Disclosure Timeline

December 16:
The New York Times publishes an article titled "Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program," revealing the existence of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), a previously undisclosed government effort to study UFOs.

The story was investigated and published by Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal, and Leslie Kean, and was the first time individuals such as former U.S. Army Counterintelligence Special Agent Lue Elizondo, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Christopher Mellon, and the late former Majority Leader of the United States Senate Harry Reid were introduced to the public in the context of UAP. Many of these people would go on to become key figures in the disclosure process in the coming years.

The story also included two 'leaked' videos, termed "FLIR1" and "GIMBAL", purporting to show encounters by jets from the Nimitz and Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carriers with unusually shaped, fast-moving aircraft.

March 11:
The To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science (TTSA), an organization co-founded by former Blink-182 member Tom DeLonge, releases a video titled "Go Fast" along with other documentation related to UAP encounters.

The "Go Fast" video is one of the three videos (along with 'FLIR' and 'GIMBAL', mentioned above) later officially confirmed and released by the U.S. Department of Defense in 2020. (Link to coverage of TTSA's release)

April 23:
The U.S. Navy updates its guidelines for reporting encounters with unidentified aircraft, indicating a renewed interest and willingness to investigate such incidents.

“There have been a number of reports of unauthorized and/or unidentified aircraft entering various military-controlled ranges and designated air space in recent years” the Navy said in a statement.

June 19:
Politico publishes an article revealing that the U.S. Senate requested a classified briefing on UAP encounters.

September 18:
The U.S. Navy confirms the authenticity of several videos showing encounters between Navy aircraft and unidentified aerial objects, which had been previously leaked and widely circulated. (Link)

April 27:
The U.S. Department of Defense officially declassifies and releases three videos captured by Navy pilots showing encounters with unidentified aerial phenomena. The videos had been previously leaked and were confirmed as authentic by the Navy. (Link)

June 23:
The Senate Intelligence Committee, led by Senator Marco Rubio, calls for a detailed analysis of the UAP issue by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and other relevant agencies. (Link)

June 25:
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) releases an unclassified report on UAPs, providing an assessment of 144 UAP sightings reported by military personnel between 2004 and 2021. The report concludes that the majority of these incidents could not be easily explained, but there was no conclusive evidence of extraterrestrial activity. The investigators were convinced, however, that the majority of the sightings were indeed “physical objects”. (CNN coverage)

July 23:
The U.S. Senate passes the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, which includes a provision for the establishment of a permanent UAP task force within the Office of Naval Intelligence and calls for a more unified approach to collecting and reporting relevant intelligence related to UAP. (Link, Link 2)

July (date unconfirmed):
David Grusch confidentially provides UAP-related classified information to the Department of Defense Inspector General (DoD IG) Sean O’Donnell. At that time, Mr. Grusch communicated classified information about the improper withholding and/or concealment of classified material from the US Congress by certain Intelligence Community (IC) elements.

November 23:
The Department of Defense establishes the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG) to formally document and study the UAP issue, driven by concerns of potential safety of flight risk to aircrews and national security concerns. (Link).

This Group is later renamed as the All Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) in July 2022.

Feb 22:
Members of the Pentagon's UFO task force briefed Canadian military officials on February 22, 2022. This was a previously unreported meeting that was only officially reported in November 2022.

"Officials from the [Department of Defence] UAP Task Force and the National Intelligence Manager for Aviation met with Canadian Department of National Defence and Royal Canadian Air Force officials, as part of our continued partnership on airspace security, to include Unidentified Aerial Phenomena," according to U.S. Department of Defence Spokesperson Susan Gough.

May 17:
The House Intelligence Committee’s Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation subcommittee holds a hearing on UAP, marking the first Congressional hearings of their kind in over 50 years – since the US Air Force terminated Project Blue Book, its own 22-year investigation into unidentified flying objects back in December 1969.

During this hearing, Rep. Mike Gallagher point blank questions USDI&S Ronald Moultrie and Scott W. Bray Acting Director of Naval Intelligence on the existence of UAP reverse engineering programs. They deny knowledge of any such programs, at least in terms of "official programs that we have on the record". Full transcript available here.

May (date unknown):
After providing confidential UAP-related information to the DoD IG in July of 2021, Grusch claims he has been experiencing unjustified reprisals – including the cancellation, delay, denial, and/or obstruction of compartmented accesses to other IC elements as well as various other (more personal) retaliations and threats. Nevertheless, he maintained his security-clearances from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) at this time.

