week’s congressional hearings on UAPs, more popularly known as UFOs, were unusual even by the standards of US politics — in both content and style. Not only did members of the military and intelligence community claim, under oath, that truly inexplicable events occur on a regular basis, but members of Congress from both parties treated them with respect. Get a curated selection of 10 of our best stories in your inbox every weekend. In all, the proceedings restored my faith in one of my favorite maxims: Sincerity is the most underrated motive in politics. The hearings themselves send the signal that it is OK to talk and even speculate about this topic — and may even help us get closer to the truth. That is not to say that I believed everything I heard. I do not think that the US government has the remains of alien spacecraft, for example, including some alien bodies, as claimed by retired Air Force Major David Grusch. But the rest of the evidence was presented in a suitably serious and persuasive manner. It is clear, at least to me, that there is no conspiracy, and the US government is itself puzzled by the data about unidentified anomalous phenomena. The most notable claim from the hearings, including from former F-18 Navy pilot Ryan Graves, is that there have been repeated sightings of highly unusual craft over eight years or more — confirmed by a mix of consistent radar, infrared and eyewitness data. These craft, some of which take the shape of a sphere encompassing a cube, can both hover and move very fast without any visible signs of propulsion. Of course, there will always be people who lie, suffer from delusions or are otherwise unreliable. But none of these claims is news to those of us who have been following the UAP debate, and it is striking that none of the elected officials in the room challenged the Graves claims. (There was, in contrast, pushback against Grusch’s claims.) Members of Congress, to the extent they desire, have independent access to military and intelligence sources. They also have political ambitions, if only to be reelected. So the mere fact of their participation in these hearings shows that UFOs/UAPs are now being taken seriously as an issue. The Pentagon issued a statement claiming it holds no alien bodies, but it did nothing to contradict the statements of Graves (or others with similar claims, outside the hearings). More broadly, there have been no signs of anyone with eyewitness experience asserting that Graves and the other pilots are unreliable. As is so often the case, the most notable events are those that did not happen. The most serious claims from the hearings survived unscathed: those about inexplicable phenomena and possible national-security threats, not the hypotheses about alien craft or visits. The US military is a huge bureaucracy that is programmed to respond to potential national-security threats. If so many insiders believe that the US does not control its own airspace, and in the proximity of its own military equipment, that is a crisis of sorts, even if those insiders are misunderstanding the data. The system will not do nothing indefinitely — and these hearings are best understood as an attempt to do something. Some people in government had the idea that hearings would be useful, and no one had a better idea. If you listen to the beginning of the hearings, you will hear a good articulation of the position that possible national-security and aviation-safety threats cannot go forever uninvestigated. It is striking how often the discussion turned to national security. Every now and then, it’s appropriate to take the government literally. I suspect that, from here on out, this topic will become more popular — and somewhat less respectable. A few years ago, UAPs were an issue on which a few people “in the know” could speculate, secure in the knowledge they weren’t going to receive much publicity or pushback. As the chatter increases, the issue will become more prominent, but at the same time a lot of smart observers will dismiss the whole thing because they heard that someone testified before Congress about seeing dead aliens. I am well aware that many people may conclude that some US officials, or some parts of the US government, have gone absolutely crazy. But even under that dismissive interpretation, it is likely that there will be further surprises. Tyler Cowen is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is a professor of economics at George Mason University and writes for the blog Marginal Revolution. He is coauthor of “Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the World.” www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/08/01/ufos-are-they-a-threat-to-national-security/ee332bd8-306e-11ee-85dd-5c3c97d6acda_story.html
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Post by auntym on Aug 7, 2023 14:23:23 GMT -6
www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/ufo-whistleblower-what-i-told-congress-was-the-tip-of-the-iceberg/ar-AA1eUSUP?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=98c7691da3fe4e1b826a44ba039781e9&ei=14UFO Whistleblower: What I Told Congress Was the “Tip of the Iceberg”
