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Sci-Fi Government

UFO Whistleblowers Would Get Immunity Under New Amendment (thedrive.com) 59

Posted by BeauHD from the information-flow dept.
Howard Altman writes via The Drive: In an effort to protect those with information about unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) and increase the influx of reports about them, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc) has introduced (PDF) an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. "The amendment would establish a process within the government for reporting UAPs and provide whistleblower-like protections," Gallagher's spokesman Jordan Dunn told The War Zone Thursday morning. For a multitude of reasons, U.S. troops and government contractors have traditionally been reluctant to come forward with information about these incidents, regardless of their validity. Beyond that, there have also been long-standing allegations that the government and defense contractors could be hiding previous UFO-related programs and evidence. This would allow those with information to come forward without retribution. Some have even posited that language like that in Gallagher's amendment could lead to "UFO disclosure."

In essence, it says that regardless of any previous written or oral non-disclosure agreements "that could be interpreted as a legal constraint on reporting by a witness of an unidentified aerial phenomena," those with information about UAPs, more commonly known as UFOs, would not be violating federal classified information laws if they come forward. The amendment also calls for the head of the new Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG), tasked with investigating UAPs on behalf of the Defense Secretary and Director of National Intelligence, to establish "a secure system" for receiving reports of "any events relating to" UAPs and any government or government contractor activity or program related to UAPs. The reporting system shall be administered by "designated and widely known, easily accessible, and appropriately cleared Department of Defense and intelligence community employees or contractors" as part of AOIMSG, which is a much enhanced and more deeply mandated effort that replaced the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force.

Any information would first be screened "to prevent unauthorized public reporting or compromise of properly classified military and intelligence systems, programs, and related activity, including all categories and levels of special access and compartmented access programs, current, historical, and future." However, federal agencies and contractors working with the government would be precluded from taking actions, including suspending security clearances, for those who report UAP incidents and information. And those who are retaliated against "may bring a private civil action for all appropriate remedies, including injunctive relief and compensatory and punitive damages, against the Government or other employer who took the personnel action, in the United States Court of Federal Claims," the amendment states.
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UFO Whistleblowers Would Get Immunity Under New Amendment More

UFO Whistleblowers Would Get Immunity Under New Amendment

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  • "I told them, my butt hasn't been the same ever since they used the darned probes on me. They will pay for it!"

  • Will Be A Babysitter For The Crazies. (Score:5, Funny)

    by zenlessyank ( 748553 ) on Saturday July 09, 2022 @06:13AM (#62687156)

    If there were aliens, they would have showed up long ago, and we would be already dead.

    Or enslaved with permanent anal probes for control.

    • If there were aliens, they would have showed up long ago, and we would be already dead.

      Or enslaved with permanent anal probes for control.

      When I was in submarines. we'd occasional hear an UUS - unidentified underwater sound. Will that protect UUS whistleblowers or will the aliens continue to hide in the ocean? Where is SHADO when we need them?

      • That's not an UUS, that's Sky1 taking off.

        I mean, you didn't hear anything, right?

      • You mean the beings from the movie The Abyss?

        I think they are generally trying to stay out of the way of humanity, but may decide to step in if they decide humanity is destroying the planet...

        • You're assuming that "destroying the planet" means the same thing to us as it does to them. Maybe they like it much hotter than we do. Maybe they like it colder.

          Hell, they may be a bunch of grad students trying to justify silly drunken prats buzzing a primitive planet.

          Realistically, if they don't have a fast FTL, the likelihood of them even finding us is tiny - nothing more than 150 ly away will even have had a chance to see us. Which leaves 99.999% of the galaxy, if it were filled with advanced civili

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Actually, some non-human species were here but they left because, in the evolution of humans, humans stagnated because they started to rely too much on the non-human species instead of evolving.

      Today we have the same problem, only it's a lower species the human race is being stagnated by. And that is failing governments and their cohorts.

      To realize this is to understand so-called "aliens" level of intelligence and understanding of reality have no reason to suppress what they probably had a hand in creating.