To deal with this, the former Inspector General of the Intelligence Community (IC IG) Charles McCullough III files a Disclosure of Urgent Concern(s); Complaint of Reprisal on behalf of David Grusch with current IC IG Thomas Monheim.

The complaint requests the IC IG to fulfill Mr. Grusch's desire to directly communicate the specifics of his 'UAP-related Urgent Concern(s)' to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The complaint also requests the IC IG initiate a whistleblower reprisal investigation, essentially to formally investigate the harassment Mr. Grusch believes he has faced. (Link)

July:
Thomas Monheim, the current IC IG, finds David Grusch's May 2022 complaint “credible and urgent”. A summary was immediately submitted to the Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines; the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

July 15:
Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, in coordination with the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), amended her original direction to the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security by renaming and expanding the scope of the Airborne Object Identification and Management Group (AOIMSG) to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO).

Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick, most recently the chief scientist at the Defense Intelligence Agency's Missile and Space Intelligence Center, is named the director of AARO.

October:
The NASA's Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) Independent Study Team is assembled and chaired by David Spergel to recommend a roadmap for UAP data analysis by NASA and other organizations.

December 23:
Biden signs the FY2023 National Defense Authorization Act into law. Notably – SEC. 1673 includes comprehensive UAP reporting procedures and whistleblower protections. (Link)

December (date unknown):
David Grusch provides separate (multi-hour) testimonies in a Secure Compartmentalised Information Facility (SCIF) to the General Counsels of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Allegedly with committee lawyers and an Inspector General representative, but no Senators present during the testimony, according to sources familiar with the matter. (Rubio confirmation)
Note – Grusch testified to the occurrence of these briefing under oath during the July 26 2023 UAP Hearing.

Jan 12:
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence releases its (unclassified) 2022 Annual Report on UAP, which indicates the US government has received over 350 new reports of “unidentified aerial phenomenon” (commonly known as UFOs) since March of 2021 – roughly half of which were still unexplained at the time of publishing.

“Some of these uncharacterized UAP appear to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities and require further analysis,” the report found.

Feb 10-12:
The U.S. military shoots down three unidentified flying objects over a three-day period (Feb 10-12) following the confirmed downing of a Chinese spy balloon that had invaded American airspace on Feb 4 (Link)

Feb 10:
A UFO is shot down over Alaskan waters. The object was first detected on Feb 9, and its trajectory was heading for the North Pole. After it was shot down by a US fighter jet, a Defense Department official clarified that the object broke into pieces when it hit the frozen waters, indicating it was most likely not a balloon. A White House official stated the object was the size of a small car. As of August 2023, no debris was ever officially reported to have been recovered.

Feb 11:
A UFO is shot down over the Yukon Territory, which borders Alaska. Canadian and U.S. aircraft were scrambled to intercept the UFO (which was described by Canadian officials as 'cylindrical and smaller than the spy balloon') and a U.S. F-22 successfully fired at the object. Recovery efforts were initiated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

Feb 12:
A UFO is shot down over Lake Huron. The object first appeared over Montana on Feb. 11 , and was ultimately shot down the next day over Lake Huron, Michigan. The object, was flying at about 20,000 feet, and was characterised as having an octagonal structure with strings hanging off it but had no discernible payload, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

Feb 17:
The United States and Canada called off their efforts to recover the remains of the objects that were shot down, and no debris from any of the three objects was ever officially reported to have been recovered. As of August 2023, no photos/videos of these three objects have been made public, unlike in the case of the Chinese spy balloon shot down on Feb 4.

March 7:
In a draft paper dated March 7, Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, head of the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, and Harvard professor Avi Loeb teamed up to write that UAP, which appear to defy all physics, could be “probes” from an extraterrestrial “parent craft.”

Avi Loeb has previously hypothesized that interstellar objects such as the cigar-shaped “Oumuamua” (spotted flying through the galaxy in 2017 by scientists) could be such a "parent craft".

More than half of the five-page paper is devoted to the discussion of the possibility that the unexplained objects the DoD is studying could be “probes” in a mothership scenario. One section is titled: “The Extraterrestrial Possibility” and another “Propulsion Methods.”

April 4-6:
David Grusch provides the Defense Department’s Office of Prepublication and Security Review (DOPSR) the information he intends to disclose publicly, and it is subsequently “cleared for open publication” on April 4 and 6, 2023

April 7:
David Grusch officially resigns from the US Government.