Story by Noor Al-Sibai / 8-7-2023 In a new editorial, one of Congress' recent UFO whistleblowers revealed a glaring hole in the government's plan to track and study what it refers to as "unidentified aerial phenomena" or UAPs. Whistleblower Ryan Graves wrote for Newsweek that during his tenure as a Naval pilot, he and his team regularly encountered aircraft off the coast of Virginia Beach that "had no visible propulsion... but could remain motionless in Category-4 hurricane winds, accelerate to supersonic, and operate all day, outlasting our fighter jets." These sorts of encounters with UAPs happen all the time, noted Graves — who co-founded and now acts as executive director of a group called Americans for Safe Aerospace — but because they often happen outside of the military's purview, the Pentagon doesn't seem to care much. "Today, these same UAP are still being seen; we still don't know what they are; and our government has no idea of the scope of the problem," the whistleblower wrote. "That's because pilots, both commercial and military, are encountering UAP, and the majority of these cases are going unreported." Prior to his late July testimony, Graves claimed that Americans for Safe Aerospace had been in contact with more than 30 people who'd witnessed UAPs. Since his headline-grabbing appearance before the House Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs, he said that even more people had come forward with their stories. Most of those witnesses, the ex-pilot added, fly commercial airliners for a living, and the most recent of those reports was issued just last week. Circling Back In spite of recent years' joint Pentagon and Congress efforts to bring UAPs into the daylight, there still isn't a streamlined reporting protocol, claimed Graves, noting that the Federal Aviation Administration simply directs commercial pilots to report incidents to non-governmental groups without any "official follow up or analysis." In short: there are, as the whistleblower claims, tons more of these sightings than the government lets on — and the government has already let on a lot. And while the veracity of these claims has been called into question even by true believers, the lack of reporting structure outside the confines of the US military is, to say the least, troubling. If Graves is to be believed, the oversight creates a massive hole in the government's understanding of these strange and increasingly-mainstreamed sightings. "Commercial pilots are highly trained observers of our skies," the whistleblower wrote. "Why then is our government turning its back on the UAP reports from credible eyewitnesses who are responsible for the safety of millions and are motivated to protect our national security?" www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/ufo-whistleblower-what-i-told-congress-was-the-tip-of-the-iceberg/ar-AA1eUSUP?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=98c7691da3fe4e1b826a44ba039781e9&ei=14
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Post by auntym on Aug 21, 2023 14:52:43 GMT -6
www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/do-ufos-exist-congress-will-push-defense-department-to-tell-all-kiplinger-economic-forecasts/ar-AA1fzjn0?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=47d045c9813244e1b09fd6f726e64d81&ei=26Do UFOs Exist? Congress Will Push Defense Department to Tell All: Kiplinger Economic ForecastsStory by Sean Lengell / © Getty Images Congress has recently begun to dig into the possibility that the Department of Defense has knowledge of UFOs. To try to help you understand what is going on and what might happen in the future, our highly-experienced Kiplinger Letter team will keep you abreast of the latest developments and forecasts (Get a free issue of The Kiplinger Letter or subscribe). You'll get all the latest news first by subscribing, but we will publish many (but not all) of the forecasts a few days afterward online. Here’s the latest... Congressional obsession with unidentified flying objects is only just beginning. Lawmakers are prepared to build on recent hearings related to UFOs, or UAPs (unidentified anomalous phenomena), the official Pentagon terminology. The latest hearing included testimony from a former Air Force intelligence officer that the government has a UAP crash-retrieval and reverse-engineering program. Besides additional hearings, they may exercise their subpoena powers in the hopes of forcing Department of Defense officials to cough up desired answers. Congress may also force the transfer of UAP records to a review panel with the power to declassify them. An amendment in the Senate version of the annual Defense Authorization Act is currently under consideration. The Pentagon denies retrieval of UAP and has a different explanation: These mysterious sightings may be of next-generation military aircraft developed by one of America’s foreign adversaries, most likely China or Russia. Look for defense officials to stonewall Congress as much as possible. WATCH VIDEO: www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/do-ufos-exist-congress-will-push-defense-department-to-tell-all-kiplinger-economic-forecasts/ar-AA1fzjn0?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=47d045c9813244e1b09fd6f726e64d81&ei=26
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Post by auntym on Sept 17, 2023 20:52:26 GMT -6
The UFO Reality - A History of Ridicule, Denial, Disinformation, & Secrecy (Vol 1)
Engaging The Phenomenon
August 2023
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Post by auntym on Dec 10, 2023 18:37:49 GMT -6
www.thedailybeast.com/congress-is-taking-a-huge-step-toward-ufo-transparencyand-lawmakers-pushing-for-the-truth-arent-happy?utm_source=twitter_owned_tdb&utm_medium=socialflow&via=twitter_page&utm_campaign=owned_socialCongress Is Taking a Huge Step Toward UFO Transparency—and Lawmakers Pushing for the Truth Aren't Happy
