Yesterday, the United States House of Representatives voted to create a secure government system for reporting UFOs. It will also protect both current and former public officials from any consequences that would come from revealing anything they might know about mysterious phenomena, which Congress is hoping will compel more people to come forward.
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This legislation may open the floodgates.
A former Pentagon official responsible for investigating reported UFO sightings
UFO Reporting
The vote was taken on a bipartisan amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which allocates funds to the State and Defense Departments, along with a few other programs and departments.
The amendment is part of a larger effort to exert more oversight over a complex intelligence-gathering issue that has gained more attention over the last few years: reports of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), more commonly known as UFOs.
A Republican representative from Wisconsin (Mike Gallagher) and a Democratic colleague from Arizona (Ruben Gallego) cosponsored the legislation. Both are a part of a vocal, bipartisan group of lawmakers who are trying to force the Pentagon and other intelligence officials to take the UAP issue more seriously, and to be more open with Congress and the American people.
Gallagher framed the issue as mostly terms of national security, but also said he aims "to further Congress' ability to fact gather and further prove or disprove the origin and threat nature of whatever seems to be flying in our skies."
Gallagher also told Politico that he believes people may be deterred from being fully transparent with Congress "due to their being bound by non-disclosure agreements," but "if that's true, [he] want[s] to make sure that there's no technical reason preventing them from speaking to us."
The amendment creates a dedicated internal reporting system for the "immediate sharing" of information related to UAP, which was "previously prohibited from reporting under any nondisclosure written or oral agreement."
It is mostly aimed at current and former military personnel, government civilians, and contractors.