    • Alien psychology is most likely to be unpredictable but if destruction of humanity is their goal, one has not to search very far to see forces in action to destroy the livability of our planet and the progress towards nuclear war. That seems very close towards ridding the planet of humanity so aliens can take over.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      But they ran out of funding and sent Donald instead.

  • Priorities. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by splutty ( 43475 ) on Saturday July 09, 2022 @06:23AM (#62687172)

    It's good to see some politicians have their priorities right! Space aliens are of course a real issue.

    • What exactly do they get "immunity" from?

      Maybe he wants immunity from public ridicule and being called a dumbass.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tepples ( 727027 )

        The summary states that they would get immunity from "violating federal classified information laws."

    • It's probably to settle a bet.

    • It's an election year.

      Gudda get them votes of that "I was abducted and rectally probed by aliens" Wisconsin demographic.

      • Wrong state. Northerners would just assume northern lights (aurora borealis.) Try Arkansas or any state along the south half of the Appalachians.

        • I'm not talking states but certain demographics within states.

          As such, while certain geographic locations are more susceptible to certain sightings (e.g. not many Chupacabra sightings in the north due to the local Bigfoot population) - no location is immune from UFO sightings.
          Sky being available everywhere and all that.

          And since giving voting rights to Bigfoots is un-Republican (they've had a thing against expanding voting rights for a while now. [facingsouth.org]) - might as well go for the folks who do have the right to vo

    • And demons, donâ(TM)t forget the demons. We are wrongfully convicting good people all the time for crimes committed by demons. Witnesses are just afraid to come forward.

    • > It's good to see some politicians have their priorities right! Space aliens are of course a real issue.

      Maybe government constantly lying about everything and covering up corruption is an actual issue, this just being one among multitudes. Remember the transitory inflation and "if you get the vaccine you can't catch covid"? Yeah, everybody does.

      How many times has government changed its story on Roswell? It doesn't matter what the story changes *are* it's that they're constantly lying.

      It won't matter

    • It's good to see some politicians have their priorities right! Space aliens are of course a real issue.

      I hear that some politicians now want a separate educational academy, like West Point & Annapolis, for persons wanting to defend the US from off-world threats.

      Those politicians ran into a serious stumbling block in their plans.

      Do they call new entrants to that academy...SPACE CADETS?

  • Good. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by The Evil Atheist ( 2484676 ) on Saturday July 09, 2022 @06:31AM (#62687180)
    When I was a teen, I went out to my backyard and I saw lights in the low clouds that I couldn't identify. It freaked me out.

    When I was a grown adult, I had a realization, went out to my backyard and saw the lights again. Then I listened to test my hypothesis.

    My hypothesis was right: the lights "in the low clouds" were just the headlights from the cars going up a road near my house. The lights in the clouds appeared every time I could hear a car going up that road.

    But I'm sure the authorities would love everyone and their mother reporting every thing they didn't have an immediate explanation for. We should flood the NSA, the CIA, the FBI, and the Pentagon with all these reports.

    • Re:Good. (Score:4, Informative)

      by Entrope ( 68843 ) on Saturday July 09, 2022 @06:40AM (#62687182) Homepage

      ... or you could read TFS and realize it has nothing to do with what you are talking about, but only addresses the use of government and government-contractor NDAs, or national security rules, to keep witnesses of supposed UFOs from reporting those to a specific government office tasked with handling such reports.

      • Re: (Score:1, Flamebait)

        by The Evil Atheist ( 2484676 )
        Nothing in TFS precludes what I've said, dipshit.

        I simply used an example from my own life.

        That doesn't mean government employees can't have the same experience. Dumbass.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Joviex ( 976416 )

          Nothing in TFS precludes what I've said, dipshit.

          Except for the long rant about nothing in the article? Thanks for letting us know you are a complete dumbass that took years to figure out it was car headlights.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by splutty ( 43475 )

        Yes. The actual intent of the bill is probably even worse than just assuming a politician thinks space aliens are important.

