Plans for new UAP office pass Congress
In addition to providing about $2 billion for New Mexico military facilities and Department of Energy sites, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 contains another section that could interest some in the area.
An amendment co-sponsored by Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-Albuquerque) to establish a new office to gather and analyze information on unidentified aerial objects, or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), has been included in the final bill to be considered by President Joe Biden.
The House passed the legislation on Sept. 23. The Senate version, which included the UAP amendment, passed the Senate Dec. 16.
The bill would provide for a 2.7% pay increase for military service members and for civilian workers for the U.S. Department of Defense.
It also would provide $1 billion for plutonium research at Los Alamos National Laboratory; $4.58 billion for National Nuclear Security Administration activities at Sandia National Laboratories; $338 million for environmental cleanup at both labs; $430 million for operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in the Carlsbad area; $5.6 million for a gate construction project at Kirkland Air Force Base; $5.28 billion for a facility for the Space Rapid Capabilities Office at Kirtland; $5 million for dormitories at Cannon Air Force Base; $6 million for a deployment processing center at Cannon; $2 million for a facility at Kirtland for testing radar detection technology; $810,000 for a pararescue training school site at Kirtland; $5 million for hypersonic testing at White Sands Missile Range; $29 million for a missile assembly support facility at White Sands; and $175 million for cleanup of PFAS chemicals at Kirtland and Holloman.
The impetus for the new office came after the Office of the Director of National Intelligence presented a report to Congress on unidentified aerial objects in June.
Heinrich said at the time that he wanted to see more efforts to coordinate information collection and analysis.
“It’s time to stop sweeping these unexplained sightings under the rug. We need to devote real resources and take a unified approach to gathering data and understanding UAPs — especially given the national security implications,” he said. “The American people deserve transparency. And the federal government needs to be able to explain what is happening in our skies.”
The new office would have access to information about UAP reports from the Department of Defense and the U.S. intelligence community.
The office would be administered jointly between the Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence and would be required to give both public and classified reports to Congress on a regular basis.
It also would be asked to look into how foreign nations or groups that threaten the U.S. might be involved with UAPs. The office also would establish a plan for testing hypothesis about UAP based on reports or evidence and would create a central repository for keeping information that is gathered.