April 19:
Dr. Kirkpatrick testified before members of the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services, and indicated "AARO has found no credible evidence thus far of extraterrestrial activity, off-world technology, or objects that defy the known laws of physics". He also mentioned that a large number of cases remain technically unresolved, but that this is primarily due to a lack of data associated with these cases.

April 21:
Leaders from across the U.S. intelligence community attend an unprecedented national security briefing at Wright Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB). Among those in attendance are Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Avril Haines, CIA director William Burns, Gen. Paul Nakasone, director of the National Security Agency (NSA) and Central Security Service chief, as well as several members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Reps. Himes and Turner said the purpose is to ensure that intelligence officials are knowledgeable of activities occurring at WPAFB, which houses both the National Space Intelligence Center (NSIC) and National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC).

May 19:
Daniel Sheehan (an attorney for a number of UAP-related projects and clients) name-drops David Grusch in an interview with the Debrief. This ultimately, according to Ross Coulthart, prompted Grusch to expedite releasing the story (Link)

May 31:
NASA holds its first public meeting on UAP – a year after launching a study into unexplained sightings. A final report detailing the conclusions from their panel of experts was expected to be released by the end of July.

During this May 31 NASA meeting, Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick from the Pentagon's UAP office indicates nearly half of the 800+ reports his team has collected have been of "spherical" and "metallic" orbs. As an example, Kirkpatrick demonstrates a July 2022 video of a round object observed by an American military drone flying over an undisclosed location in the Middle East. According to Kirkpatrick at the time, this object is still officially unidentified.

Overall, officials emphasized that they have yet to find firm evidence that links UAP with otherworldly life.

May:
Dr. Kirkpatrick – director of the Pentagon's UFO research program – hosts a May 2023 forum for Five Eyes intelligence partners, as confirmed by Canadian Military officials. (Link)

• David Grusch’s story is reported by The Debrief on June 5th 2023. In this story, the former intelligence official turned whistleblower indicates that he has given Congress and the Intelligence Community Inspector General extensive classified information about deeply covert programs that he says possess retrieved craft of non-human origin.
  
  He claims this information has been illegally withheld from Congress, and has also filed a complaint alleging he suffered illegal retaliation for his prior confidential disclosures.
  
• Whistleblower David Grusch sits down with investigative journalist Ross Coulthart for an interview with NewsNation, where he reiterates his claims regarding NHI, multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse engineering programs, and a long-standing governmental disinformation campaign to keep the secret under wraps.
  
  The interview was first announced on June 6th 2023, and was aired in full on June 11th 2023. (Original NewsNation snippet), (Full interview)
  
  A more extensive summary of David Grusch's background and claims can be found here.

July 13:
a bipartisan group of Senators propose a comprehensive plan to accelerate the disclosure of all U.S. government records associated with reports of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) and potential lifeforms that demonstrate “non-human intelligence.", through a 64-page amendment to the FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This amendment is titled the "UAP Disclosure Act of 2023".

The amendment is sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and backed by Senators Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Kristen Gillibrand, (D-N.Y.), and Marco Rubio, (R-Fla.) amongst others.

A summary of this expansive Amendment can be viewed here.

July 20:
In an exclusive interview with ABC News,  Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick (head of the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office - AARO) says that being caught off guard by "intelligent or extraterrestrial technical supremacy" remains a top concern. This statement was later corrected to "intelligent or extraterrestrial technical surprise" instead.

However, when asked about whistleblower David Grusch's allegations, Dr. Kirkpatrick reiterates that he has yet to receive any verifiable information to substantiate the claims.

July 26:
Whistleblower David Grusch appears before the House Oversight Committee's national security subcommittee, alongside two former fighter pilots (David Fravor and Ryan Graves) who had firsthand experience with UAPs.

David Grusch testified to the existence of a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse engineering program operating without any Congressional oversight. In his capacity as a representative on two Pentagon task forces investigating UAPs until earlier this year, his claims are based on interviews with officials who allegedly have direct knowledge of aircraft with "nonhuman" origins, and of so-called "biologics" recovered from some craft.

David Fravor and Ryan Graves testified to their personal experiences with UAP as former fighter pilots in the U.S. Navy.

Members of both parties were also keenly eager to understand how Congress should go about investigating the remarkable allegations, reflecting a willingness by lawmakers to demand the executive branch be more forthcoming about UAP.

The key takeaways from this hearing can be viewed here.

July 27:
The United States Senate passes the FY24 NDAA (including the UAP-related Amendment), by a broad, bipartisan vote of 86-11.

