Nuestro colega investigador y estudioso del tema OVNI [ahora
UAP] VICENTE-JUAN BALLESTER OLMOS, nos remite desde España el siguiente
informe, al que damos gustosamente cabida en nuestra página web.
Recomendamos muy especialmente leer este material pues
Ballester Olmos nos va detallando paso a paso los distintos aspectos de la Ley
y cómo se han de ir cumpliendo.
Se agradecerán los comentarios que Uds. nos hagan llegar.
He publicado “A Commentary
to the 2022 UAP Act”. El 27 de diciembre de 2021, el
presidente de los EE. UU., Joe Biden, firmó la Ley de Autorización de la
Defensa Nacional para el año fiscal 2022. Por primera vez en la historia, este
proyecto de ley incluía disposiciones para el establecimiento de una oficina
dentro del Departamento de Defensa para estudiar los Fenómenos Aéreos No
Identificados (UAP). El siguiente texto es una descripción comentada de esta
“ley ovni”.
Está en inglés, pero espero os
interese.
Saludos cordiales,
Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos
Referencia bibliiográfica: https://www.academia.edu/69401447/A_Commentary_to_the_2022_UAP_Act
A Commentary to the
2022 UAP Act
V.J. Ballester-Olmos
Introduction
On December
7, 2021, the United States House of Representatives passed the National Defense
Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2022. This bill (S. 1605) included the
provisions for the establishment of an office devoted to the study of UAP. On
December 15, the US Senate approved it with no revisions, and the final version
was published by the Government Printing Office on December 21. The final step
has been the signature by President Joe Biden, which he did on December 27,
20211.
As defined,
the NDAA authorizes fiscal year expenditures principally for the Department of
Defense, for the Department of Energy national security programs, and for the
Department of State, including critical authorities to support defense of the
homeland.
Section 1683
of the Act carries this title: “Establishment of Office, Organizational
Structure, and Authorities to Address Unidentified Aerial Phenomena,” and develops
such provisions in fewer than six pages. This program replaces the existing
DoD’s UAP Task Force.
The Act was
approved with a strong amendment (SA 4281) attached on November 4, 2021, by
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (Democrat, New York) who requested that an “Anomaly
Surveillance and Resolution Office” be established. Her text clearly reflected
certain lobbyists’ plans that would include the creation of an advisory board
where certain individuals, UFO coalitions or civilian projects close to the
UFO-alien belief would be presented. The final bill is a watered down version
of that amendment in a way acceptable to the DoD, which with good reason was
not going to have members of the committee chasing after aliens.
Since the
closure of the USAF’s Project Blue Book, announced December 17, 1969 and the
publication of the Condon report2, UFOs stopped being an official concern to
the US Government, until the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF)
was set up in 2018 by the Office of Naval Intelligence, later publicly assumed
by the Department of Defense in August 2020. On June 2021, the DoD provided a
preliminary assessment of the UAPTF3, placing the new US Government UFO study
at the highest possible level in the chain of command. It reported that 144 UAP
events had been collected between November 2004 and March 2021, reports
amazingly declared “largely inconclusive.” Admittedly, the actual rate of case
resolution was barely 0.7%!4 Finally, on November 23, 2021, the Department of
Defense announced the creation of an Airborne Object Identification and
Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG). The fundamental object of study is
to be “the identification of airborne objects5.”
For the
benefit of an audience not willing to read the full raw text of the Act, in
this article I am showing—and commenting on—the highlights and key elements of
the planned “UAP Office” of the US Department of Defense.
In what
follows next, any quotes from the approved bill6 are in italics; every
reference to “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” is hereafter UAP; “Secretary”
refers to the Secretary of Defense,
and
“Director” refers to the Director of National Intelligence; my own remarks on
particulars of the Act will appear in brackets.
Inception
When?
The Office
will be active not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this
Act. This is, it must be in force before June 30, 2022. [No sharp urgency is
observed, probably considering that a UAP Task Force has been in place in the
US Navy since 2018 and that the Department of Defense announced the
establishment of an Airborne Object Identification and Management
Synchronization Group (AOIMSG) in November 2021.]
