Executive Summary
Unidentified flying objects (UFOs), now referred to as unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) by the Department of Defense, are almost perennially vexing, with their origins still unknown and the names given to them—from “foo fighters” during World War II to “slow walkers,” “fast walkers,” and “unidentified drones” today—too varied to clarify their nature. Moreover, despite undertaking many study efforts on the objects from the immediate postwar period forward, the US government has provided no definitive public resolution to the UFO enigma.
In a display of courageous leadership, Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) and former Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) sought in 2024 to address this issue by reintroducing their Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act, which was passed in the previous year’s legislative session only after being gutted of its most significant provisions. Modeled after the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, the reintroduced Disclosure Act would have established proper accountability and oversight over government activities concerning the phenomena by elected officials in both the executive and legislative branches. Unfortunately, the legislation once again failed to pass. This paper seeks to definitively articulate the rationale for its reintroduction for a third and final time in 2025 and, more importantly, the establishment through its passage—or by executive order—of its most crucial provisions: a publicly accountable UFO control group and eminent domain over technologies of unknown (aka nonhuman) origin.
The UAP Disclosure Act would create an independent Review Board of nine distinguished citizens at the uppermost tiers of their professions to serve as that control group. Nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, the Board would have the responsibility of centralizing and assessing all extant government information concerning UFOs, with the intent of creating public transparency, assessing the defense and national security issues raised by the objects, and setting the agenda for international cooperation. Accorded authority to adjudicate the release or postponement of all records relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena, the Disclosure Act directs the Board to develop a formal “Campaign Plan” for the President, containing “precise requirements for periodic review, downgrading, and declassification” of UAP records and material. This benchmark-driven “controlled disclosure” plan, which specifies the exact time and specific occurrences following which each postponed item may be appropriately disclosed, would supersede all prior classification standards previously deemed applicable to such records. Beyond executing this plan, the Review Board would also be ideally suited to recommend national policy addressing whole-of-government issues raised by the reality of UFOs, the need for federally-funded scientific research on the subject, and proposals for meeting this global challenge through diplomatic and/or economic cooperation with allies. Of equal importance, the UAP Disclosure Act also addresses recent whistleblower testimony that recovered technology and materials of nonhuman origin were transferred by the government to certain private aerospace companies, perhaps to avoid accountability toelected officials. The Act reverses this decision (which possibly violated Federal Acquisition Regulations) by directing the executive branch to invoke eminent domain over any and all