The UFO Enigma: A Call for US Government Disclosure

Unidentified flying objects (UFOs), now referred to as unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) by the Department of Defense, are almost perennially vexing, with their origins still unknown and the names given to them—from “foo fighters” during World War II to “slow walkers,” “fast walkers,” and “unidentified drones” today—too varied to clarify their nature. Moreover, despite undertaking many study efforts on the objects from the immediate postwar period forward, the US government has provided no definitive public resolution to the UFO enigma.

In a display of courageous leadership, Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) and former Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) sought in 2024 to address this issue by reintroducing their Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act, which was passed in the previous year’s legislative session only after being gutted of its most significant provisions. Modeled after the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, the reintroduced Disclosure Act would have established proper accountability and oversight over government activities concerning the phenomena by elected officials in both the executive and legislative branches. Unfortunately, the legislation once again failed to pass. This paper seeks to definitively articulate the rationale for its reintroduction for a third and final time in 2025 and, more importantly, the establishment through its passage—or by executive order—of its most crucial provisions: a publicly accountable UFO control group and eminent domain over technologies of unknown (aka nonhuman) origin.