By Whom?
The
Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Director of National
Intelligence.
Where?
* within a
component of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, or
* within a
joint organization of the Department of Defense and the Office of the Director
of National Intelligence.
To Do What?
In addition
to specifically carry[ing] out the duties of the UAPTF, this Office will have
the following additional duties:
* Developing
procedures to synchronize and standardize the collection, reporting, and
analysis of incidents, including adverse physiological effects, regarding UAP
across the Department of Defense and the intelligence community. [Here I start
noticing terms borrowed from raw UFO literature and the long, dark hand of
nuts-and-bolts ufologists.]
*Developing
processes and procedures to ensure that such incidents … are reported and
incorporated in a centralized repository.
*Establishing
procedures to require the timely and consistent reporting of such incidents.
[Lots of procedures and protocols mean a lot of administrative work and
bureaucracy. For sure this program will involve a huge amount of paperwork.]
*Evaluating
links between UAP and adversary foreign governments, other foreign governments,
or nonstate actors. [In other words, air espionage from Russia or China,
research balloons, or domestic drones, to name a few potential examples.]
*Evaluating
the threat that such incidents present to the United States. [Come on, UAP is
nothing new, it was called flying saucers since 1947 and then UFOs. After 75
years, one of the most powerful countries in the world has still not learned if
these phenomena represent a true threat to the nation or not? On second
thought, this is a perfect proposition, one to be posed and categorically
denied in a future report.]
*Coordinating
with other departments and agencies of the Federal Government…including the
FAA, the NASA, the Department of Homeland Security, the NOAA, and the
Department of Energy. [The inclusion of all-encompassing aviation, aeronautics,
astronautics, atmospheric, marine, intelligence and advanced science know-how
in the USA will finally allow the removal of this issue once and for all from
the Government agenda and the satisfaction of public voracity as soon as
nothing “out of this world” is found.]
*Coordinating
with allies and partners of the United States … to better assess the nature and
extent of UAP. [Good. Be prepared to collect repeated statements and
assessments from (at least) several European countries that have realized after
50 years of handling UFO reports that neither flying saucers, UFOs or UAP pose
any threat to both national security and aviation safety.]
*Preparing
reports for Congress, in both classified and unclassified form. [For the series
of semiannual briefings and annual reports to be submitted to Congress, see the
end of this article for the chronology I have prepared.] In a further segment
of the text, it notes that for each briefing period, the head of the Office
established … shall … provide to the chairman and the ranking minority member
or vice chairman of the congressional committees specified…an enumeration of
any instances in which data relating to UAP was not provided to the Office
because of the classification restrictions on that data [sic] or for any other
reason.
Response to
UAP and Resources
*There will
be designated one or more line organizations…that possess appropriate
expertise, authorities, accesses, data, systems, platforms, and capabilities to
rapidly respond to, and conduct field investigations of, incidents involving
UAP under the direction of the head of the Office established. [Evidently, this
program dwarfs Project Blue Book in competence, resources and goals.]
*The
Secretary and the Director shall ensure that each line organization…has
adequate personnel with the requisite expertise, equipment, transportation, and
other resources necessary to respond rapidly to incidents or patterns of
observations involving UAP. [Patterns? The search for patterns and constants
and laws derived from UFO data has been a primary objective of scientific UFO
research from the early beginning, without finding anything lasting or
substantial other than the realization that UFO and IFO data are
indistinguishable.]
Analysis to
Perform
The
Secretary and the Director shall designate one or more line organizations that
will be primarily responsible for scientific, technical, and operational
analysis of data gathered by field investigations conducted and data from other
sources, including with respect to the testing of materials, medical studies,
and development of theoretical models, to better understand and explain UAP.
[It echoes work of tycoon Robert Bigelow’s NIDS (1996-2004) and
Bigelow-contractor to Pentagon’s AATIP (DIA-funded, 2008-2012; unofficial,
loose group, 2012-2017). It is evident the heavy influence from theorists of an
alleged reverse engineering from UFO materials, the proponents of fantastic
novel propulsion models, those who believe that theoretical models are required
to travel to other dimensions, and from hard-core UFO believers, be they
military, intelligence people, politicians, scientists, or laypeople. They have
partially won this battle because they have done an excellent lobbying job (not
all their objectives have been
achieved,
however), but they will lose the war, because this is, like it or not, a
dispute with science and rationality.]