HE TRUTH IS OUT THERE UFOs have become a hot topic on Capitol Hill, and lawmakers are about to make some sweeping changes for better disclosures. Riley Rogerson / Politics Reporter Updated Dec. 10, 2023 3:28AM EST Congress is about to take perhaps its biggest step toward transparency surrounding UFOs, but the lawmakers pushing for change say the disclosure policy doesn’t go far enough. UFOs—or UAPs, standing for “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena” in government-speak—have been a hot topic on Capitol Hill for years, given a number of high-profile disclosures. But a hearing over the summer with former intelligence officer and whistleblower David Grusch, where he claimed the government was concealing information like evidence of “non-human biologics” recovered from UFOs, took the frenzy to a new level. That hearing put UFO policies front and center in the annual defense bill, which had already been written in both chambers before the hearing. But lawmakers from both parties—including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)—pushed negotiators working out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill to add new UFO disclosure laws to the legislation. NASA’s UFO Report Shows They’re Serious About Finding Aliens TRUTH IS OUT THERE Schumer and a number of other senators wanted to create a “UAP Records Review Board”—modeled after how the government handled records associated with President John F. Kennedy’s assassination—where UFO documents would carry “the presumption of immediate disclosure.” (That didn’t make it in the final bill.) Still, lawmakers are now on the verge of approving new disclosure rules in the annual defense policy bill after House and Senate negotiators inserted language into the 3,093-page National Defense Authorization Act conference report. The new rules would require the government to create a records collection at the National Archives for UAPs, “technologies of unknown origin, and non-human intelligence.” Top government officials would have to review the UAP documents and organize them for transmission to the National Archives within 300 days of the defense bill’s passage. The bill states that each record must be fully disclosed to the public and made available “not later than the date that is 25 years after the date of the first creation of the record by the originating body.” Once the records make it to the archives, they would be made available for public inspection in 30 days and be accessible online within 180 days later. them for transmission to the National Archives within 300 days of the defense bill’s passage. The bill states that each record must be fully disclosed to the public and made available “not later than the date that is 25 years after the date of the first creation of the record by the originating body.” Once the records make it to the archives, they would be made available for public inspection in 30 days and be accessible online within 180 days later. But there are some catches. Disclosure could be postponed with “clear and convincing evidence” that a national security risk “outweighs the public interest in disclosure.” A disclosure could also be delayed if doing so would violate privacy laws or “constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” It’s a massive step forward for transparency on UFOs, even if there are mechanisms to hold off on disclosures for decades. But the lawmakers who were most forcefully pushing for new rules on handling UFO documents aren’t entirely taken by the final product. “All I want is total disclosure,” said conservative Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), who has been leading the charge on UAP transparency. www.thedailybeast.com/congress-is-taking-a-huge-step-toward-ufo-transparencyand-lawmakers-pushing-for-the-truth-arent-happy?utm_source=twitter_owned_tdb&utm_medium=socialflow&via=twitter_page&utm_campaign=owned_social
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Post by auntym on Dec 16, 2023 17:01:13 GMT -6
www.space.com/us-congress-ufo-records-declassified?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_content=space.com&utm_medium=socialSome UFO records must be released, US Congress saysBy Brett Tingley / www.space.com/author/brett-tingley12-16-2023 But advocates had hoped for even more transparency.The dome of the United States Capitol lit at night in Washington, DC. (Image credit: Getty Images/Phil Roeder) The United States Congress just passed legislation that directs the U.S. government to release records related to UFOs. Some UFO records, anyway. According to new provisions in the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, the law that funds the U.S. military and related activities, the U.S. National Archives must collect for release all documents that "pertain to unidentified anomalous phenomena, technologies of unknown origin, and non-human intelligence." None of those terms is defined in the bill, however. "Unidentified anomalous phenomena," or UAP, is a relatively a newly adopted and broadly defined term that encompasses UFOs in the sky in addition to unidentified objects underwater, in space or that appear to travel between these domains. The records are to be released once 25 years has passed since their creation, unless the president directs them to remain classified, and newer records can be released sooner if the agency that created them allows it. The language directing these records is known as the the UAP Disclosure Act, or the Schumer-Rounds Amendment. An earlier version of the amendment contained much stronger language that ordered the Department of Defense (DoD) to declassify records "relating to publicly known sightings" of UFOs without review, but the measure was removed from the legislation that eventually passed. Despite the mandate in the bill, some UAP transparency advocates say the failure to pass the original amendment as written is a serious disappointment for those who feel the truth is out there and that the U.S. government has a responsibility to reveal it to the public. "The most important components of the Schumer-Rounds language were dropped — an independent Senate-confirmed review board with subpoena power, professional staff to search out records, and other serious resources," said Douglas Dean Johnson, an independent researcher who writes on various aspects relating to UAP. "What is being enacted instead is a modest mechanism that is far less likely to result in the location, extraction and disclosure of important UAP-related records that may be tightly held or even long forgotten," Johnson told Space.com. Christopher Mellon, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence in the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, called the bipartisan back-and-forth over the NDAA "shockingly dysfunctional." "Regarding the UAP issue, DoD