The U.S. Senate today, July 27, 2023, passed a National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) with an 86-11 majority. The NDAA includes multiple far-reaching provisions related to Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP/UFOs).

The entirety of the Intelligence Authorization Act (IAA) was added to the FY 2024 NDAA. This includes the previously approved UAP-related provisions from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, albeit with some revisions.

One of the key features of the Senate-passed package is the Schumer-Rounds “UAP Disclosure Act”. This act seeks to establish an agency that would gather UAP records from various government branches. It proposes a “presumption of immediate disclosure”, however, the final decision on such disclosures, delays, and exceptions would be determined by a Review Board appointed by the President. Furthermore, the Schumer-Rounds legislation states that the Federal Government will exert eminent domain [ownership] over any recovered technologies of unknown origin and biological evidence of non-human intelligence that may be in the possession of private individuals or entities.

The Senate-passed NDAA-IAA also incorporates two versions of a proposal by Gillibrand-Rubio. The aim of these provisions is to identify any UAP-related technology or information that may be concealed in government-linked programs and have not been properly reported to Congress. These provisions also stipulate the withdrawal of funding for non-reported UAP-related programs.

The Senate-approved bill additionally includes a $27 million increase for the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), although the total authorized funding level remains classified. Senator Kirstin Gillibrand (D-NY) sponsored this funding boost in the Armed Services Committee.

The Intelligence Authorization Act, as part of the package, presents new protections for whistleblowers from the Intelligence Community. These provisions were revised shortly before the Senate’s final action and will require further analysis.

The Armed Services Committee report on the NDAA mandates an evaluation of NORAD’s “aerospace warning and control mission and procedures” by the Government Accountability Office, an arm of Congress, which I addressed in an earlier thread.

Following the final agreed-on version of the NDAA-IAA by a House-Senate conference committee, the House and then the Senate must give their final approval before the Act is sent to the President. The NDAA has been passed by Congress for the past 62 consecutive years.