Disclosure Diaries Update #13

The David Grusch Clearance Amendment has made it into the Financial Services Appropriations Bill H.R 4664. The amendment will allow for the reinstatement of David Grusch's security clearances, the lack of which has recently been been a barrier to Members of Congress being able to speak with Grusch in a classified setting.

In a recent interview with Askapol, Rep. Eric Burlison confirmed Members of Congress have been working to overcome some of the barriers they faced in their briefing with the DoD IG.

He goes on to say – “This time around, there's no reason why they cannot give us access to the Grusch report, so I want to be able to read the Grusch report directly."

Col. Karl Nell, one of the figures who corroborated Grusch's whistleblower claims in the original Debrief coverage, has been confirmed to be a speaker the the SOL Foundation's inaugural event on the 17-19th of November.

Nell is a retired Army Colonel and current aerospace executive who was the Army’s liaison for the UAP Task Force from 2021 to 2022, and he was quoted in the original news coverage, saying – "His assertion concerning the existence of a terrestrial arms race occurring sub-rosa over the past eighty years focused on reverse engineering technologies of unknown origin is fundamentally correct, as is the indisputable realization that at least some of these technologies of unknown origin derive from non-human intelligence".

During his session, he will be discussing the Schumer amendment and “controlled disclosure”.

For more background on Nell, see this informative video.

In an interview with Politico, Dr. Kirkpatrick was on the defense following a period where he had been facing some steep public criticism.

He confirmed that "Volume One" of the historical review his office has been mandated to submit will be published by the end of the year. In his words, this report will "[lay] that out as 'Here’s what we’ve been able to prove is true, here’s what we’ve been able to prove is not true' ”, based on the extent of testimony and evidence they have been presented.

Kirkpatrick also reaffirmed his claim that David Grusch has avoided testifying to AARO, saying – "We still can’t get him to come in. I’ve got five different people who have gone to talk to him to get him to come in. And the answers have always been everything from “We’re not cleared” to “It would jeopardize his whistleblower protections” to “Why can’t we just go get the information that he shared from the IG?” It’s every excuse that I have heard, why not to come in."

Asked whether he believes 'aliens are real', he responds – "That is a great question. I love that question. Number one, the best thing that could come out of this job is to prove that there are aliens, right? Because if we don’t prove there are aliens, then what we’re finding is evidence of other people doing stuff in our backyard. And that’s not good."

With this last statement in mind, it is interesting to note that AARO has not yet attributed any of the >800 UAP incidents to foreign activity.

Matthew Pines took to X to share a claim relayed to him from a highly cleared member of the DoD, saying – "A current very highly cleared DoD SES recently confided to me that AARO is 'entirely a disinformation activity' designed to 'cover and distract' with 'no qualms about misleading Congress.' This person also indicated they [the source, not AARO] were recently given a SCIF briefing on the 'Grusch stuff'."

• According to Senator Gillibrand – a public hearing in line with AARO's latest report can be expected soon, saying –"I'll probably have another hearing aligned with that public report.”
• On November 15th, the Hayden Center is hosting an event – UAP: The Search For Clarity – with AARO's lead Dr. Kirkpatrick as the main guest. The hosts have confirmed they will also be taking questions from the in-person/virtual audience. You can register for the event here.
• Members of Congress will be discussing UAP-related matters in a SCIF with the Intelligence Community Inspector General on the 16th of November
• The SOL Foundation is holding its first annual conference at Stanford University on November 17-19, 2023. Covering everything from the scientific study of UAP data to philosophical questions raised by it to related global security issues, the meeting brings together Avi Loeb, Charles McCullough, Cristopher Mellon, Garry Nolan, Jacques Vallée, and other leading academic and government voices on UAP.

• While the US Senate passed the NDAA for FY24 – which included the UAP Disclosure Act of 2023 as an amendment – the coming months will still require Senators and Members of Congress to reconcile the two chambers’ versions of the NDAA and produce a final compromise bill. Most commentators don't expect this to happen before December 2023.
• Following the UAP hearing on the 26th of July, Members of Congress have called for a select committee with subpoena authority, to “go about the task of collecting information from the Pentagon and elsewhere” on unidentified flying objects. There have been conflicting messages from various Members of Congress on whether this is likely to happen anytime soon.
• Reps. Moskowitz, Luna, and Burchett have repeatedly stated their intent to hold field hearings to overcome stonewalling from the Pentagon and military establishment
  
  "I think we [Congress] should try to get into one of these places [housing UAP evidence]...and if they won't let us in I think we should have a field hearing right outside the building...and the military will have to explain why that is." – Rep. Moskowitz (D)
  
  It is currently unknown when we might expect that to occur.
• Several journalists have indicated that first-hand witnesses of the alleged UAP legacy programs are in the process of providing testimony/evidence to the relevant authorities (e.g. the IC IG) and/or are on the verge of making public statements in the near future (Example 1, example 2, example 3, example 4)