Reps. Gaetz, Luna, Burchett and Moskowitz formally request Speaker McCarthy to set-up a select committee on UAP with subpoena authorities to get to the bottom of Grusch's allegations.

July 27-28:
A few days after the congressional hearing on UAP – Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, head of the Pentagon/DoD's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), posts a statement on his personal LinkedIn. He makes it clear the statement reflects his own views only.

He states "a rational person watching the hearing [...might] conclude that AARO has been ineffective, non-transparent, and delinquent in its legislated mission." He expresses his disappointment at what he considers the denigration of AARO's team during the July 26 UAP Hearing.

He reiterates that AARO has yet to find any credible evidence to support the allegations of any reverse engineering programs for non-human technology, and claims none of the whistleblowers have ever worked for/been representatives to AARO. These statements diametrically oppose various claims made under oath by David Grusch during the congressional hearing.

The statement was later deleted from his LinkedIn profile.

August 8:
Ross Coulthart, the investigative journalist who interviewed whistleblower David Grusch for NewsNation, publishes a statement on David Grusch's behalf on Twitter/X.

“It has come to my attention that The Intercept intends to publish an article about two incidents in 2014 and 2018 that highlights previous personal struggles I had with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Grief and Depression,” the statement reads.

“As I stated under oath in my congressional testimony, over 40 credentialed intelligence and military personnel provided myself and my colleagues the information I transmitted to the Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG) and I took the leadership role to represent the concerns of these distinguished and patriotic individuals.”

August 9:
The Intercept publishes an article detailing David Grusch's struggles with PTSD and alleged substance abuse issues, informed by publicly available law enforcement records obtained under a routine FOIA request.

The article highlights that Mr. Grusch maintained his security clearances despite two mental health-related incidents (in 2014 and 2018). In the 2018 incident, Grusch was placed under an emergency custody order after making drunken suicidal statements, and was taken to a local emergency room where a mental health specialist requested a magistrate issue a temporary detention order.

In a Twitter/X Spaces interview soon after publication, the article's author (Ken Klippenstein) states that his research was informed by intelligence officials that he describes as "...kind of like Grusch. [My sources] are like GS-15s".

In reference to these intelligence sources he goes on to state "I guess you can say [the story] was planted because I was talking to people and getting a rough idea what he was like, I guess that's true." Klippenstein clarified the information was not leaked illegally, as was previously suggested by Ross Coulthart.

August 15:
The Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (DoD OIG) released a classified report on its “Evaluation of the DoD’s Actions Regarding Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP).” The DoD OIG will release an unclassified overview of the report at a later date.

August 17:
The Hill convened lawmakers and experts to provide analysis and answer questions about possible national security risks with regards to UAP. The event can be viewed in full here.

Key takeaways and notable quotes from the event:

• "If we are reverse engineering technology based on stuff that has crash landed here from other civilizations, we can't just tell the American people that's not true forever. The American people deserve to know...The idea that there's 170 UAP incidents that we can't describe. I don't actually think that's true. I think we can describe them. I just think we're unwilling to" – Rep. Moskowitz (D)
  
• "I think we [Congress] should try to get into one of these places [housing UAP evidence]...and if they won't let us in I think we should have a field hearing right outside the building...and the military will have to explain why that is." – Rep. Moskowitz (D)
  
• Members of Congress are working on the appointment of a select committee with subpoena authorities to get to the bottom of the allegations, and overcome the stonewalling they have faced thus far.
  
• Hearing out many of David Grusch's whistleblower claims in full detail requires what is known as a SCIF, due to the sensitive and confidential nature of the evidence. Members of Congress are working on establishing the requirements to facilitate such a SCIF, and claim they have faced significant resistance from a variety of elements within the U.S. government in achieving this aim.
  
• There has been an uptick in reported UAP sightings from commercial pilots, according to Ryan Graves. This may be due to a decrease in stigma, better systems to collect reports, and/or an actual increase in UAP activity.
  
• The importance of getting data and tangible evidence to corroborate claims is of utmost importance, reiterates Greg Eghigian

August 21:
Following the allegations made under oath by David Grusch – Reps. Burchett, Luna, Moskowitz, Burlison, Mace, and Ogles signed and submitted a letter to Thomas Monheim, the current Intelligence Community Inspector General. The letter requests answers to the following questions:

1. Which intelligence community members, positions, facilities, military bases, or other actors are involved with UAP crash retrieval programs, directly or indirectly
2. Which intelligence community members, positions, facilities, military bases, or other actors are involved with UAP reverse engineering programs, directly or indirectly

Note – David Grusch allegedly provided this information to the IC IG back in June of 2022.