Authority
Another
section of the legal text informs that directives will be issued to ensure that
each line organization designated…has authority to draw on the special
expertise of persons outside the Federal Government with appropriate security
clearances. [The ambiguity of the language here worries me: what experts can
they import or contract for advice and analysis? I sincerely hope that the big
Department of Defense of the United States does not have to resort on those
well-known names who have been within and around the UFO movement for decades,
generating much more speculation than results, nor that it leans on any
scientifically-sounding UFO group whose true impulse is the need to prove that
UFOs come from the outer space.]
Methodology
Data
Collection
The Director
and the Secretary will ensure that:
*each
element of the intelligence community with data relating to UAP makes such data
available immediately to the Office established … or to an entity designated …
to receive such data. [There is no precedent to this inter-agency coordination
concerning UFOs. From now on, it is compulsory that any available information
on UFOs in the custody of any Government agency or center is immediately
surfaced and brought to the attention of the UAP Office. The interesting
consequence is that it will appease the extended rumor in the contaminated UFO
atmosphere that information of extraordinary importance is hidden from the eyes
of the public by certain areas of the US Government. When no information
transfer finally occurs—for lack of that fantastic information—another myth
will fall.]
*military
and civilian personnel of the Department of Defense or an element of the
intelligence community, and contractor personnel … have access to procedures by
which the personnel shall report incidents or information, including adverse
physiological effects, involving or associated with UAP directly to the Office
or to an entity designated. [Again, the obsession with health effects is rather
obvious, descending from featured UFO sightings like the Cash-Landrum incident
of December 29, 1980. This is a true eccentricity, because physiological
effects are but a tiny fraction of past UFO reports.]
*The head of
the UAP Office shall supervise the development and execution of an intelligence
collection and analysis plan to gain as much knowledge as possible regarding
the technical and operational characteristics, origins and intentions of UAP,
including with respect to the development, acquisition, deployment, and
operation of technical collection capabilities necessary to detect, identify,
and scientifically characterize UAP. [The influencers who pushed for this
section of the bill believe that there is a sole origin for UFOs, the extraterrestrial,
only this may explain the above sentence. In reality, there is not a single
cause for UFOs/UAP but a large series of conventional (some easy, some complex)
explanations, where intentionality is the less frequent property in these
occurrences.]
*The head of
the UAP Office shall consider and propose … the use of any resource,
capability, asset, or process of the Department and the intelligence community.
Science
Plan
The head of
the UAP Office shall supervise the development and execution of a science plan
to develop and test, as practicable, scientific theories to (1) account for
characteristics and performance of UAP that exceed the known state of the art
in science or technology, including in the areas of propulsion, aerodynamic
control, signatures, structures, materials, sensors, countermeasures, weapons,
electronics, and power generation; and (2) provide the foundation for potential
future investments to replicate any such advanced characteristics and
performance. [This is one of the concepts incorporated in the legislation
through the efforts of politicians heavily biased by members of the most
credulous UFO community. Not bad in itself, research is always outstanding in
science debates, but it has no sense in this case. As soon as investigators realize
that events are solved as spontaneous, natural, biological, or artificial
(earthly) motives, no structural or aerodynamical work is needed. Perhaps,
however, it is sensu contrario, i.e., for the improvement of aircraft sensor
equipment to better discriminate a bird or a balloon from distant airplanes,
for example, in order to minimize false UAP footage. The need to devise
“scientific theories” to account for sightings of flying objects defying
present-day technology is a science fiction idea only in the head of UFO
fanatics, who seem to act like religious fanatics. This part of the bill’s text
clearly shows how the writers believe that there is an “advanced” technology
behind UAP. They surely have aliens in mind, as everyone can suspect that no
country would test their advanced aircraft over enemy or foreign territory.]
