A 180-day countdown for the release of government information on UFO’s began Sunday after President Donald Trump signed the $2.3 trillion COVID-19 relief and government funding bill.
Hidden as a “committee comment” attached to the annual Intelligence Authorization Act — which was part of the spending bill — the provision directs spy agencies to unveil their declassified knowledge about UFO’s.
The Senate Intelligence Committee, chaired by Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, wrote the provision requires “a detailed analysis of unidentified aerial phenomena data and intelligence reporting collected or held by the Office of Naval Intelligence” be submitted within 180 days to the congressional intelligence and armed services committees.
The report must include a “detailed analysis of data of the FBI, which was derived from investigations of intrusions of unidentified aerial phenomena data over restricted United States airspace” along with an “assessment of whether this unidentified aerial phenomena activity may be attributed to one or more foreign adversaries.”
It is unclear how much information can actually be declassified and made public. (RELATED: US Officials Received Classified Briefings On ‘Off-World Vehicles Not Made On This Earth’)
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Former Staff Director of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee Christopher Mellon told The Debrief that the provision–which is not law–is long “overdue.”
“It’s now fair to say that the request for an unclassified report on the UAP phenomenon enjoys the support of both parties in both Houses of Congress,” he said, according to the report. “Assuming the Executive Branch honors this important request, the nation will at long last have an objective basis for assessing the validity of the issue and its national security implications. This is an extraordinary and long overdue opportunity.”
The Pentagon formally declassified and authenticated three leaked U.S. Navy videos of “unexplained aerial phenomena” in April, with a Pentagon spokesperson noting the objects that appeared in the video were “unidentified,” according to ABC News.
Pentagon declassifies three previously leaked top secret U.S. Navy videos of “unexplained aerial phenomena”—and that some believe could show UFOs. https://t.co/SgE0JDGtej pic.twitter.com/yhv8ZBDR0p
— ABC News (@ABC) April 27, 2020
The Department of Defense also announced in August a new task force designed to detect, analyze and catalog any unidentified objects, such as UFO’s.