Last updated on July 1st, 2024 at 05:06 pm
Eleventh Hour Opposition to Disclosure Legislation Emerges in Congress By Maureen Richmond
Analysis and Opinion by
Maureen Richmond, Ph.D., F.I.
As those who follow the UFO topic know, the year 2023 has proven a turning point like
few others. A dramatic departure from a past in which neither Congress nor the media
indulged in significant discussion of the UFO topic, 2023 has been a year of
breathtaking advances toward the disclosure of long-concealed information.
The glaring shift in atmosphere stunned and encouraged the UFO community, itself
eager to share mountains of information on UFO sightings and encounters painstakingly
gathered for more than 75 years. As 2023 unfolded, disclosure more than ever seemed
feasible, if not downright imminent.Once begun, the timeline of events significant to the disclosure movement unfolded
rapidly.
In May, NASA held a public meeting on the UAP topic. Gone were the days of ridicule,
said NASA. In an atypical turn, NASA formally took the position that indeed the question
of UAP was now to be regarded as a legitimate matter of scientific inquiry. The nation’s
premier space agency would accordingly apply itself, reporting its findings willingly and
openly to the public. That reversal of policy was enough to capture the attention of
many, but there was more to come.
In June, the world was rocked by the history-making expose written by journalists Leslie
Kean and Ralph Blumenthal, the investigative journalism team which brought to light the
story of former intelligence officer David Grusch and his allegations of UFO crash,
retrieval, and reverse engineering programs operating secretively in government and
industry.
The very next month saw the proposal of the UAP Disclosure Act of 2023, also known
as the Schumer-Rounds Amendment, which called for surprisingly strict controls over
government UAP programs, including the right of the government to invoke eminent
domain over retrieved UAP materials held by private industry and the power of UAP
regulatory bodies to issue subpoenas. Defensescoops published an incisive analysis of
the proposed legislation, stating that if passed, the amendment “could mark the
beginning of a stretch of new and historic hearings on the topic.” Senate Majority Leader
Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, made an impassioned plea in favor of UAP disclosure, as
documented here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLcK6sr9ngs
Then, in the same month, precedent was shattered into a million shards when eye-
popping claims were made in Congressional hearings where three former military
officers under oath divulged shocking facts about the prevalence, power, and long-
standing presence of UAP in U.S. air and water space.
Reeling in sheer astonishment, the UFO community marveled at the American version
of UAP glasnost which seemed to have overtaken public discourse. A cautious
optimism spread through discussions of government UAP policy in online forums,
podcasts, and conferences.
But much of the hoped-for goodness would depend on the passage of the proposed
legislation. An amendment attached to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2024,
the Schumer-Rounds Amendment stood to be passed as part of the annual package of
military spending disbursements customarily approved at the end of the year. Support
for this military spending package containing the disclosure provisions was strong on
both sides of aisle. Democrats and Republicans converged on the importance of
Constitutionally-mandated Congressional oversight, which outranked any political
differences of opinion.
As a result, some observers thought the entire legislative package would go through
without a hitch. So said the progressive news outlet Politico, as did historian of the UFO
movement, Richard Dolan. Similarly, civil rights attorney and UFO disclosure leader
Daniel Sheehan confidently stated in public appearances that the Schumer-Rounds
Amendment would become law. Sheehan then penned an eloquent appeal to Congress
urging passage, which can be seen at:
https://www.einpresswire.com/article/667429726/the-new-paradigm-institute-calls-on-
house-senate-conferees-to-pass-the-uap-ufo-disclosure-act
The prospects seemed downright rosy. Some enthusiasts of UAP studies experienced a
mild euphoria, hoping that perhaps the long anticipated moment of disclosure had
come. Then, while the nation was occupied with family and friends over the
Thanksgiving holiday, the magical spell of impending disclosure was cruelly broken.
