UAP Hearings and Congressional Investigations

This report documents a historic and escalating institutional dispute between the United States Congress and the Executive Branch – specifically the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Intelligence Community (IC) – over the profound secrecy surrounding Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP). This conflict, ignited by high-level whistleblowers, has successfully transitioned the UAP topic from the realm of cultural curiosity to a direct constitutional challenge centered on congressional oversight, federal transparency, and fundamental questions of national security.

This analysis details a “three-act” legislative drama, a series of strategically escalating congressional hearings:

1. July 26, 2023: The “Bombshell” hearing, which introduced whistleblower David Grusch and his extraordinary, sworn claims of a multi-decade, illegal UAP crash-retrieval and reverse-engineering program.¹
2. November 13, 2024: The “Institutional” hearing, which brought command-level (Ret. Adm. Tim Gallaudet) and scientific (NASA’s Michael Gold) witnesses to dismantle the “stigma,” allege a systemic, constitutional breach of secrecy, and introduce new whistleblower documents.³
3. September 9, 2025: The “Rank-and-File” hearing, which provided new, firsthand military witnesses (Jeffrey Nuccetelli, Dylan Borland) and, for the first time, an active-duty service member (Chief Alexandro Wiggins) to demonstrate ongoing retaliation and a direct, unaddressed threat to military personnel.⁶

The aftermath of these hearings has resulted in two distinct, opposing “official” narratives. The Executive Branch, through the DoD’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), issued a comprehensive rebuttal in its March 2024 Historical Record Report, which concluded it “found no verifiable evidence” to support any of the whistleblowers’ claims, attributing them to “misinterpretation” and “circular reporting”.⁸

In direct opposition, the Legislative Branch secured a major, though often misunderstood, victory. While the most ambitious version of the UAP Disclosure Act (UAPDA) failed, its core provision survived and was signed into law as part of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This provision, Public Law 118-31, mandated the creation of the NARA Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Records Collection, setting a legally binding deadline of October 20, 2024, for all federal agencies to declassify or provide justification for the continued withholding of records related to “non-human intelligence” and “technologies of unknown origin”.¹⁰ The UAP issue has thus evolved into a genuine constitutional crisis, with this NARA deadline and newly proposed whistleblower protection laws serving as the next major flashpoints in the battle between legislative oversight and executive secrecy.¹¹

The Political Landscape: The Committees and the UAP Caucus

A. The Congressional “Tip of the Spear”: Committees and Task Forces

The UAP investigations have been driven by specific bodies within the House of Representatives, strategically chosen by proponents to maximize investigatory power and public pressure.

• House Committee on Oversight and Accountability: As the main investigative committee of the House, this body possesses the broad “power of the gavel” to issue subpoenas and hold public hearings on government waste, fraud, and secrecy, making it the ideal venue.¹
• Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs: This key subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI) with Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) as Ranking Member, hosted the July 2023 Grusch hearing.¹² The initial bipartisan comity was established by Garcia, who stated in his opening that the “sheer number of reports, whistleblowers, and stories…raise real questions and warrant investigation and oversight”.¹⁴
• Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation: Chaired by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), this subcommittee joined the November 2024 hearing.³ Its inclusion expanded the UAP issue’s jurisdiction beyond national security to include information technology, data secrecy, and the government’s failure to innovate in data collection.
• Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets: Chaired by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), this task force hosted the September 2025 hearing.⁷ With a direct mandate to examine transparency and whistleblower protection ¹⁸, it served as the perfect vehicle to pursue the UAP Caucus’s legislative goals.

This use of different committees and task forces reveals a deliberate “venue-shopping” strategy by UAP proponents. By leveraging members’ seats on these various bodies, they have kept the pressure on the Executive Branch from multiple angles. Using the main Oversight committee provided broad investigatory power; using the Declassification Task Force allowed for a laser focus on whistleblower retaliation ¹⁸; and bringing in the Cybersecurity subcommittee reframed the topic as one of data integrity and information security. This multi-front approach prevents the DoD and IC from “running out the clock” or stonewalling a single committee.

