New Pentagon UFO Office Threatens Senate’s Push For Transparency And Urgently Needed Answers
Written by Christopher Sharp - 24 November 2021
On 23 November 2021, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) issued a press release accompanied by a memorandum from Deputy Secretary of Defense, Kathleen Hicks, announcing the establishment of a replacement for the U.S. Navy’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF).
The replacement, named the ‘Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group’ (AOIMSG), will be Directed by the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security (USDI).
Deputy Secretary of Defense, Kathleen Hicks - image from Wikipedia
AOIMSG was established in close collaboration between Hicks and Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Avril Haines, who recently speculated UAP could represent something of extraterrestrial origin.
This comes at a time when Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has put forward an amendment (known as the Gillibrand-Rubio Amendment) within the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which would establish an alternative replacement for the UAPTF, named the ‘Anomaly Surveillance, Tracking and Resolution Office’ (ASTRO).
The amendment, which has bipartisan support, would require the Secretary Of Defense (Hicks’ boss) and Haines to establish an office within a component of the DoD or a joint organisation of the DoD and Office of the Director of National Intelligence. This is in contrast to AOIMSG, which would give responsibility to the USDI, perhaps downgrading the UAP issue in terms of priority.
Discontent From UAP Proponents
The AOIMSG has been established within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security (USDI Office).
The role of the USDI Office has been met with scorn by UAP transparency proponents, such as Lue Elizondo, former Director of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) and Christopher Mellon, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense.
Elizondo, who previously served within the USDI Office before resigning in protest at how the UAP topic was handled commented:
“Given that elements still exist in the Pentagon who are actively underplaying the significance of this topic, this is akin to giving an alcoholic the key and control to the liquor cabinet.”
Lue Elizondo, Former Director of AATIP - image from Wikipedia
Essentially, it appears as though the DoD would prefer the status quo, which has so far proved ineffectual. Christopher Mellon echoed this sentiment in an open letter appealing to Representative Ruben Gallego, stating:
“As a former OSD staffer myself, I'm shocked that the DepSecDef would assign the UAP function to an oversight staff with no UAP funding, line authority, contracting, command or technical capabilities. Indeed, the inability of USDI to engage effectively on the UAP issue is why so little has changed or been accomplished since 2004.”
Gallego now appears to have a crucial role in this story. The Congressman sits on the House Armed Services Committee and Chairs its Intelligence and Special Operations Subcommittee. The Congressman was the first to insert the proposal of a UAP Office within the NDAA draft before the Gillibrand-Rubio amendment gave it more ‘teeth’, something which Gallego has recently conceded himself, according to POLITICO’s Bryan Bender.
Currently, the Senate appears supportive of Senator Gillibrand’s text and there is no apparent opposition. If the Senate passes the Gillibrand-Rubio amendment, it will request a conference committee with the House of Representatives, where Gallego and his Congressional colleagues will engage in negotiations, before a final version is agreed.
In his open letter to Gallego, Mellon calls on the Congressman to:
“Incorporate the best of the Gillibrand amendment, and gather the Senate behind you with legislation that can ensure genuine progress and possibly an enormous breakthrough in the months and years ahead.”
And as suggested, the signs are positive, as Gallego has reportedly said the amendment has more teeth, which he is supportive of.
In a recent interview with The Hill, Gallego appeared to criticise the Pentagon for its lack of seriousness regarding the topic. He also criticised a lack of follow-up from the Pentagon when UAP events are reported.
He also spoke about his keenness to create a mandate for the Pentagon to speak to members of Congress about UAP, stating:
“If you create a position without the mandate for Congress, then you are going to have someone from the DoD putting something in the broom cupboard and not talking to us.”
Congressman Gallego Recently Speaking Out About UAP
Vast Differences Between Pentagon And Senate Versions Of UAPTF Successor
The differences between the proposed ASTRO and newly established AOIMSG are significant. Observing the differences, Lue Elizondo commented:
“Nowhere is there a requirement to provide unclassified findings to Congress, or work with our international partners.”
But that is just the tip of the iceberg. Other components of ASTRO not included within AOIMSG (from our understanding of the Hicks memo) are as follows:
No reference to UAP being transmedium - the new group would concentrate on airborne phenomena, ignoring any ocean and perhaps space activity
No requirement for the development and implementation of a plan for collection and analysis
No reference to unclassified public briefings
No study into the physiological impact of UAP, which could indeed be impacting military personnel
No reference to scientific study or bridges built with the science community
No requirement to consult foreign nations
No requirement to examine technical issues, such as non-combustion propulsion
No accountability or explanation required for agencies that withhold UAP data
No mention of the threat posed to nuclear assets, which may represent an urgent national security risk
No requirement to provide unclassified findings to Congress.
Given what Gallego has previously said about his desire for the DoD to speak to Congress, it’s hard to see him and his colleagues supporting the AOIMSG.
The Pentagon’s Agenda?
Commentator D. Dean Johnson speculated on the timing of the DoD’s announcement, which comes before the Thanksgiving holiday, stating:
“The Gillibrand-Rubio Amendment was never a candidate for roll call votes like you see on C-SPAN. These types of issues are resolved by private negotiations, consensus among stakeholders. The timing of the Pentagon initiative was intended to influence some of those lawmakers.”