and the [intelligence community] clearly have a serious trust issue with important members of Congress who are not backing down and likely to escalate," Mellon told Space.com via email. "I've seen this pattern many times. So, although the Executive Branch feels they dodged a bullet on the Schumer language, until they earn Congress' trust, they are going to be fighting a prolonged and likely losing battle." As word began to trickle out onto social media that the Schumer-Rounds amendment was not going to pass as originally written, many UAP transparency advocates claimed that lobbyists working for for aerospace contractors were working to kill the language in the bill, in order to protect an alleged decades-long cover-up of crashed UFO technologies. "An extremely powerful Defense Aerospace lobby is pushing key politicians in Congress to block the Schumer Amendment to the NDAA," Australian journalist and UFO transparency advocate Ross Coulthart wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter). However, those familiar with the NDAA amendment and the legislative process that eventually passed it think those claims are merely hearsay. "I have seen no evidence of any substantial lobbying activity by aerospace firms against the UAPDA over the past 5 months. One cannot completely exclude some such influence, but any sizable campaign would leave tracks. I don't see them, and nobody has produced a single named congressmember who has referred to such activity, nor any document to support the notion," Johnson said. Instead, resistance appears to have come from the DoD. According to the New York Times, a "person familiar with the talks who insisted on anonymity to describe them noted that the Defense Department also had pushed back forcefully on wider measures" in the bill. CONTINUE READING: www.space.com/us-congress-ufo-records-declassified?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_content=space.com&utm_medium=social
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Post by auntym on Jan 10, 2024 14:01:35 GMT -6
UFO hearing: Eyewitnesses describe encounters with "non human" entities to Congress | FULL
Streamed live on Jul 26, 2023
The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability heard explosive testimony Wednesday, not only about the mysterious craft that was beyond any known technological capabilities but also eyewitness accounts by former U.S. military personnel who said they've seen non-human entities doing "very disturbing" harm to humans.
The hearing entitled “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency,” heard from: Ryan Graves, Executive Director of Americans for Safe Aerospace; Commander David Fravor (Ret.), Former Commanding Officer United States Navy, and David Grusch, Former National Reconnaissance Officer Representative, Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Task Force Department of Defense.
Grusch testified that both he and his wife witnessed "non-human" entities doing harm to humans that he described as "very disturbing."
Graves testified that he had a pilot tell him he almost hit a UAP during take-off: "One of these objects was completely stationary...It was right where all the jets were going on the eastern seaboard. The two aircraft flew within 50 feet of the object."
Upon talking to the pilot after he landed, Graves said he found him with his "mouth open" and that the pilot told him that "he almost hit one of those darn things." Graves said the pilot described the object as a "dark cube inside of a clear sphere."
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Post by swamprat on Jan 13, 2024 9:23:15 GMT -6
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Post by auntym on Jan 18, 2024 13:54:10 GMT -6
www.aol.com/news/close-encounters-congressional-kind-lawmakers-090054840.htmlClose encounters of congressional kind: Lawmakers struggle to grasp alleged 'interdimensional' nature of UFOsby CHAD PERGRAM January 17, 2024 UFO flying UFOs fly in the sky in this digitally generated image. A cohort of lawmakers suspects there is mounting information government agencies and the military aren’t playing straight with Capitol Hill about UFOs. What happened on the grassy knoll at Dealey Plaza in Dallas? Does a mysterious, serpentine beast glide through the icy waters of Loch Ness? Is there life on other planets? Perhaps it’s only natural Congress is now probing whether the government is covering up possible evidence of UFOs. The timing for this type of congressional inquest into this mystery is only right. Suspicions abound about the origins of the pandemic and conspiracies about the safety of vaccines. Couple that with skepticism about "the media," the veracity of election returns and the government in general. It’s not a stretch for people — and now lawmakers — to seek more answers about unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), or UFOs. Are we alone in the universe? If not, some in Congress believe they’ve been left in the dark. A cohort of lawmakers suspects there is mounting information government agencies and the military aren’t playing straight with Capitol Hill. And if the truth is out there, they’re not getting it. That’s why there’s been an uptick of bipartisan hearings, briefings and legislation on UAPs over the past few years. Even Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., tried to wedge more transparency about UFO files into the annual defense policy bill late last year. But Schumer’s effort fell short. Whatever people are seeing could be something from the great beyond. But there appears to be discomfort with federal officials divulging to lawmakers what they know. Hence, the disappointment from Schumer. And, frankly, there may be evidence that different "silos" of the federal government might not know exactly what other feds have. CONTINUE READING: www.aol.com/news/close-encounters-congressional-kind-lawmakers-090054840.html
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