B. The Bipartisan UAP Caucus: The “Engine Room”

The primary “engine room” driving this entire process is the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Caucus, a dedicated, bipartisan group of legislators.

• Formation and Mission: The caucus was launched in August 2023 by Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) in the immediate aftermath of the Grusch hearing.¹⁹ While it lacks a formal, published mission statement, its de facto mission, evidenced by the legislative actions of its members, is to force maximum UAP transparency, secure open congressional hearings, and establish robust, statuary protections for whistleblowers who come forward with UAP-related information.¹¹
• Key Members (as of July 2025): The caucus is notable for its bipartisan and ideologically diverse membership, which has insulated it from charges of partisan politicking.²¹

• Co-Chairs: Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH), Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), and Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV).²¹
• Key Driving Members: Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO), and Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN).²¹
• Key Legislative Actions: These members are directly responsible for the key UAP-related legislation introduced in the House, including the UAP Transparency Act, which would mandate the declassification of all UAP documents ²⁰, and the UAP Whistleblower Protection Act.¹¹

The Catalyst: The Grusch Complaint and the 2023 Hearing

A. Preparation: The “Credible and Urgent” Whistleblower

The July 2023 hearing was not a spontaneous event. It was the public culmination of a 14-month formal, legal process that provided the foundation for the witnesses’ protected testimony.

1. The 2022 ICIG Complaint: In 2022, David Grusch, a 14-year intelligence officer, filed a formal whistleblower complaint with the Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG).²⁵
2. “Credible and Urgent” Finding: The ICIG found his complaint, which alleged retaliation for providing classified UAP information to Congress, to be “credible and urgent”.²⁵ This critical legal finding provided the formal, protected channel for Grusch to testify to congressional intelligence committees in closed session, and ultimately, to the public.
3. The Debrief Article: In June 2023, journalists Leslie Kean and Ralph Blumenthal—who had previously exposed the Pentagon’s AATIP program—broke the story of Grusch’s claims in an article for The Debrief.²⁶ This article made his explosive allegations public and forced the hand of the House Oversight Committee, leading directly to the scheduling of the July 26, 2023, hearing.²⁸

B. Hearing Analysis (July 26, 2023): “Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency”

This foundational hearing ¹ presented three distinct but complementary witness archetypes: the “Insider” (Grusch), the “Routine Witness” (Graves), and the “Pivotal Event” Witness (Fravor).

1. Witness Profile & Testimony: David Grusch

• Bio: David Charles Grusch is a decorated combat veteran (Afghanistan) and a 14-year intelligence officer with the U.S. Air Force (USAF), National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).²⁵ He served as a senior intelligence officer and represented the NRO on the DoD’s UAP Task Force from 2019-2021.¹
• Featured Content (Testimony): Grusch’s testimony, delivered under oath, was the hearing’s focal point. He alleged ²:

• A Covert Program: The existence of a “multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse engineering program” that has been illegally “withheld from Congress”.²
• Non-Human Biologics: That he was informed by over 40 witnesses he interviewed, in the course of his official duties, that “non-human biologics” had been recovered from crash retrieval sites.²
• Criminal Retaliation: That he “personally” experienced “very brutal” retaliation for his decision to become a whistleblower and that he knows of individuals who have been “harmed or injured” in an effort to conceal this information.²
• AARO Inaccuracy: That AARO Director Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick’s prior testimony to Congress (claiming “no credible evidence”) was “not accurate”.²

2. Witness Profile & Testimony: Ryan Graves

• Bio: Ryan “FOBS” Graves is a former F-18 pilot with a decade of service in the U.S. Navy.³⁰ He is now the Executive Director of Americans for Safe Aerospace (ASA), a military pilot-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit and the world’s largest UAP advocacy organization.¹
• Featured Content (Testimony): Graves’s testimony grounded Grusch’s abstract claims in immediate, operational reality.³⁰ He testified:

• Routine Sightings: UAP sightings are “not rare or isolated; they are routine”.³⁰ His F-18 squadron began “witnessing advanced UAP demonstrating complex maneuvers on a regular basis” off the Virginia coast, describing them as “dark gray or black cubes” encased in “clear spheres”.³⁰
• Flight Safety Hazard: UAPs are an “urgent” national security and “aviation safety problem”.³⁰ He cited a “pivotal incident” where two jets were forced to take evasive action to avoid a UAP, and noted the UAP Task Force had reported “11 near misses” in 2021.³⁰
• Pervasive Stigma: The primary barrier to solving this is “stigma”.³⁰ He stated that commercial pilots “fear professional repercussions” and that his organization (ASA) now has nearly 5,000 members and is actively working with more than 30 UAP witnesses.³⁰

3. Witness Profile & Testimony: Cdr. David Fravor (Ret.)

• Bio: David Fravor is a retired U.S. Navy Commander and former Commanding Officer of the “Black Aces” F/A-18F squadron.¹ He is a graduate of the Top Gun naval flight school with 18 years of service.²
• Featured Content (Testimony): Fravor provided the “gold standard” public case of a UAP encounter: the 2004 “Tic Tac” incident off the coast of California.²⁹ He testified ³⁷:

• The Encounter: He and three other aviators (including Lt. Cdr. Alex Dietrich) visually identified a “small white Tic Tac shaped object” hovering “very abruptly” over a “white water” disturbance in an otherwise calm sea.³⁵ The object had “No Rotors, No Rotor wash, or any visible flight control surfaces like wings”.³⁷
• Superior Performance: When Fravor descended, the object “mirrored” his movements, then “rapidly accelerated and disappeared”.³⁵ The USS Princeton (Aegis Cruiser) detected the object at their CAP point—60 miles away—in “less than a minute”.³⁵
• Assessment: He stated under oath, “the technology that we faced was far superior to anything that we had… have today, or are looking to develop in the next 10+ years”.³⁷
• Lack of Investigation: He was “shocked” that the incident was “never investigated,” and tapes were not taken.³⁷

The sworn testimony from Fravor and Graves provided technical, data-driven corroboration for the “Five Observables” of anomalous craft, structuring their anecdotes into a powerful framework of evidence.

Table 1: Corroboration of Anomalous Observables in 2023 Testimony

Anomalous Characteristic	Cdr. David Fravor (2004 ‘Tic Tac’ Incident)	Ryan Graves (2014-2015 Squadron Encounters)
Anti-Gravity Lift	“No Rotors, No Rotor wash, or any visible flight control surfaces.” Hovered abruptly over the water.	“Holding position against hurricane-force winds.” “Did not have any visible means of lift… or engines.”
Sudden/Instantaneous Acceleration	“Rapidly accelerated and disappeared right in front of our aircraft.”	“Behaved in ways that surpassed our understanding.”
Hypersonic Velocity (No Signatures)	Traveled 60 miles in “less than a minute” (approx. 3,600 mph). “Does not emit any IR (infrared) plume.”	Capable of accelerating “at speeds up to Mach 1.”
Transmedium Travel	First observed over a water disturbance (implying ascent from water).	N/A (Squadron encounters were airborne).
Low Observability (Cloaking/Stealth)	Appeared on Aegis radar from >80,000 ft, but jets could not lock on. The radar tape (which showed jamming) is missing.	“Dark gray or black cubes” inside “clear spheres.”

The Second Wave: The 2024 Hearing on Secrecy and Disinformation

A. Hearing Analysis (November 13, 2024): “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth”

This joint hearing of the Cybersecurity and National Security subcommittees ³ was a direct response to AARO’s March 2024 report that denied all whistleblower claims. The strategic purpose of this hearing was to counter-attack AARO’s narrative, bringing in high-level “establishment” witnesses to argue that the secrecy itself was a constitutional crisis and that AARO’s report was, at best, incomplete.

