A provision buried deep in the $770 billion yearly defense bill passed by the US Senate on Wednesday asks for the establishment of a new agency to investigate UFO sighting reports.
According to The New York Post's report, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and National Intelligence Director Avril Haines must establish an "office, organizational structure, and authorities to address unidentified aerial phenomena" within 180 days of President Joe Biden signing the bill into law, according to Section 1683 of the National Defense Authorization Act for the fiscal year 2022.
The new agency would, among other things, "evaluate links between unidentified aerial phenomena and adversarial foreign governments, other foreign governments, or nonstate actors," and the risks these occurrences pose to the US.
According to the outlet, it will also be required to make annual reports to "the appropriate congressional committees" and provide confidential briefings to the committees twice a year.
Last week, Marik von Rennenkampff, a former analyst with the US Department of State's Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, reportedly suggested that Congress has essentially revived the so-called "one-percent doctrine" (which implies if there is even a minimal chance that a threat exists, the government must act as if the threat is real).
But according to the expert, compared to the "catastrophic consequences" of the doctrine initiated by the Bush administration in 2001, "Congress’s bold approach to UFOs amounts to a comparatively minuscule, low-risk investment that may finally unravel an enduring mystery."
The Pentagon announced last month that it had formed the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group to supervise UFO investigations, which some opponents have criticized as an attempt to limit transparency on the topic.