August 22:
Rep. Mike Turner appeared on a Fox News segment and was questioned about David Grusch's explosive allegations. He vehemently denies the veracity of Grusch's claims, saying – "I always love it when you have somebody who comes forward and testifies about things they don't know anything about."

The host bluntly asks whether aliens are on Earth or not, to which he replies – "Maria..there..there..I certainly can't tell you there are no aliens here, I can tell you that certainly there's no evidence, that what [Grusch] is testifying about [...] he has no direct knowledge of".

No mention was made of the 40 witnesses Grusch testified to having interviewed, and who informed and corroborated his eventual conclusions.

Link to full Fox News snippet (video)

August 23:
New Jersey's Chris Christie prioritises transparency on UAP in 1st Republican Presidential Debate

During the first Republican Presidential Primary Debate, the former Governor of New Jersey was asked about the president's responsibility in terms of providing the American public with the truth about the UFO topic.

Christie was a good sport about the unexpected topic that was specifically lobbed at him, and ultimately emphasised the importance of transparency– "The job of the president of the United States is to level with the American people about everything. The job of the president of the United States is to stand for truth".

(Link to coverage)

August 26-27:
Reps. Andre Carson and Tim Burchett make an appearance at MUFON's 2023 International Symposium to publicly discuss the topic of UAP.

Congressmen Andre Carson and Tim Burchett made an appearance at MUFON's 2023 international symposium event on UAP.

The event was not publicly streamed.

August 29:
Recent pilot UFO sightings collected by NASA reveal serious safety concerns regarding objects in US airspace. These reports, submitted to NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System, describe encounters with unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) in U.S. airspace, underscoring ongoing safety worries regarding these mysterious aerial objects. Link for more information.

August 30:
Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks moved to personally oversee the Pentagon’s unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) investigation team formally known as the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). She will now hold regular meetings with AARO’s inaugural director, Sean Kirkpatrick — who has been repositioned to report directly to her from now on.

Hicks had the following to say on the UAP topic – “The department takes UAP seriously because UAP are a potential national security threat. They also pose safety risks, and potentially endanger our personnel, our equipment and bases, and the security of our operations. DOD is focusing through AARO to better understand UAP, and improve our capabilities to detect, collect, analyze and eventually resolve UAP to prevent strategic surprise and protect our forces, our operations, and our nation." Link for more information

August 31:
The DoD launched a website dedicated to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), offering the public information on AARO's efforts to understand and address unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). The website will feature declassified photos and videos of resolved UAP cases, reporting trends, FAQs, official reports, transcripts, and useful resources, such as relevant statutes and tracking sites. While the website is currently but a small step towards transparency – aiming to encourage existing reporting mechanisms for service members and government employees – they have plans to announce a reporting mechanism for the general public soon as well. Link for more information

September 1:
Multiple U.S. intelligence and defense sources have informed Liberation Times that the Pentagon's UAP office is actively collecting and analyzing materials of unknown origin related to an alleged UAP event.

September 5th:
A classified UAP memo provided to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau is revealed to the public. Obtained through a freedom of information request, the heavily redacted document offers a glimpse into how the Canadian government responded to the unidentified object that was detected and shot down over northern Canada's Yukon territory on Feb. 11.

The confidential memo reveals that the Yukon incident marked the 23rd 'UAP' occurrence tracked over North America in early 2023.

September 7th:
Senator Mike Rounds confirms he met with Dr. Kirkpatrick (head of Pentagon's UAP office, AARO) to discuss reforming whistleblower protection. He met with Dr. Kirkpatrick because they have heard from representatives of other potential UAP whistleblowers that want to come forward, who may currently feel uncomfortable coming forward to AARO without added protections to the whistleblower legislation. Link for more

September 14th:
NASA hosts a UAP press conference to discuss the findings of its UAP Independent Study Report. The independent study team’s overall recommendation for NASA from its report is that the agency can play a prominent role in the government’s effort to understand UAP by furthering the study and data collection of UAP.

“The top takeaway from the study is that there is a lot more to learn. The NASA study did not find any evidence that UAP have an extraterrestrial origin, but we don’t know what these UAP are.” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

September 14th:
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna confirms there will be more public UAP hearings in the near future, while a Select Committee remains out of reach

September 20th:
The Department of Defense officially confirmed to Liberation Times that the US Air Force has submitted a report about an incident involving an unknown object that occurred earlier this year to AARO. This incident was previously introduced into the public record by Rep. Gaetz during the July 26 UAP Hearing. AARO will look to publish a public report on the incident, once cleared.