Meanwhile, Tim McMillan of The Debrief likened the DoD’s move to “administrative terrorism”, before going on to say:
“All of this is likely setting up for a showdown between the DoD and DNI over UAP. One major reason that the US Intelligence Community is funded through ODNI and not the DoD is to ensure that the IC cannot be influenced/ordered to change intelligence assessments because the DoD doesn’t like them.”
Liberation Times spoke with an aviation industry source with experience within the defence sector. The source shared his frustration about the DoD’s latest move, commenting:
“The bipartisan Gillibrand amendment definitely puts teeth into the government’s ability to study and classify UAP among the military branches and intelligence community.
The ASTRO office would have the power to cut across the Pentagon and the IC and report back to Congress on aerial and transmedium phenomena everywhere it is observed.
The Pentagon’s response (AOIMSG) is a program with a much smaller scope, controlled by the DoD, and focused on anomalies in controlled airspace only. No talk of transmedium, health effects, or nuclear incursions.”
It is the opinion of Liberation Times that the Pentagon is attempting to demote the UAP topic, burying it deep away within an office of government that has thus far failed miserably to get a grip on the issue.
And there is also the historic lack of transparency, which goes directly against the agenda of the Biden administration. This type of behaviour encourages conspiracy theorists and fuels distrust of the government.
Indeed, there is no clear opposition among politicians to the Gillibrand-Rubio amendment. But we urge our U.S. readers to engage with their political representatives, including Gallego.
Why? Because political courage is needed to unveil years of government secrecy on the UAP topic.
By engaging with politicians, you will be encouraging them to take a stand against the Pentagon and its bureaucracy. If we want democracy, we must partake in it and make our voices heard. Remember, in a democracy, they work for us.
You can call 202-224-3121 to find the names of your representatives. When speaking to their offices, you can use following template, provided by Post Disclosure World:
“I’m a resident of the state of (X). I’m respectfully asking that Senator (X) sponsor the Gillibrand-Rubio Amendment 4593 to the NDAA dealing with Unidentified Aerial Phenomena and work to ensure that language makes it into the final bill. Thank you.”
More Obstacles To Come
Even if ASTRO in its current version is passed, there may still be a long road ahead, as the Executive and Legislative branches play cat and mouse. We spoke to Retired CIA Officer John Ramirez, who commented:
“The ASTRO legislative language will make illegal any circumvention of letter and intent of ASTRO by the Department. Congress has the power to demand compliance. “Demand” does not have the same energy as “Force” compliance. The Senate Committee and its counterpart House Committee on Armed Services can hold the Department accountable. The Department can resist by moving defense related contract activities out of a legislator’s district or state. This is how the Department has compelled support for its weapons acquisitions — build parts of it in as many states as possible.
“In so doing the costs of weapons acquisitions have skyrocketed. Contractors have used the “G & A” clauses in the contracts to fill their coffers. G & A are General and Administrative costs, which can be stipulated to be a percentage of the actual costs of manufacture. Catherine Austin Fitts, a former Assistant Secretary of HUD in the George H. W. Bush administration, has contended that such provisions in the Federal Acquisition Regulations have detoured vast amounts of money into unaccounted black programs.”
However, with an ongoing Inspector General (IG) investigation probing the DoD’s handling into UAP, any miscalculation on the part of the Pentagon, including its Public Affairs Office, could be very dangerous.
As Mellon has previously commented:
"You are looking at how is it possible that restricted military airspace is being routinely violated for months and years and nobody is informed in the Defense Department or the Congress and there is a complete system breakdown"
So then, the question is, can the DoD really afford to do more of the same?
And with serving senior Administration officials (Hicks and Haines) advocating such an approach, how long before Biden himself becomes embroiled in this mess, especially if the IG takes action? This in fact seems to contradict Biden's transparency agenda, something which has been long advocated by Democrat Party titans, such as John Podesta and former senator Harry Reid.
Furthermore, the involvement from members of the Senate’s Appropriations Committee complicates matters for the Pentagon. Should the powerful House Committee on Appropriations become involved, then the purse strings of the DoD may become threatened.
The stakes are high. And one wonders why the DoD is going to such lengths to thwart the public and its elected representatives, especially if there is nothing to hide and no wrongdoing.
Our source from the aviation industry perhaps describes it best:
“It is obviously a ploy to limit the extent and importance of the Gillibrand amendment. And that’s what the conversation has been. But there is one very interesting point that the ‘experts’ are not discussing. "
For 70+ years the Pentagon has been saying that there’s nothing to see here. UFO’s are nothingburgers. Well, if UFOs are really of no consequence, why go through all this trouble to thwart the creation of the ASTRO office to study the phenomena? Surely ASTRO would find nothing and just close like so many studies in the past. But, in my opinion, they are afraid. Afraid enough to push the AOIMSG program to try and deflect ASTRO. This is as close of an admission as we are going to get for now that there is something truly there.”
The time has come to take a stand and do what is right. So far, the signs within the DoD suggest it won’t go down without a fight.
“A man does what he must — in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers, and pressures — and that is the basis of all human morality.”