Sometimes it takes an unusual issue to get bipartisan support in resolving or kick starting matters on Capitol Hill. Such is the case with almost anything having to do with Unexplained Anomalous Phenomena, one of the hottest topics in D.C. these days. The latest example is both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate Armed Service’s Committee asking for more money as part of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, specifically as it relates to intelligence spending. The newly created All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) will be the recipient of the money, if approved. Debates on defense spending will continue through the summer, including the subject of UFOs, by the House Oversight Committee next week. Other political movement on this same front are requests that a streamlined and expedited declassification procedure be put into place for DoD records of publicly known sightings.
Establishing a Tracking System
According to Sean Kirkpatrick, director of the AARO, over 800 cases of reported UAP are being investigated. However, there is still no website or portal where the public can formally file a reported sighting, even though Kirkpatrick requested one last year. Many of the alleged sightings come from FAA data handed over to the AARO offices. A similar effort to the AARO is being spearheaded by NASA (the Independent UAP Study Team) with more focus on crowd sourced and unclassified data. NASA reportedly has embedded a science advisor with the AARO office. It seems NASA may be a filter to the AARO information intake in some respects. AARO and Kirkpatrick will focus much on their efforts on sensor research, academic partnerships, and scientific patterns of behavior. It will be interesting to see how the two agencies actually work together in practice.
Noteworthy Events and Changes
Several other noteworthy events relating to the same subject have occurred recently to include:
- David Grusch, a former member of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, identified as a whistleblower, came forward in April about multiple pieces of physical evidence collected by DoD that shows proof of objects of non human origin in their possession. Many of Grusch’s colleagues defend him as very reliable and trustworthy. According to Grusch, much of the secrecy is due to highly sophisticated technology being garnered from the objects that the US does not want adversaries to get their hands on.
- A group of scientists, last month, discovered fragments of a meteor in the bottom of the ocean that they note most likely could from an extraterrestrial technological civilization. Maybe NOAA now gets a piece of the action?
- News outlets and television series (to include National Geographic and the Secrets of Skinwalker Ranch) have added credible scientists to their programs which in the eyes of many, coupled with military pilot sightings, make this mainstream daily fodder.
For each discussion, hearing, panel created or former government employee reporting cover ups, curiosity grows and more questions are generated, the most important of which is what is the public entitled to know without jeopardizing national security and inciting potential panic?
