By Josephine Walker
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Senate is expected in the coming days to consider a bipartisan measure that would compel the U.S. government to publicly release documents relating to possible UFO sightings after decades of obstruction.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, has joined forces with Sen. Mike Rounds, a Republican, to lead an effort to force the disclosure of information relating to what the government officially calls “anomalous phenomena.” unidentified” or UAP. Their 64-page proposal is inspired by a 1992 US law setting out the handling of cases related to the assassination of President John Kennedy in 1963.
They plan to propose the measure as an amendment to sweeping legislation passing through Congress that would authorize US defense funding for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.
Schumer’s support will likely influence many of his fellow Democrats. Rounds is a member of the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services Committees.
“For decades, many Americans have been fascinated by mysterious and unexplained objects, and it’s high time they got some answers,” Schumer said in a statement Friday, adding that the public “has a right to know about it.” learn more about technologies of unknown origin, non-human intelligence and unexplainable phenomena.”
The amendment would require the US National Archives and Records Administration to collect UAP records from all relevant government offices under “a presumption of immediate disclosure”, and a review board would have to provide justification for keeping the documents classified.
“Our goal is to ensure the credibility of any investigation or record keeping of materials” associated with NAPs, Rounds said.
Under this measure, documents must be made public in their entirety no later than 25 years after their creation, unless the US President certifies that a continued delay is necessary due to direct harm to national security. .
It also establishes that the federal government would have “eminent domain” over any recovered technology of unknown origin and any biological evidence of “non-human intelligence” that may be controlled by individuals or entities.
Schumer is taking up a cause first brought forward by the late Democratic Senator Harry Reid, who served as Senate Majority Leader from 2007 to 2015.
In the past, the US government has openly dismissed UFO sightings that for decades captured the popular imagination, but in recent years it has been much more open on the subject. It released an unclassified report on the watershed in 2021, cataloging sightings – mostly from US Navy personnel – dating back to 2004.
The Pentagon investigated numerous unexplained sightings reported by military aviators and NASA formed a special group to review UAPs. The NASA panel said in May that its study was hampered by a lack of high-quality data, as well as the stigma surrounding the whole issue of unidentified objects in the sky, which often end up being balloons and debris. or related to atmospheric causes.
(This story has been corrected to show that documents must be released 25 years after they are created, not after the law is enacted, in paragraph 8)
(Reporting by Josephine Walker; Editing by Richard Cowan, Will Dunham and William Mallard)