Priority
The
Director, with the recommendation of the Secretary, shall assign an appropriate
level of priority within the National Intelligence Priorities Framework to the
requirement to understand, characterize, and respond to UAP. [The ideology
behind the official text is blatant. What do the proponents and their writers
behind have in mind when postulating that the nature of the UAP requires to be
understood? Reentries of space junk, research balloons, missiles and rockets,
birds, fireballs, drones, aircraft, and a myriad more of actual, historical
explanations do not need to be understood, just verified.]
Reporting
Annual
Report
The bill
requires that not later than October 31, 2022, and annually thereafter until
October 31, 2026, an annual report will be submitted to Congress. [What is the
significance of this 5-year period? Is it a permanent office with reporting
requirements only established for its five first years of operation? Or does
Defense have a short-term program in mind to solve the UAP problem once all
planned resources are in place? For the sake of clarity and our own follow-up
control, I refer the reader to a tabulated chronology I have drafted at the end
of this article.
This annual
report will contain (1) all reported UAP-related events that occurred during
the one-year period, and others not included in an earlier report, (2) an
analysis of data and intelligence received through each reported UAP-related
event, including data collected through (i) geospatial intelligence; (ii)
signals intelligence; (iii) human intelligence; and (iv) measurement and
signature intelligence, (3) the number—and analysis—of reported incidents of
UAP over restricted air space
of the United
States during the one-year period, (4) identification of potential aerospace or
other threats posed by UAP to the national security of the United States [At
this point in time, are not all the threats to the United States of America
already known by this country? Will flying saucers (sorry, UAP) once again
matter, after 75 years of “existence”? Shame on you!], (5) an assessment of any
activity regarding UAP that can be attributed to one or more adversarial
foreign governments, (6) identification of any incidents or patterns regarding
UAP that indicate a potential adversarial foreign government may have achieved
a break-through aerospace capability [This legislation, partly influenced by
UFO believers, partly by common-sense writers, leave the door open to
ultra-sophisticated Chinese or Russian aircraft eavesdropping and practicing
surveillance on US military exercises, just in case the recently-known US Navy
pilot reports truly correspond to airborne flying platforms. But you do not
need to launch aircraft to spy up-close when you can do it with high-altitude
satellites], (7) an update of the coordination by the United States with allies
and partners on efforts to track, understand, and address UAP, (8) an update of
any efforts under way on the ability to capture or exploit discovered UAP
[Again, we enter into science fiction scenarios. No verified residue of any UAP
has been found, and less so in the process of being exploited. The few examples
of collected materials associated with UFO sightings have been very
controversial in the literature. Once again, the influence of individuals
closely related to past AATIP and even previous civilian precedents is clear in
this legislation], (9) an assessment of any health-related effects for
individuals that have encountered UAP [The medical issue refrain unjustifiably
emerges once more, reflecting incidents like Cash-Landrum, or even older,
probably fraudulent, episodes like that at Falcon Lake, Canada, on May 20,
1967], (10) The number of reported incidents, and descriptions thereof, of UAP
associated with military nuclear assets, including strategic nuclear weapons
and nuclear-powered ships and submarines … (and) … facilities or assets
associated with the production, transportation, or storage of nuclear weapons or
components thereof … (and) … UAP or drone of unknown origin associated with
nuclear power generating stations, nuclear fuel storage sites, or other sites
or facilities regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission [Chinese and
Russians must be having a big laugh at the expense of US gullibility. This
verbiage proceeds from some ufologists’ assertion of a relationship between UFO
sightings and nukes, as well as UFO visitations to ballistic missile silos,
never solidly certified], and (11) the names of the line organizations that
have been designated to perform the specific functions … each such line
organization has been assigned primary responsibility.
The bill’s
UAP text stipulates that annual reports shall be submitted in unclassified
form, but may require a classified annex.
