Disclosure Diaries Update #113

In written answers published by PARADIGM on Oct 29 and circulated this week, Sean Kirkpatrick, AARO's founding director (2022–23), addressed the central allegation in Jay Stratton's memoir, that a Lockheed Martin executive told Stratton in 2009 the company held a dozen craft.

"As for the Lockheed allegations, I investigated that with Lockheed's Chief Tech Officer and found it [to] be connected with people who had both misled the company and were trying to make money on aerospace tech unconnected to aliens," … "It is convenient that these stories and allegations always involve someone who knew it all but has died." – Sean Kirkpatrick, former director, AARO

On the executive, Jim Ryder (retired 2011, died 2018): "We confirmed he didn't speak to those people, and any stories that came out of that period of time are just that—stories perpetrated by the same people who tried to claim Lockheed was involved,". He also alleged congressional pressure to fund the people making the claims: "I had one staffer call me up and direct me to send several million dollars." … "I told them to put it into writing and I'd run it by legal," … "They backed down." He named three intended recipients, which PARADIGM is withholding pending further reporting. Lockheed, Stratton's publisher and Pentagon spokeswoman Susan Gough didn't respond to the outlet. This is Kirkpatrick's account, and nothing from Lockheed's side is on the record.

Democrats won the House and the Senate on Nov 3 (CBS, seat counts still moving). Of the members who matter for this topic: Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), the former House Intelligence chair, lost Ohio's 10th district to Democrat Kristina Knickerbocker. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), chair of the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, held Florida's 13th. Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO) won Missouri's 7th, Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) won the redrawn 25th, and Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), the Senate co-author of the UAP Disclosure Act, was re-elected. Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), along with Reps. André Carson and Robert Garcia, is on NewsNation's list of returning UAP advocates.

What each side has said: Burlison told a podcast on Oct 26 that a Democratic House means the effort "will come to a complete halt". The New York Post reported on Oct 31 that Democrats were weighing a UAP caucus and a select committee to replace Luna's task force. Garcia, the expected Oversight chair, has listed four priorities for the committee and UAP isn't among them (Liberation Times). What isn't known: whether the task force survives the new Congress, whether a select committee is formed, and whether the House's UAP Disclosure Act survives the lame-duck NDAA conference, which Republicans control until Jan 3.

PARADIGM reported that Jake Barber, the Air Force veteran who told NewsNation in January 2025 he flew helicopters in crash-retrieval operations, has joined Rep. Eric Burlison's office. Burlison's spokesman, Nate Lucas, confirmed it to the outlet.

"UFO whistleblower Jake Barber has joined the staff of Rep. Eric Burlison to assist on UAP work," … "Barber replaces UFO whistleblower David Grusch, who left Burlison's staff around Labor Day." … "Unlike Grusch, Barber has never publicly testified under oath about his claims." – PARADIGM (Ben Schreckinger)

Barber's claims remain uncorroborated, AARO said in February 2025 it was looking into them and has published nothing since, and his Skywatcher project has been silent since late 2025.

President Trump announced that Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff for policy, replaces Susie Wiles as chief of staff from Nov 9. The relevance here is a single, unconfirmed thread: Liberation Times has reported for months, citing unnamed sources, that Miller leads White House work examining alleged crash-retrieval and reverse-engineering programmes. The appointment is a fact. The UAP role is a claim by unnamed sources that the White House has never addressed.

Yasukazu Hamada, Japan's defence minister from 2022 to 2023 and chair of the Diet's cross-party UAP group, gave an hour-long interview to Jesse Michels. According to the programme's own summary, he says that non-human visitation has to be taken seriously as a viable hypothesis for sightings over Japan's nuclear facilities, and that the group he chairs handed the Chief Cabinet Secretary a proposal in May to centralise UAP intelligence.

In his post-midterm 60 Minutes interview, Ross Douthat asked President Trump whether anything he had seen or been told suggests there's more to UFOs than footage releases. Interview.

"So here's the story. I'm not too much of a believer, but I sat in the Oval Office, first term and a little bit second term, meeting with Air Force pilots that are really good, solid people. [...] Because they're flying an F-22, which is the best there is, the fastest, the best plane that anyone's ever seen. And something goes by them at three times their speed and it's round. It's not aerodynamic, it's round." – President Donald Trump

Douthat then put the whistleblowers' claim to him directly: "there's also a secret program that even presidents don't know about to study this stuff. Have you seen any evidence that that is the case--"

"No. And I haven't heard that. But if there is I'm gonna find out about it right after this interview."

It's the first time a sitting president has been asked on network television about the specific claim Stratton, Grusch and Coulthart have made this autumn, and the answer is that he has neither seen evidence of such a programme nor heard the claim. The pilot story is the one he told Logan Paul in 2024 and Newsmax on Oct 15, with the speed now "three times" rather than four. Three weeks ago his answer on an announcement was "I'm looking". Whether the White House says anything after this is the thing to watch.

• The lame-duck session starts the week of Nov 16. The NDAA conference is now the UAP Disclosure Act's only route in this Congress, and Johnson expects the review board to be dropped. CRS
• Comer's promised UAP hearing, "in November". No notice yet. Ask a Pol
• The next PURSUE release, "on a rolling basis". None since Oct 23. war.gov/ufo
• Germany's answer to the Bundestag UAP question, now five weeks overdue. Drucksache 21/8323

• Loeb's deadline for ODNI to deliver sensor data to the Science Advisory Council. Politico
• AARO's FY2026 annual report, and the Sec. 1671 intercept briefing covering 2004 onward. Pub. L. 119-60

• The new Congress. Does the Secrets Task Force survive, is a select committee formed, and who chairs Oversight (Garcia expected). Liberation Times

• Any White House follow-up to "I'm gonna find out about it right after this interview". CBS
• What Barber's role in Burlison's office involves, and whether the orb-event witnesses Burlison describes appear before Congress. PARADIGM
• AARO's Historical Record Report, Volume II, promised in November 2024. The Hill
• Any response to Kirkpatrick's allegations: resolution language removed from PURSUE files, and the Lockheed and earmark accounts above. PARADIGM
• Any follow-up on the 2026 triangle report: site, sensor data, resolution. AARO memo
• The Virginia-coast case of "approximately 100 airborne UAP" that AARO says it is actively investigating. AARO FY2025 report
• MITRE's response to Burlison's May interrogatories on legacy-programme records. Burlison
• Grusch: the summary-judgment ruling in Grusch v. DoD, and any White House clearance restoration. Ask a Pol
• Japan's government response to the May 28 Hamada-group proposal. The Debrief