–––

For a more granular overview of events in September, check out these Weekly Updates – Update #3, Update#4, Update #5, Update #6, Update #7 (check back tomorrow...)

October 1st:
The Dailywire published a concise summary of recent developments in the UAP disclosure space, and received a strong new statement on the topic from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fl):

“I support full disclosure of UAP incidents and encounters because the United States government is not being honest with the American people. I’m going to continue fighting in conference to keep language in the Disclosure Act that achieves nothing less than full disclosure.”

October 7th:
Danny Sheehan, a constitutional and public interest lawyer, public speaker, political activist and educator, appeared in a new interview with Vinnie Adams, and elaborates on the fact that his New Paradigm Institute (part of the the 501(c)(3) Romero Institute) has collaborated with a variety of other independent organisations to come up with a consensus list of 9 primary nominees for the Review Board, , as its defined in the UAP Disclosure Act of 2023. (summary + overview of definitions here if you need a refresher). For context – Sheehan's "The New Paradigm Institute" has been designated as one of the agencies authorized to nominate people to this Review Board.

In the interview he only mentions two of their primary nominees by name:

• John Podesta: former WH chief of staff to Clinton, counselor to Obama, chairman of Hillary's presidential campaign etc....
• Leon Panetta: former Secretary of Defense (2011–2013), director of the CIA (2009–2011), White House Chief of Staff (1994–1997), director of the Office of Management and Budget (1993–1994), and U.S. Representative from California

October 18th:
Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, head of the Pentagon's UAP office (AARO), had some new statements published in a CNN article that came out a few hours before the release of AARO's 2023 consolidated Annual Report on UAP. About half of the UAP-related reports contain enough data that they can be ruled out as “mundane things,” such as errant balloons or floating trash, Kirkpatrick said, but 2-4% are truly anomalous and require further investigation.

When asked to speak on Grusch's claims, Kirkpatrick demurred – saying he has “no evidence that suggests anything extraterrestrial in nature. If anybody thinks that they know where those things are, they should be coming to talk to us. That’s why we have set up this entire architecture for people to securely come in and talk to us.”

It is currently unclear whether the term 'extraterrestrial' encapsulates the full spectrum of Non-Human Intelligence, as defined in the UAP Disclosure Act of 2023.

October 26th:
Members of the House Oversight Committee held a private briefing (in a SCIF) with the DoD Inspector General to discuss UAP-related matters. For reference – whistleblower David Grusch provided UAP-related testimony to the office of the DoD IG back in July 2021.

Following the session, various Representatives were outspoken in their view that the session was "pointless" (Rep. Luna), even going so far as "One of the most worthless classified briefings I’ve ever attended." (Rep. Mace).

Notably – Rep. Eric Burlison made the following statement: "What it appears to be is somebody has discovered something—some advanced form of propulsion or technology—that may actually change all of our lives". It seems likely that he was freely speculating here, rather than openly discussing the contents of a classified briefing.

Ultimately, it seems many of the Congresspeople in attendance lacked the requisite clearances to be fully read into the DoD IG's information on the topic. Rep. Mace indicated the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) or the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) may be better suited to pursue this type of information.

November 2:
On February 1st – three days before a Chinese spy balloon appeared over the U.S. – an unidentified object was seen over the Arctic Circle, with fighter jets being sent to take the object down, sources told NewsNation.

The defense and intelligence sources said 8-9 UAPs were detected over the Arctic Circle, and fighter jets were sent up in an unsuccessful attempt to intercept them.

NORAD admitted it had aircraft flying in the area but that they were returning to home bases as part of a training operation.

November 3:
According to sources that spoke to the DailyMail, a candidate 'short list' to replace Dr. Kirkpatrick at the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) has been interviewed.

'He's out at the end of the year — and that's a big deal,' Daniel Sheehan told the Dailymail.

In an exit interview with Politico, Dr. Kirkpatrick confirms he will be stepping down by the end of the year. He also reiterated his claims that David Grusch has repeatedly avoided speaking with AARO.

November 9:
In a recent interview with Askapol, Rep. Eric Burlison confirmed Members of Congress have been working to overcome some of the barriers they faced in their briefing with the DoD IG.

He goes on to say – “This time around, there's no reason why they cannot give us access to the Grusch report, so I want to be able to read the Grusch report directly."