1. Witness Profile & Testimony: Dr. Tim Gallaudet

• Bio: A retired Rear Admiral (U.S. Navy) and career oceanographer with a Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography.⁴⁰ He formerly served as the Oceanographer of the Navy, Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Observatory, and acting Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).³ He is affiliated with Harvard’s Galileo Project and Americans for Safe Aerospace.⁴¹
• Featured Content (Testimony): Gallaudet’s testimony brought high-level “establishment” credibility. He argued:

• Constitutional Crisis: The Executive Branch’s failure to share UAP information with Congress “is an infringement on the legislative branch, undermines the separation of powers, and ‘may be creating a constitutional crisis'”.⁴
• Disinformation Campaign: He stated that the 2023 hearing confirmed “elements of the government are engaging in a disinformation campaign, to include personal attacks… designed to discredit UAP whistleblowers”.⁴³
• Undersea Domain: As an oceanographer, he uniquely stressed the need to investigate “unidentified undersea phenomena” and “transmedium” UAP.⁴¹

2. Witness Profile & Testimony: Luis Elizondo

• Bio: A former U.S. Army Counterintelligence officer and military intelligence official.³ He is best known for his claimed role as the former director of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), the secret DoD program that studied UAPs.⁴⁶
• Featured Content (Testimony): Elizondo’s testimony focused on the pattern of UAP activity. He confirmed:

• Nuclear “Equities” Link: There is enough data to suggest “some sort of relationship between sensitive U.S. military installations, also some of our nuclear equities, some of our Department of Energy sites” and UAP incursions.⁴
• Decades of Obfuscation: This trend has been ongoing for “decades,” and the information has been “obfuscated” from Congress.⁴
• Provocative Behavior: UAPs are “being provocative” and “in some cases, they are ‘literally splitting air craft formations right down the middle,’ creating an air safety issue”.⁴

3. Witness Profile & Testimony: Michael Gold

• Bio: A lawyer who served as NASA’s Associate Administrator for Space Policy and Partnerships and was a key member of the official NASA UAP Independent Study Team.³ He is now an executive at Redwire, a civil space company.⁵⁰
• Featured Content (Testimony): Speaking on his own behalf, Gold brought the “science” perspective.⁵ He testified:

• The “Pernicious Stigma”: His central theme was that “stigma” has prevented scientific inquiry. He cited the mockery Cdr. Dietrich (Fravor’s wing-woman) faced as a prime example of how stigma prevents data collection.⁵
• NASA’s Role: He recommended that NASA, due to its credible public brand, should help “combat the stigmatization”.⁵
• A Civilian Reporting System: His key recommendation was for NASA and the FAA to leverage the existing Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) as a “clear, consistent, and uniform reporting process for civilian pilots,” which NASA could then collate and provide to AARO and the public.⁵

4. Witness Profile & Testimony: Michael Shellenberger

• Bio: An investigative journalist and founder of the organization “Public”.³
• Featured Content (Testimony): Shellenberger’s role was to introduce new evidence and allege a constitutional violation. He stated:

• Violation of Duty: That “elements within the military and IC are in violation of their Constitutional duty to notify Congress of their operations”.⁴
• Introducing New Evidence: He submitted a 12-page report to Congress from a new whistleblower, which he also released publicly.⁵¹ This document alleged the existence of a program codenamed “Immaculate Constellation”.²³

B. Key Event: The “Immaculate Constellation” Document

The most explosive element of the 2024 hearing was the 12-page whistleblower document submitted by Shellenberger and entered into the congressional record by Reps. Burchett and Mace.¹⁶

• The Allegation: The document, reportedly authored by a current or former DoD employee, alleges the existence of a highly classified Unacknowledged Special Access Program (uSAP) codenamed “IMMACULATE CONSTELLATION” (IC).²³
• Program Purpose: The uSAP allegedly “houses highly classified UAP evidence,” including “IMINT-quality Imagery Intelligence” (videos, images) that capture UAP characteristics “impossible to observe with the human eye alone.” The report claims this program has the “extant capability to detect, quarantine, and transfer UAP”.⁵³
• The DoD Denial: The DoD spokesperson, Sue Gough, explicitly denied this, stating: “The Department of Defense has no record, present or historical, of any type of SAP called ‘IMMACULATE CONSTELLATION'”.⁵⁴
• The “Loophole”: The document’s core claim is a sophisticated bureaucratic and legal argument. It alleges that IC is “controlled by the White House and executed and administrated by the DOD” as a “loophole” to “avoid compliance with Title 10 of the United States Code” (which governs the military).⁵⁴ This allegation is a direct and precise counter-argument to the AARO report. It suggests AARO’s denial is technically correct but deceptively incomplete—that AARO, a DoD office, cannot find evidence of a program that is legally firewalled from it and exists under a different authority (the White House). This document effectively provided Congress with a bureaucratic roadmap, telling them to stop looking in the DoD’s Title 10 budget and start looking at White House-directed programs.

