Classification Abuse

“In Fiscal Year 2024, the NDA required the National Archives and Records Administration to establish the unidentified anonymous phenomena records collection. This collection will include digital copies of all unidentified UAP records that can be publicly disclosed.”

“Earlier this year, I joined Congressman Burchett to introduce the UAP Transparency Act, which would require the declassification of all documents related to UAPs, with many other Members of this Committee.”

“In March, AARO revealed a report on the historical record of U.S. Government involvement with UAPs, which covered investigatory efforts going back from 1945 to the present day.”

“The Pentagon has failed six consecutive audits. In fact, it has never actually passed one.”

“I would think—well, in my opinion, I will say things are over-classified. I know for a fact the video or the pictures that came out in the—I think it was the 2020 report, that had the stuff off the East Coast that were taken with an iPhone off the East Coast. A buddy of mine was one of the senior people there and he said they originally classified it TS/SCI, and my question then was what is TS/SCI about these? They are an iPhone literally off the vacapes. That is not TS/SCI.”

“The day after I received it and all the other recipients received it—which were all the subordinate commanders of U.S. Fleet Forces, so one-and two-star admirals, including strike group commanders—the email was wiped or deleted from our accounts”

“What we required was a memo from the Secretary of the Air Force in order to make that complete, and that never occurred. And so, when Secretary Mattis became Secretary of Defense, I decided it would be appropriate for me to try to receive a memo from him, as SecDef, as Secretary of Defense, if we could not get a memo from the Secretary of the Air Force to transfer that material.”

“earlier this year, as part of the House defense authorization bill, the NDAA, I had filed an amendment to include the UAP Disclosure Act, which would create a UAP Records Review Board with exercise of eminent domain over UAP-related material, modeled actually on the JFK Assassination Records Collection Act”

“I know the exact locations and those locations were provided to the Inspector General and some of which to the intelligence committees. I actually had the people with the firsthand knowledge provide a protected disclosure to the Inspector General.”

“At the current moment, sir, no, but that is a great point. From 2020 to 2022, there was a UAP task force in the DoD succeeding where Mr. Elizondo worked, led by Jay Stratton, who had the first comprehensive, whole-of-government approach to UAP, which involved pathways to declassification and to increased transparency, as well as assessing the national security risk of UAP. This was a really well-established approach, and we have all advocated that something like it return.”

“The cold war is long over”

“You are referring to actual—a public treaty in the U.N. register—it is funny you mentioned that—the agreement on measures to reduce the risk of outbreak of nuclear war signed in 1971. Unclassified treaty publicly available, and if you cite the George Washington University National Security Archives you will find the declassified, in 2013, specific provisions and the specific red line flash message traffic with the specific codes pursuant to Article Three and Article—also situation two, which is in the previously classified NSA archive.”

“The very next day, that email disappeared from my account and those of the other recipients without explanation.”

“Yes, I am familiar with the UAP Task Force 2019 Security Classification guide. I think it is fair. I did actually help author that with the Director.”

“Since 2021 all UAP videos are classified as secret or above. This level of secrecy not only impedes our understanding but fuels speculation and mistrust.”

“Furthermore, these individuals have revealed the name of an active and highly secretive DoD unacknowledged special access program, or USAP. The source of that document told Public, me, that the USAP is a strategic intelligence program that is part of the U.S. military family of longstanding, highly sensitive programs dealing with various aspects of the UAP problem.”

“And I would now—Committee staff asked me to go ahead, and I will do it, to enter into the Congressional Record this 12-page document that Michael Shellenberger brought today that describes the Immaculate Constellation government program. So, we will do that now. Every Member up here has a copy of it.”

“A complicated question. So, there is, you know, some—I would call it abuse here. So, congressional oversight of conventional Special Access Programs—and I will use Title 10, DoD as an example, right. So, 10 U.S. Code Section 119 discusses congressional oversight of SAPs, discusses the DEP/SecDef's ability to waive congressional reporting. However, the Gang of 8 is at least supposed to be notified if a—you know, a waived or a waive bigoted unacknowledged SAP is created and that is public law.”

“Last year's UAP hearing before this Oversight Committee confirmed that UAP-related information is being withheld from senior officials and Members of Congress.”

“A leading UAP researcher who utilizes the Freedom of Information Act to find out what the government knows, John Greenewald, told me last year that the U.S. Government had been increasingly denying his request for UAP information. He has been doing FOIA requests for 27 years and has an archive of 3 million pages.”

“this is going to be the original document from the Pentagon about Immaculate Constellation that Michael Shellenberger delivered to Congress today. So, thank you, Mr. Shellenberger, for this information. We are all reading it in real time now, and Mr. Burchett will enter it into the record, but 12 pages about this unacknowledged special access program that your government says does not exist.”

“Yes. Him and I had a classified conversation in April 2022 before he took over AARO in July 2022 and I provided him some concerns I had.”

“I also would like to enter in—I understand now that this is unclassified, and it is public record but as we all know that is sometimes difficult for the public to get a hold of—a report, defense intelligence reference documents, ''Advanced Space Propulsion Based on Vacuum (spacetime metric) Engineering,''”

“And I say that because myself, Representative Gaetz and Representative Luna were basically turned away at one point at Eglin.”

“The first section talks about the unacknowledged special access program called Immaculate Constellation, and the second section about USG imagery intelligence.”

“Of the 366 sightings included in the report, 171 remain uncharacterized with some of these appearing to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities.”

“I became a whistleblower through a PPD–19 urgent concern filing in May 2022 with the intelligence community inspector general following concerning reports from multiple esteemed and credentialed current and former military and intelligence community individuals that the U.S. Government is operating with secrecy above congressional oversight with regards to UAPs.”

“In 2019, the UAP Task Force Director asked me to identify all special access programs and controlled access programs, also known as SAPs and CAPs, we needed to satisfy our congressionally mandated mission and we would direct report at the time to the DEP/SecDef.”

“Yes. There was some issue with mine. So, you know, PPD–19 process it goes to the intel committees either through PPD–19 or ICD 120. There is not a good way for the intelligence community Inspector General to provide that to other committees, and I asked my information to be sent to the House and Senate Armed Services Committee because there are Title 10 equities at play. But there was no smooth process to do so.”

“Multiple agencies nesting UAP activities in conventional SAP/CAP programs without appropriate reporting to oversight authorities”