November 17-19th:
The SOL Foundation held its first annual conference at Stanford University on November 17-19, 2023. Covering everything from the scientific study of UAP data to philosophical questions raised by it to related global security issues, the meeting brought together Avi Loeb, Charles McCullough, Cristopher Mellon, Garry Nolan, Jacques Vallée, and other leading academic and government voices on UAP.

Perhaps most notably, retired Col. Karl Nell was also one of the guest speakers. Nell was one of the individuals who corroborated Grusch's UAP whistleblower claims in the original Debrief coverage. Several commentators have speculated Nell may also be in the running to serve as Dr. Kirkpatrick's successor to lead AARO.

While details of the event are scarce (as there was no live-stream), an image from Karl Nell's presentation was leaked on X. It covers Nell's view on a possible official Disclosure campaign trajectory. Click here for a reconstruction of that slide.

November 21st:
US Space Force wants to track 'abnormal observables' with unknown origins in Earth's orbit. As covered on Space.com:

The Space Force's Space Training and Readiness Command, or STARCOM, which is tasked with educating and training U.S. Space Force personnel, recently published a document titled "Space Doctrine Publication 3-100, Space Domain Awareness" that outlines what space domain awareness (SDA) is and how to establish and maintain it.

Most of the document describes the need to maintain a safe environment by monitoring and tracking [known/prosaic objects..]. However, the document goes on to note that operating safely in space also requires "the ability to rapidly identify and respond to threats and hazards, including objects that exhibit abnormal observables and patterns of life and cannot be correlated to any owner or point of origin."

November 28th:
CIA's secret office has conducted UFO retrieval missions on at least NINE crash sites around the world, whistleblowers reveal

Matt Ford, Christopher Sharp, and Josh Boswell collaborated on a story that first appeared in the DailyMail, which – based on claims from unnamed sources familiar with the matter – alleges that the CIA's Office of Global Access (OGA) has played a central role in collecting Non-Human Technology/Craft since 2003. The sources go on to claim that at least nine 'non-human craft' have been recovered by the US government – some wrecked from a crash, and two completely intact.

December 4th:
Appearing before the Senate to discuss ongoing negotiations related to the NDAA, Sen. Schumer – one of the main sponsors of the UAP Disclosure Act – accuses House Republicans of actively seeking to "kill this bipartisan provision". This echoes a variety of claims that started to emerge in the last week of November 2023, suggesting that a small cadre of key Republican leaders were working to ensure the UAP Disclosure Act language would not be adopted into the final NDAA bill.

December 5th:
Following his statements on Dec. 4th, Sen. Chuck Schumer also took to X to say the following:

"House Republicans are trying to kill the Senate's bipartisan measure to increase transparency around UAPS.

The measure I’m championing with Sen. Rounds would create a board to work through the declassification of government records on UAPs.

We'll keep working to get this done."

December 7th:
The final 2024 NDAA Conference Report has been published, providing insight into the UAP-related language that will be included in the final reconciled version of the 2024 NDAA. (See Subtitle C, Secs. 1841-1843, Sec 7343, Sec 1687).

"The conference agreement includes only the requirements to establish a government-wide UAP records collection; to transfer records to the collection; and to review the records for disclosure decisions under a set of authorized grounds for postponing disclosure. The agreement does not include the provisions that would establish an independent Review Board, a Review Board staff, eminent domain authority, or a controlled disclosure process." (Page 2803)

December 13th:
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) conducted a colloquy (a scripted conversation, essentially) with Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) on UAPs and the importance of advancing bipartisan legislation to increase government transparency and oversight in the NDAA. You can read the full transcript here.

"We have also been notified by multiple credible sources that information on UAPs has also been withheld from Congress, which if true is a violation of laws requiring full notification to the legislative branch – especially as it relates to the four congressional leaders, the defense committees, and the intelligence committee." - Sen. Schumer

"...probably the most significant shortcomings [...of] the conference committee agreement that are now being voted on were the rejection, first of all, of a government-wide review board composed of expert citizens, presidentially appointed and Senate confirmed, to control the process of reviewing the records and recommending to the President what records should be released immediately or postponed, and a requirement as a transparency measure for the government to obtain any recovered UAP material or biological remains that may have been provided to private entities in the past and thereby hidden from Congress and the American people. We are lacking oversight opportunities, and we are not fulfilling our responsibilities." - Sen. Rounds

December 14th:
Retired Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet appeared for an interview with Ross Coulthart to stress (what he believes) to be an urgent need to disclose the reality that 'we are not alone'. He discusses the motivations for a cover-up, the fact that the public will likely never hear the full story, as well as his own experience dealing administratively with a reported UAP incident.