Budget
Appropriations
There is
authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out the
work of the Office established … including with respect to (1) general
intelligence gathering and intelligence analysis; (2) strategic defense, space
defense, defense of controlled air space, defense of ground, air, or naval
assets, and related purposes. [Here, someone is thinking of a kind of Star
Wars. They are going to waste millions of tax-payer dollars because of the whimsical
beliefs of a bunch of people who happen to be well-placed in Washington D.C. No
specific budget amount is given.]
Closing
Termination
of the UAPTF
Not later
than the date on which the Secretary establishes the Office … the Secretary
shall terminate the UAP Task Force.
On
Terminology
The bill
concludes by stating the definition of some terms repeated in this section of
the bill’s text:
*“appropriate
congressional committees” for both the House of Representatives and the Senate:
(A) The Committees on Armed Services, (B) The Committee on Appropriations, (C)
The Committee on Foreign Affairs, and (D) The Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence.
*“intelligence
community”: the meaning as per section 3 of the National Security Act of 1947
(50 U.S.C. 3003).
*“line
organization”: an organization that executes programs and activities to
directly advance the core functions and missions of the department or agency to
which the organization is subordinate, but, with respect to the Department of
Defense, does not include a component of the Office of the Secretary of
Defense.
*“transmedium
objects or devices”: objects or devices that are observed to transition between
space and the atmosphere, or between the atmosphere and bodies of water, that
are not immediately identifiable. [This is a true anomaly, as this term does
not appear in the text of the bill! But it is a term applied by lobby-boosted
UFO believers to video images showing objects with the supposed capacity to
migrate from air to water, a concept taken from misinterpretation of two Navy
videos: USS Nimitz “Tic-Tac” footage taken on November 14, 2004 at ~110 NM SSW
of San Diego—disclosed in 2017—and USS Omaha footage on July 15, 2019, at ~107
NM West of San Diego—disclosed in 2020. Even from the wrong analysis performed
of a pair of balloons in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, on April 25, 2013. This is
probably a remnant of the initial draft.]
*“unidentified
aerial phenomena.” In this context, the term UAP has three possible meanings:
(a) airborne objects that are not immediately identifiable; (b) transmedium
objects or devices; and (c) submerged objects or devices that are not
immediately identifiable and that display behavior or performance
characteristics that the objects or devices may be related to UAP. [The
inclusion of submarine UAP is another tribute to UFO legacy with its term USOs,
also a very minor issue in historical UFO reporting. Also, a nod to Navy
reports. At least, however, it links both airborne and submerged objects to
phenomena “not immediately identifiable” as a stated recourse assuming that
these objects or devices might be finally identified…as will the case, in my
view, if investigation is properly done. Surprisingly, the tagline “not
immediately identifiable” is not featured to those powerfully-imaged and
imaginary “transmedium objects”! Another drafting slip? A Freudian slip? Signs
that the UAP Act has been dealt from different angles? Time will tell.]
Discussion
Since 1947,
the whole world has been intermittently (in “waves”) aware of reports of flying
saucers, UFOs or UAP. In those 74 years, no evidence whatsoever of the
existence of alien visitation has been discovered; on the contrary, 98% of
cases have met a plausible explanation. In
spite of
Governmental study groups and civilian organizations and military commissions.
There remain unsolved just a few sighting observations which are apparently
significant for believers and explainable for others. Above all, UFOs are
nowadays part of popular culture, entertainment, literature, movies,
advertisement, TV documentaries, etc.
Under the
rational and reasonable premise that UFO/UAP reports does not represent any
form of extraterrestrial phenomenon manifesting in our planet, this is, that
there is no alien presence on Earth, I can conclude and predict that this new
UAP Office will, eventually, get the program ended because they will never
produce anything extraordinary except a drain of money and personnel (not to
mention the expected publicity nightmare for the DoD). The weight of this
statement will be appraised already by December 2026.
I am afraid
the United States of America may be in the verge of being the object of
tremendous ridicule at a global level if there are no UAP at all, neither its
own aircraft, nor foreign ones, just multiple phenomena of an ordinary nature.
Because this solution was already flagged since the findings of Professor
Donald Menzel back in 1953, and after the USAF’s Project Blue Book (closed
1969) and the Condon report.