The Third Wave: The 2025 Hearing on Whistleblowers and Firsthand Encounters

Hearing Analysis (September 9, 2025): “Restoring Public Trust Through UAP Transparency and Whistleblower Protection”

Held by Rep. Luna’s Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets ⁶, this hearing executed a “pincer movement” on the issue of stigma and retaliation. After the 2023 hearing established credibility with officers (Grusch, Fravor) and the 2024 hearing brought in the “establishment” (Gallaudet, Gold), this 2025 hearing broadened the witness pool to include enlisted veterans and active-duty personnel. This strategy demonstrated that the problem is widespread, affecting the entire chain of command, and reframed the issue as one of “force protection” and “troop welfare”—a core congressional oversight responsibility.

1. Witness Profile & Testimony: Jeffrey Nuccetelli

• Bio: A U.S. Air Force veteran (military police officer) with 16 years of active-duty service.⁶
• Featured Content (Testimony): Nuccetelli provided new, firsthand testimony of UAP incursions at a highly sensitive national security site: Vandenberg Air Force Base (now Space Force Base), home to the National Missile Defense Project.⁵⁶

• The “Vandenberg Red Square”: He described five UAP incidents between 2003-2005. The most significant was on October 14, 2003, when Boeing contractors reported a “massive, glowing red square silently hovering over two missile defense sites”.⁵⁶
• Lack of Follow-up: He testified that they “sent information up, but no guidance came down,” and he was never interviewed by “higher up,” which Rep. Scott Perry found “odd”.⁷
• The Plea: “Transparency is the foundation of truth. Without it, witnesses like us are dismissed”.⁷

2. Witness Profile & Testimony: Dylan Borland

• Bio: A U.S. Air Force veteran and former “1N1” geospatial intelligence specialist (2010-2013), who also worked for defense contractors BAE Systems and Intrepid Solutions.⁶
• Featured Content (Testimony): Borland provided both a firsthand sighting and a direct claim of severe retaliation.

• The Langley Sighting: In the summer of 2012 at Langley Air Force Base, he saw an “approximately 100-foot-long equilateral triangle” fly within 100 feet of him. He testified it “interfered with my telephone, did not have any sound, and the material it was made of appeared fluid or dynamic”.⁵⁸
• Retaliation: He testified under oath that “Because of my direct knowledge of the reality of certain legacy UAP programs, my professional career was deliberately obstructed, and I have endured sustained reprisals from government agencies for more than a decade,” including “medical malpractice and workplace harassment”.²⁴

3. Witness Profile & Testimony: Chief Alexandro Wiggins

• Bio: A U.S. Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer with 23 years of service.⁶
• Featured Content (Testimony): Wiggins’s testimony was groundbreaking as he was the first active-duty Navy official to testify publicly before Congress about a UAP incident.²⁴ Speaking in a “personal capacity” ²⁴, he stated:

• Safety Issue First: He emphasized that these encounters are “first and foremost a safety issue”.⁷
• The Reporting “Void”: He highlighted that active-duty members, particularly “junior sailors,” “don’t have knowledge of what to do when we see things like this” and are “fearful to speak up”.⁷
• The Call to Action: He called on Congress to direct the creation of a “clear,” “confidential,” and “destigmatized” reporting channel so that “Sailors need to know that reporting UAP encounters will not harm their careers”.⁷

4. Witness Profile & Testimony: George Knapp

• Bio: An award-winning (Peabody, Murrow) investigative journalist for KLAS TV Las Vegas, famous for his 1989 reporting on “Area 51”.⁶¹
• Featured Content (Testimony): Knapp served as the hearing’s historical expert, contextualizing the 80-year secrecy.