December 22nd:
President Biden signed the NDAA FY24 into law and released an accompanying statement, which called out one of the UAP provisions (amongst others) specifically as a potential point of concern.

Jan 4th:
Dr. Eric Davis clarified (on Facebook, no less), saying:

"I interacted with Dave Grusch from 2020-22 as part of my job. I was one of his classified ICIG whistleblower complaint witnesses because he got the breadcrumbs from me and a close colleague on where to find the UAP C/R program. So Dave Grusch heard no rumors. He used his access to the special security system to locate and talk to the industry C/R program personnel face-to-face."

Jan 12th:
The ICIG provides members of the House Oversight Committee with a UAP-related briefing.

Contrary to prior expectations, the attendees of this confidential briefing were mostly pleased with the level of transparency from the ICIG (vs. some of their previous briefings, with the DoDIG amongst others...). It was apparently a small, but positive step in the right direction.

At least 16 House Representatives attended the session, and the key takeaways (based on their public statements) are as follows:

• Grusch's credibility as a witness/whistleblower has been confirmed
• many of Grusch's claims seem to be worthy of further investigation
• locations/private contractors/government actors and agencies have been identified for follow-ups, with field hearings to be hosted imminently
• the UAP topic is no longer a fringe topic, but a matter of urgent national concern

There were a lot of statements made (so be on the look-out for a dedicated post on this topic, coming soon!)...but for now:

• a selection of notable quotes
• full video of all statements made by various Reps following the session (via UFOB)

Jan 19th:
Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, former head of AARO (the Pentagon's UFO office), publishes a scathing op-ed: "Here’s What I Learned as the U.S. Government’s UFO Hunter"

In an op-ed published on Scientific American, Dr. Kirkpatrick reiterates that:

"the Pentagon has found no evidence of aliens, only allegations circulated repeatedly by UFO claim advocates".

He suggests whistleblowers are either misguided/unsubstantiated, and once again confirms Volume 1 of AARO's historical review will be published soon:

"One of my last acts before retiring was to sign AARO’s Historical Record Report Volume 1, which is currently being prepared for delivery to Congress and the public. The report demonstrates that many of the circulating allegations described above derive from inadvertent or unauthorized disclosures of legitimate U.S. programs or related R&D that have nothing to do with extraterrestrial issues or technology. Some are misrepresentations, and some derive from pure, unsupported beliefs."

Notably, he doesn't call out Grusch by name, nor does he make mention of the recent bipartisan transparency efforts (e.g. the UAPDA). The article does not reflect on some of AARO's (and Dr. K's own) UAP-related admissions about (for example) observing "metallic orbs" in many locations "all over the world".

Jan 26th:
The DoDIG publishes the unclassified summary of the 'Evaluation of the DoD's Actions Regarding UAP' report. The report provides an unclassified summary of its findings and recommendations. The overall message of the report was that:

“DoD OIG also found that the DoD’s lack of a comprehensive, coordinated approach to address UAP may pose a threat to military forces and national security”

Notably, AARO was already established during the scope of this evaluation – which calls into question how effective they have been in stimulating an inter-agency approach.

The report also includes a historical review of various Pentagon UAP programs from the past (e.g. AAWSAP), and can be viewed in full here.

Feb 5th:
During a plenary session on the 5th of February, that covered various topics around space, MEP Francisco Guerreiro referenced ongoing UAP-related activities in the US, saying:

"it is fundamental that the EU Commission includes, in the European Space Law, a program to collect data on UAPs as well as the scientific body to analyze these events in a transparent and public way”

Feb 19th:
As required by the UAP-related legislation included in the 2024 NDAA (handy overview of the relevant sections here), the Archivist of the United States is required to start collecting and publishing records that "pertain to unidentified anomalous phenomena, technologies of unknown origin, and non-human intelligence."

Feb 21st:
Rep. Moskowitz on potential for UAP field hearing: "We did get some locations in the classified briefing that are fascinating"

Mar 1st:
Mona Nemer, the Canadian government's top scientific advisor, says her office will release a public UFO report by early fall:

"I think our report is going to be quite fascinating on the historic front, so stay tuned"

Mar 1st:
Speaking to Project Unity in a YouTube interview, Rep. Ogles speculated on the technological capabilities displayed by certain UAP incidents, and questioned what impact this may have on the global economy/energy sector.

“They seem to have some sort of propulsion technology that’s unknown to man as we understand it. What does that do to the energy sector?”