US President Donald Trump signed a new $2.3 trillion coronavirus stimulus package and government-funding bill on 27 December after it was approved in the House of Representatives with a 2/3 majority of the vote.
Under the new relief legislation, US citizens are expected to receive up to $600 in direct payments, as many struggle to make ends meet amid the COVID-19 pandemic. If every US citizen receives this payment, the total amount will be around $200 bln, less than 1/10 of the value of the spending package, which exceeds Italy's annual GDP in value.
Among the measures that have made their way into the bill, one provision seemed to fly under the radar, as it was inserted into the annual intelligence authorisation act, and not in the actual text of the massive relief package, writes the New York Post.
The provision sets a distinct timeline for the Defence Department and spy agencies to reveal all the information currently at their disposal pertaining to Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). The provision was included as a 'committee comment' from Senate Intelligence Committee Acting Chairman Marco Rubio.
The director of national intelligence, Secretary of Defence “and the heads of such other agencies” are instructed to submit a report “within 180 days of the date of enactment of the Act, to the congressional intelligence and armed services committees on unidentified aerial phenomena.”
Navy Pilots on the record about #UAP #UFOs pic.twitter.com/aXcbjghnbt
— THE UNIDENTIFIED (@Th_Unidentified) December 28, 2020
All relevant agencies were urged to disclose data on “observed airborne objects that have not been identified”.
The information was to present a “detailed analysis of unidentified phenomena data collected by: a. geospatial intelligence; b. signals intelligence; c. human intelligence; and d. measurement and signals intelligence.” Furthermore, the provision requires that detailed analysis be provided of FBI data gleaned from investigations of “intrusions of unidentified aerial phenomena data over restricted United States airspace … and an assessment of whether this unidentified aerial phenomena activity may be attributed to one or more foreign adversaries.”
Defense Department spokesperson Sue Gough was cited by the New York Post as confirming that they were required to report on all the phenomena as part of the funding act for 2021 fiscal year.
UFO Transparency
The demand for release of all information pertaining to “UFO” sightings comes in the wake of the Pentagon's publication in April of three Navy videos professing to have captured footage of sightings.
An encounter between US pilots and a mysterious Tic Tac-shaped UFO during military exercises in 2004 had became one of the most famous alleged alien spaceship sightings, with the veracity of the footage later confirmed by the US Navy. At the time, the Pentagon explained its decision to release the videos by the fact that they did not reveal any sensitive capabilities of US surveillance systems.