In the last
few years, news about flying saucers, UFOs and UAP have skyrocketed; precisely
since a December 2017 article in the New York Times7 re-opened the UFO
Pandora’s box. This time, the focus was on UAP evidence in the hands of the US
Government, a Pentagon UFO program pushed by credulous, aged politicians,
financed from black budgets, handled by gullible people, and outsourced to a
company headed by a gullible millionaire. Personalities with power around the
Capitol—fueled by certain journalists and fuzzy video footage from the US
Navy—have joined this tribe of believers to finally force the Department of
Defense to concede that possibly there is something unknown violating the US
airspace and jeopardizing aviation safety. Well, I see a perfect parallel with
the recent case of Elizabeth Holmes (of Theranos fame) of fraud and conspiracy.
For years, high-standing, influential persons from the world of politics and
science, including ex-government secretaries, fell under the spell of a false
concept. The same will someday happen with this UAP-Government interface craze,
supported by so many important activists, be they military, executives,
scientists, career officials, or journalists, all caught in a trap dominated by
something so acute and deep: the blind belief that we are being visited by
aliens.
Acknowledgments
To Tim
Printy and Julio Plaza del Olmo, for contributions. To Richard W. Heiden, for
editing.
References
(1)
https://tinyurl.com/bder8684
(2) Daniel
S. Gillmor (ed.), Final Report of the Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying
Objects. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. in association with Colorado
Associated University Press, 1969. http://www.project1947.com/shg/condon/contents.html
(3)
https://tinyurl.com/33wwpnss
(4) V.J
Ballester-Olmos, “The UAP Pentagon Report—Commented Abstract,” scroll down in http://fotocat.blogspot.com/2021_09_14_archive.html
(5) https://tinyurl.com/2fjrraxf
(6)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QVspt2Bae6paAzu9zJfrn-x1bQzUgGWv/view (Credit:
Douglas Johnson).
(7)
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/us/politics/pentagon-program-ufo-harry-reid.html
CHRONOLOGY OF THE UAP OFFICE PROGRAM,
2022-2026
(B= Before/Not later than)
B 31 MARCH
2022 Classified briefing by the head of the UAP Office to congressional
committees (A), (B) and (D) , including UAP incidents reported to the UAPTF
after 24 June 2021
B 30 JUNE
2022 Establishment of UAP Office (to be named)
B 30 JUNE
2022 UAP Task Force terminated
B 31 OCTOBER
2022 Annual report by the Director of Intelligence, in consultation with the
Secretary of Defense, to congressional committees
B 31
DECEMBER 2022 Classified briefing to congressional committees, including UAP
incidents occurred since 30 June 2022 and events not included in the earlier
briefing
B 30 JUNE
2023 Classified briefing to congressional committees, including UAP incidents
occurred since 31 December 2022
B 31 OCTOBER
2023 Annual report by the Director of Intelligence, in consultation with the
Secretary of Defense, to congressional committees
B 31
DECEMBER 2023 Classified briefing to congressional committees, including UAP
incidents occurred since 30 June 2023
B 30 JUNE
2024 Classified briefing to congressional committees, including UAP incidents
occurred since 31 December 2023
B 31 OCTOBER
2024 Annual report by the Director of Intelligence, in consultation with the
Secretary of Defense, to congressional committees
B 31
DECEMBER 2024 Classified briefing to congressional committees, including UAP
incidents occurred since 30 June 2024
B 30 JUNE
2025 Classified briefing to congressional committees, including UAP incidents
occurred since 31 December 2024
B 31 OCTOBER
2025 Annual report by the Director of Intelligence, in consultation with the
Secretary of Defense, to congressional committees
B 31
DECEMBER 2025 Classified briefing to congressional committees, including UAP
incidents occurred since 30 June 2025
B 30 JUNE
2026 Classified briefing to congressional committees, including UAP incidents
occurred since 31 December 2025
B 31 OCTOBER
2026 Annual report by the Director of Intelligence, in consultation with the
Secretary of Defense, to congressional committees
B 31
DECEMBER 2026 Classified briefing to congressional committees, including UAP
incidents occurred since 30 June 2026
