The Trump administration has directed federal agencies to waive non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) for former government employees and contractors cooperating with investigations into unidentified anomalous phenomena, also known as unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs).
According to a senior administration official, President Trump recently directed the Department of War and the intelligence community to allow former government employees or contractors with relevant information about UAPs to come forward and meet with designated government representatives, including the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) or the President's UAP taskforce, PURSUE.
The official emphasized that this move is not a declassification directive and only allows employees to come forward through government channels, eliminating the perceived legal barriers that may have prevented witnesses from sharing information.
Many witnesses would have signed nondisclosure agreements as a condition of receiving security clearances or access to restricted information, which generally prohibit unauthorized disclosure of classified or otherwise protected information.
Under the new process, former government employees and contractors who believe they possess relevant UAP information would first meet with designated officials at AARO or PURSUE, who hold the appropriate security clearances.
During those authorized discussions, any applicable nondisclosure agreements could be waived, allowing witnesses to share information without fear of violating prior agreements.
The information provided through the process would be reviewed through the administration's existing declassification procedures, and any information that sheds light on the UAP mystery will ultimately be made public.
The administration does not know whether potential witnesses actually possess significant new information, but wants to remove any perceived legal barriers so investigators can determine whether previously undisclosed information exists.
The focus is on incidents that remain unexplained, rather than known foreign technology, classified U.S. programs or natural phenomena.
The latest directive builds on the Trump administration's broader effort to declassify decades of government records related to unidentified anomalous phenomena.
Previous releases have included FBI and Pentagon records describing unexplained incidents by military personnel, law enforcement and astronauts, including accounts of glowing "mother orbs" and mysterious orange spheres.
The latest tranche of UAP records included expanded details and imagery from a 2015 incident involving an unidentified object over the Pantex nuclear weapons facility in Texas, along with newly declassified infrared footage showing a mysterious six-pointed star-shaped object tracked by a U.S. military sensor over the Yellow Sea.
The official said the next tranche of files will be made available "very soon."
The directive follows years of complaints from lawmakers and whistleblowers that former officials with firsthand knowledge were reluctant to come forward because of secrecy obligations.
Lawmakers have pressed intelligence agencies for greater transparency, and former intelligence officer David Grusch's allegations that the government had concealed information about UAP programs renewed calls for additional disclosure.
The Pentagon has disputed Grusch's central claims, and AARO has said its investigations found no verified evidence of extraterrestrial technology or credible evidence that the government has secretly recovered or reverse-engineered craft of non-human origin.
