Bipartisan legislation sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) aimed to establish a process with the ostensible goal of revealing the existence of “non-human intelligence” to the public. But the legislation, which is co-sponsored by three Republican and two Democratic senators, is now in jeopardy.
In comments yesterday on the Senate floor, Schumer stated that “House Republicans are also attempting to kill another commonsense, bipartisan measure passed by the Senate, which I was proud to cosponsor… to increase transparency around what the government does and does not know about unidentified aerial phenomena.”
According to reports, Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, are leading efforts to prevent any meaningful version of this provision from being added to the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act.
Members of Congress generally clamor for enhanced government oversight — a core function of the legislative branch — and transparency. So what could cause a small group of influential lawmakers to suddenly resist it?
The amendment makes a very clear distinction between things we create and things we don’t and only deals with the latter. So, those projects would not be lumped into what gets released to the public. I’d sure like to know why our government has spent millions upon millions on these things if they don’t exist. It’s our tax dollars paying for it!
To get a near-peer adversary to spend even more money on nonsense.
UFOs definitely don’t exist. First time round we pretended otherwise to get the russians to waste time and money researching bunk.
This time round it’s directed at the Chinese.
You mean “probably”
I mean we have definitely not been visited by aliens in spacecraft.
You mean “probably”
UFOs absolutely do exist, but they’re definitely not from an alien species.
UFO just means there’s a flying object that we don’t know what it is. That Chinese spy balloon was a UFO at first.
You mean “probably”
Nope. The chances of an alien civilization knowing we exist is infinitesimal.
So we agree, UFO’s are probably not extraterrestrials
Sure, but when people say UFO they don’t mean an unidentified flying object, they just mean a UFO.
Is this like how when I say LOL I didn’t necessarily laugh out loud for real?
The distinction will be harder to make in real life than in legislation.
You’re right! Which is why there’s a prededentially appointed panel containing a national security official, foreign service official, sociologist, economist, a scientist or engineer, and professional historian to help make these determinations and whether the information is deemed safe to release. Many great minds to make the decision rather than a single individual.
Edit: Assuming Schumer’s amendment passes that is.
You don’t have to convince me, except if I were the military I wouldn’t trust those guys.
I mean, it’s generally a bad idea to make your defense R&D public knowledge.