        So I think I'll stick with the space aliens to protect my brain..

    • My hypothesis was right: the lights "in the low clouds" were just the headlights from the cars going up a road near my house. The lights in the clouds appeared every time I could hear a car going up that road. But I'm sure the authorities would love everyone and their mother reporting every thing they didn't have an immediate explanation for. We should flood the NSA, the CIA, the FBI, and the Pentagon with all these reports.

      The USA and Republican politicians are descending into Ancient Aliens conspiracy land, where the evul Dumbacrats are cooperating with ancient Aliens in area 52 (51 was a scam to prevent the truth from getting out) We have all of their uber secret technology, anti-gravity, time travel and teleportation. We just aren't using it in the first case where the military has gotten strategic toys but won't use them.

      So yes - if conspiracy theories that have anyone seeing a UFO being sworn to secrecy, and killed if

  • It is more like keeping an eye out for anything coming over from China, Russia, you name it.
    • You can reasonably believe that until they announce they're also looking for unicorns & elves.

    • Came here to say this. Although most "sightings" are just lens or digital noise artifacts, most of what remains are terrestrial aircraft. Unmanned drones are most likely what we are looking for.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by splutty ( 43475 )

      Which already happens, and which this bill is going to make harder to keep secret if needed.

      I'm all for open government and whistleblowers. This however is not one of those things.

  • There are technologies that have been gained, reverse engineered, that can provide non-billable free energy which is being kept from the public under the claim of being a matter of national security. From an economic POV this has perhaps some validity. However, the base knowledge applied can produce a great deal more in benefits beyond energy, but also in such fields as medical equipment capable of healing beyond what we currently have.

    Bob Lazar is called a conspiracy theorist in the hear-say and provably b

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by gtall ( 79522 )

      Oh bullshit, the bill is by a Republican nutjob who thinks there's a giant conspiracy concerning UFOs.

      • I think there's a giant conspiracy concerning UFOs... in that there is currently a conspiracy to use UFO bullshit to distract us from the fact that our standing military is injurious to freedom.

        If you look at the footage the military released and claimed they couldn't explain, a lot of it was trivially explainable as lens artifacts and such. So there are elements within the military who are pushing a known bullshit UFO scare. That sounds like a conspiracy to me! Even a cover up. But it's not of aliens, it's

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by clovis ( 4684 )

      Why is it that these alien technologies only seem to fall into the hands of societies controlled by capitalists in cahoots with a military-industrial complex who always suppress the new technology?

    • There is no debunked of the wikipedia. Does not exist.

      The main way I know this is that there is no such thing as the Federal Office of Debunking. Claiming that things have been 'debunked' without mention of how and when makes you look stupid.

      There are courts to press charges and be found guilty, not guilty, liable, and not liable. There are newspapers that try to debunk, etc.

      But those are the very organizations that you think are out to get him.

      In other words, all the accusations against him have been su

  • What are they blowing on the whistle for?

    I think we all _love_ the idea of a HHG2TG concept, apart from the bit where they destroy our planet for a bypass, considering our planet an unimportant backwater, but the Fermi paradox is as true today as it was when considered and proposed.

    Finding extraterrestrial life is akin to trying to find a specific single grain of sand on all of the beaches on earth.

    And heck, imagine we _do_ capture a clear signal of intelligence, from a distant point in _our_ galaxy, only t

    • Totally weird moment - and not lying here, as I was typing this, the Eagles, "Journey of the Sorcerer" cropped up on my music stream ... hmmm,.

  • 100% of the real "UAP" and "UFO"s are covert military programs testing out advanced technology. The ONLY reason why you'd ever want to make a law like this would be so double agents and disgruntled engineers can leak classified technology publicly so rival countries can start their own advanced programs. Somebody look into this guy's recent foreign trips and his bank accounts.

  • If a Republican writes it, it will protect the whistle blower only if they don't report any LGBTQ+ aliens.

  • What's needed, Mike, is whistleblower protection for those working with Congress.

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