UAP Transparency Act?
Just how much transparency should we expect from the UAP Transparency Act?
Breaking news! The congressional kerfuffle over UFOs continues. The UAP Transparency Act stipulates that the president must direct all federal agencies to share all UFO-related material with the public within nine months.
“Not later than 270 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall direct the head of each Federal department or agency in possession of documents, reports, or other records relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena [UAP] to declassify and make available on a publicly available website of each such department or agency all such documents, reports, or other records.” (UAP Transparency Act 2(a)).
According to Rich Johnson writing for News Nation, the National Archives and Records Administration has set a deadline of September 30 for all agencies to deliver copies of every document, audio and video or any other media they may have about unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP.
U.S. Representative from Tennessee, Tim Burchett, is passionate about disclosure. “It’s simple,” he told Fox News . “They spend all this time telling us they don’t exist, then release the files, dagnabbit.” With Tennessee Tim on our side, how could we ufologists possibly lose?
So, should we expect a windfall of previously hidden information that will now reveal the final truth about Unidentified Flying Objects? Will we learn whether Earth is actually being visited by alien intelligence? Maybe, yes. Maybe, no.
The UAP Transparency Act: Maybe Yes!
The UAP Transparency Act was introduced by the colorful Tennessee Tim Burchett. In a May 17, 2024 press release, he tells us that “This bill isn’t all about finding little green men or flying saucers, it’s about forcing the Pentagon and federal agencies to be transparent with the American people. I’m sick of hearing bureaucrats telling me these things don’t exist while we’ve spent millions of taxpayer dollars on studying them for decades.” That sounds like a resounding, ‘yes!’
The UAP Transparency Act: Maybe No!
The UAP Transparency Act slipped into the pages of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024. Do you think national security might become a factor in determining which documents are declassified and which will retain top secret status? You betcha!
“Congress Orders U.F.O. Records Released but Drops Bid for Broader Disclosure,” announced Kayla Guo last December in the New York Times. What is this withdrawal from “broader disclosure” all about?
Let’s ask Representative Burchett. He’s ordering the Defense Department to declassify “records relating to publicly known sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena that do not reveal sources, methods or otherwise compromise the national security of the United States.” No compromise to national security. This is understandable. But does it turn transparency into selective opacity?
If you’re a government employee with a stamp saying, “Top Secret,” conveniently placed in your desk drawer, why not use it? Why not use it on any document you’d prefer to keep opaque rather than transparent? This seems to be what Uncle Sam has been doing ever since Roswell in July 1947. So, what’s new?
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Ted Peters directs traffic at the intersection of science, religion, and ethics. Peters is an emeritus professor at the Graduate Theological Union, where he co-edits the journal, Theology and Science, with Robert John Russell on behalf of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, in Berkeley, California, USA. Along with Martinez Hewlett, Joshua Moritz, and Robert John Russell, he co-edited, Astrotheology: Science and Theology Meet Extraterrestrial Intelligence (2018). Along with Octavio Chon Torres, Joseph Seckbach, and Russell Gordon, he co-edited, Astrobiology: Science, Ethics, and Public Policy (Scrivener 2021). Along with Arvin Gouw and Brian Patrick Green, he co-edited Religious Transhumanism and Its Critics (Lexington 2022).
Ted is former Louisiana State Director of MUFON investigations. He is also author of UFOs: God’s Chariots? Spirituality, Ancient Aliens, and Religious Yearnings in the Age of Extraterrestrials (Career Press New Page Books, 2014). See his website: TedsTimelyTake.com.
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