News dropped that key Republicans had withdrawn their support for Schumer-Rounds,
specifically opposing the subpoena and eminent domain provisions. The Liberation
Times of November 24 was one of the first to report the bad news.
https://www.liberationtimes.com/home/black-friday-republican-leadership-takes-axe-to-
ufo-transparency-legislation
Partisan political sentiment, however, is not necessarily to blame for this sudden and
untoward development. Instead, the real culprit here is much more likely to be the
power of the defense and aerospace lobby, as leading UFO figure and scientist Gary
Nolan and UFO journalist Ross Coulthart pointed out in this clip from the November 27
episode of Jack Connor’s podcast, Cosmic Road:
Financial contributions impacting the individual politicians behind the resistance to UAP
disclosure have been admirably detailed by Micah Hanks in a November 27 article at
The Debrief, here:
https://thedebrief.org/uap-disclosure-act-receives-pushback-from-lawmakers-on-capitol-
hill-as-bipartisan-fight-for-transparency-continues/
As The Debrief article demonstrates, contributions to political campaigns made by
leading defense and aerospace companies figure large in the motivations of the prime
movers on the Republican side who in late November 2023 find themselves resisting
the passage of the UAP Disclosure Act of 2023.
The Democrat side fares not much better. The author of the UAP Disclosure Act himself
is under much the same hypnotic thrall. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has
deep ties with defense and aerospace giant, Lockheed Martin, with whom he arranged
a lucrative business deal in the state of New York in June of 2023, as reported on the
Senate newsroom website.
https://www.schumer.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/schumer-announces-
major-new-partnership-between-globalfoundries-and-lockheed-martin-to-secure-
americas-defense-semiconductor-supply-chain_spurred-by-his-chips-and-
science-act-senator-says-made-in-ny-chips-will-now-bolster-national-security-
keeping-country-safe-ensuring-upstate-ny-continues-to-lead-the-microchip-
industry
Given these basic realities of political life, it’s apparent where the problem lies. The
provisions of the UAP Disclosure Act of 2023 fly in the face of corporate interests
stubbornly harbored by defense and aerospace industries, who are now fighting tooth
and nail against the provisions in the original language of the disclosure legislation.
Interestingly, in vigorously objecting to the eminent domain and subpoena provisions of
the disclosure legislation, these very same industries have laid all their cards face up on
the table. Had they nothing to hide, they’d have no reason to object. But, object they do,
obstreperously. The implication is obvious. Contrary to what they’d like the public to
believe, some of these corporate entities clearly own and hold the very materials and
information the possession of which they so staunchly refuse to admit. In a roundabout
way, the resistance lobby has thus inadvertently confirmed suspicions long held by the
UFO community.
The trepidation experienced by defense and aerospace companies in the face of
impending UAP disclosure thus stands behind the eleventh hour scrimmage over the
Schumer-Rounds Amendment. Threatened with the prospect of having to reveal secrets
they’ve held for years and from which they’ve likely profited handsomely, corporate
entities have clenched their jaws and tightened their vise grips on politicians likely to
acquiesce to their demands.
Asking these compromised politicians to look beyond their obligations to big money
contributors is a tall order. Yet, this is likely the very move required if UAP disclosure is
to go forward. The necessary altruism and humanitarian idealism can only come from a
form of self-discipline not native to the career politician. It falls to the UFO community
and the widespread pro-closure movement to articulate the values which will win the
day.
Danny Sheehan has laid the foundation for that discussion in his impassioned
November 27 press release: https://www.einpresswire.com/article/671038779/critical-
govt-transparency-legislation-jeopardized-by-a-powerful-few-in-congress
The eleventh hour skirmish over UAP disclosure legislation may be troubling, but it is
not indicative of final defeat. Nor does it erase the gains made earlier in the year. It does
no more than expose the hidden dynamic which has been at work in the background of
the UFO issue throughout seven decades. The UFO community will not stumble or
falter on such a common stone.