• The “Paper Trail” vs. Public Denial: He contrasted the long-standing public denial (“they’re not real… the witnesses are crackpots”) with the “paper trail” from FOIA documents. These documents show that “behind closed doors,” military and intelligence personnel “admit that ‘these things are real. They’re not fictitious… and they outperform any aircraft known to exist, including ours'”.⁷
• Hiding the Money: He advised Congress to “unleash the dogs and go track down the money,” alleging that material has been “moved out of government” and “given to private contractors” to “keep it from FOIA”.⁷

The Aftermath: A Government at Odds With Itself

The 2023-2025 hearings have resulted in two-pronged, contradictory “aftermaths”: the Executive Branch’s formal, comprehensive denial and the Legislative Branch’s formal, legal mandate for disclosure.

Part 1: The Executive Branch Response (The “AARO” Counter-Narrative)

The DoD and IC’s response has been a coordinated and categorical refutation of the whistleblowers’ claims, channeled primarily through AARO.

• Kirkpatrick’s Rebuttal: Following the July 2023 hearing, then-AARO Director Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick pushed back, stating that “contrary to assertions,” the “central source of those allegations [Grusch] has refused to speak with AARO”.⁶⁴ He claimed AARO’s “invitation” for Grusch to testify had been “declined” four or five times ⁶⁵—a claim Grusch directly contradicted under oath, stating he had provided information to AARO.²
• The AARO Historical Record Report (Vol. I, March 2024): This 63-page report is the DoD’s definitive counter-document.⁸ Its findings are unambiguous ⁹:

• No Extraterrestrial Evidence: AARO “found no verifiable evidence… that any UAP sighting has represented extraterrestrial activity” or that the USG or private industry “has ever had access to extraterrestrial technology”.⁹
• No Secret Programs: AARO assesses that alleged hidden UAP programs “either do not exist or were misidentified, authentic national security programs”.⁹
• “Circular Reporting”: The report concludes that claims of such programs are “largely the result of ‘circular reporting’ where a small group of individuals have repeated inaccurate claims they heard from others” over decades.⁹
• “Misinterpretation”: It states that most witnesses “sincerely misinterpreted real events or mistaken sensitive U.S. programs” as being UAP-related.⁹
• Specific Denials: Following the November 2024 hearing, the DoD explicitly denied the existence of the “Immaculate Constellation” program.⁵⁴

Part 2: The Legislative Branch Response (Codifying Disclosure)

While the Executive Branch focused on denials, the Legislative Branch focused on codifying disclosure into law.

• The UAP Disclosure Act of 2023 (The “Schumer-Rounds” Amendment): The original, ambitious legislative push was an amendment to the 2024 NDAA, co-sponsored by a powerful bipartisan Senate group including Sens. Schumer, Rounds, Rubio, and Gillibrand.⁶⁸ Modeled on the 1992 JFK Assassination Records Collection Act, its original provisions included ⁷⁰:

1. Creation of a “UAP Records Collection” at NARA with a “presumption of immediate disclosure.”
2. Creation of an independent, presidentially-appointed “UAP Records Review Board.”
3. A provision granting the government “eminent domain” over any recovered UAP material held by private contractors.

• The 2024 NDAA (Public Law 118-31) (The “Compromise”): The final law was a partial victory. The most “explosive” elements—the Review Board and the eminent domain clause—were stripped out in conference, reportedly after intense lobbying from the IC and defense contractors.⁶⁸
• The NARA Records Collection (The “Win”): What did survive is now Public Law 118-31, Sections 1841-1843.¹⁰ This is the single most significant “aftermath” of the hearings. The NARA guidance on this law mandates ¹⁰:

• The Collection: NARA must establish the “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Records Collection.”
• The Records: This collection is legally defined to include “all Government… records relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena, technologies of unknown origin, and non-human intelligence“.¹⁰
• The Deadline: All federal agencies were required to “review, identify, and organize” all UAP records and transmit digital copies to NARA for public disclosure by October 20, 2024.¹⁰
• New Legislative Efforts (2025): The UAP Caucus has continued its push by re-introducing versions of the failed UAPDA, such as Rep. Burlison’s UAP Disclosure Act of 2025 ⁷² and Rep. Burchett’s UAP Whistleblower Protection Act.¹¹

The core of the entire UAP political crisis is the irreconcilable conflict between the sworn testimony presented to Congress and the official, flat denials issued by the DoD.

