Slow Down On The President’s UFO Files Announcement
Special Guest Column By Captain Ron Janix
The President of the United States recently made a proclamation stating in part:
“I will be directing the Secretary of War and other relevant Departments and Agencies to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters.”
This sounds great to everyone interested in this topic. And perhaps it is, at least rhetorically. It is another small step forward toward what many call “Official Big D Disclosure.”
What it is not… is Disclosure. In fact, it may not even be anything structurally new.
In July 2023, we saw the introduction of the bipartisan “UAP Disclosure Act” as an amendment to the FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The original version of that bill was powerful. It would have:
Created an independent UAP Records Review Board
Allowed that board to override agency classification decisions
Granted subpoena authority over witnesses and documents
Compelled testimony under oath
Directed agencies to declassify records unless clear national security harm was demonstrated
Enforced a strong presumption of disclosure
Even more significantly, it would have asserted eminent domain over:
“Recovered technologies of unknown origin”
“Biological evidence of non-human intelligence”
Including material potentially held by private defense contractors.
That framework could have fundamentally shifted control of the disclosure process away from agencies and toward an independent civilian board.
However, during conference negotiations between the House and Senate, most of those enforcement and oversight mechanisms were removed.
(That’s another story- If Disclosure is so Bi-partisan and we all want it, WHY take out these provisions?)
Instead On December 22, 2023, the final FY2024 NDAA (Public Law 118-31) was signed into law. A greatly reduced version of the UAP records provisions survived.
The law:
Established an official Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Records Collection at the National Archives (NARA).
Required federal agencies to identify UAP/UFO-related records in their custody.
Required agencies to digitize and prepare those records for transfer to NARA.
Required agencies to determine whether records are fully releasable, partially releasable (with redactions), or postponed.
Directed NARA to make publicly releasable records available online once processed.
Agencies were required to complete identification and organization phases on a statutory timeline (including key deadlines in 2024), but the law did not mandate full public release of all records by a specific date.
Critically:
The law did not automatically declassify anything.
Agencies may postpone disclosure if national security harm is certified.
Classification authority remains within the executive branch.
There is no independent Review Board.
There is no subpoena power.
In short, the final law created a records-collection and archival framework, but did nothing to De-classify any files, and still allowed for omission based on National Security.
The New statement by the president also DOES NOT DECLASIFY ANYTHING. It also asks agencies to identify and then “release” what is releasable. Which is as far as I understand it, is already the law.
Secondarily, most people in the community believe that if the government does have actual information on actual non-human intelligence craft or bodies, then this is probably held within black budgeted Unacknowledged Special Access Programs, and those would not be subject to these directives.
Both the UAP portion of the NDAA Act that calls for the collection of Files on UFOs and the Presidents declaration do not do anything to De-classify documents.
Even if they did, it seems the people they are asking to give up this information, probably aren’t the ones who would actually have the real information anyway.
The President just gave his State of the Union address (Feb. 24) and did not even mention UAP’s or UFO’s in anyway, another sign perhaps that this may not be as urgent an issue as we hoped.
So, sadly, I don’t think this will do much. In fact, it may even have the opposite effect, because if they could come back and say “We don’t have anything” then some people will think “There’s the final answer, they don’t have anything.”
It does keep this subject top of mind, and having the president himself address it lends more attention to it for those outside the community as well. So my fingers are crossed they we are heading in the right direction…. But don’t expect too much anytime soon.
###
ABOUT THE WRITER:
“Captain” Ron Janix is Executive Producer & Co-Owner of Contact In The Desert, Host of the “Beyond Contact” radio show, and a Founding Member of The Hollywood Disclosure Alliance. For information about the 2026 Contact in the Desert conference, please visit: https://contactinthedesert.com/
Read more from Captain Ron at https://contactinthedesert.com/the-captains-log/