Table 2: The Institutional Conflict: Congressional Claims vs. DoD/AARO Findings

Whistleblower / Congressional Claim	AARO Historical Report (Vol 1) / DoD Response
Claim: A “multi-decade crash retrieval and reverse engineering program” exists. (Source: Grusch) 2	Response: “AARO assesses that alleged… programs either do not exist or were misidentified.” (Source: AARO Report) 9
Claim: “Non-human biologics” have been recovered by the USG. (Source: Grusch) 2	Response: AARO “found no verifiable evidence… that any UAP sighting has represented extraterrestrial activity.” (Source: AARO Report) 9
Claim: Information is being “illegally withheld from Congress.” (Source: Grusch) 2	Response: AARO found “no indications that any information was illegally or inappropriately withheld from Congress.” (Source: AARO Report) 9
Claim: UAP show interest in “nuclear equities” and sensitive sites. (Source: Elizondo, Nuccetelli) [4, 56]	Response: Claims are the result of “circular reporting” and “sincere misinterpretation” of authentic (but mundane) national security programs. (Source: AARO Report) 9
Claim: Witnesses have faced “brutal” and “sustained reprisals.” (Source: Grusch, Borland) [2, 24]	Response: (The AARO report focused on program claims, not personnel retaliation, which is handled by the ICIG and DoD IG.)
Claim: A uSAP named “IMMACULATE CONSTELLATION” exists. (Source: Shellenberger) 53	Response: “The Department of Defense has no record, present or historical, of any type of SAP called ‘IMMACULATE CONSTELLATION’.” (Source: Sue Gough, DoD) [55]

Conclusion: Analysis and Forward Outlook

This report has documented a strategic, multi-year, bipartisan congressional investigation that has successfully elevated the UAP topic from a fringe issue to a constitutional issue. The sworn testimony of 11 credible witnesses – from high-level intelligence officers (Grusch), Admirals (Gallaudet), and NASA scientists (Gold) to active-duty personnel (Wiggins) and enlisted veterans (Borland, Nuccetelli) – has established a “shadow” narrative of secret programs, non-human technology, and systemic retaliation.

This congressional narrative now stands in direct, irreconcilable opposition to the Executive Branch’s official, public-facing “AARO” narrative. The AARO Historical Record Report, which concluded “no verifiable evidence” and blamed “circular reporting” and “misinterpretation,” is not an end-point but the opening salvo in a new bureaucratic war.⁹ The congressional counter-move, alleging a White House-controlled uSAP (“Immaculate Constellation”) designed to bypass AARO’s exact kind of oversight ⁵⁴, demonstrates a new level of legislative and bureaucratic sophistication.

The most significant, tangible outcome of this dispute remains Public Law 118-31.¹⁰ The October 20, 2024, deadline for the NARA UAP Records Collection, which legally defines “non-human intelligence” as a records category ¹⁰, was a “forcing function.” It compels every agency (DoD, DoE, CIA, etc.) to go on the record. Their compliance—or lack thereof—is the next battlefield. If agencies claim they have no such records, and new whistleblowers (protected by new legislation like the UAP Whistleblower Protection Act ¹¹) subsequently prove they do, the conflict moves from one of oversight to one of criminality.

The UAP issue is no longer about “lights in the sky.” It is a political, legal, and constitutional battle over who controls “the secret.” It is a test of congressional oversight in the face of the national security state and a public case study in the power (and limits) of whistleblowers to force transparency. The 2023-2025 hearings have fundamentally and permanently changed the nature of this conversation, and the legislative framework now in place ensures this conflict will only intensify.

References

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