Disclosure Diaries Update #36

According to an explanatory document published by AARO, KONA BLUE was identified as:

"a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sensitive compartment established to protect the retrieval and exploitation of 'non-human biologics.' AARO researched the information provided by the interviewees and learned KONA BLUE was a Prospective Special Access Program (PSAP) that had been proposed to DHS leadership but was never approved or formally established."

The original proposal (and other associated documents) were also published.

According to Variety, Steven Speilberg's next film will be a UFO-oriented movie with an original screenplay written by David Koepp.

According to the new website and launch release, this initiative assembles subject matter experts and publishes thought leadership articles to help improve aerospace safety by enhancing scientific knowledge of, and mitigating barriers to the study of, Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.

During a hearing before the US House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Rob Wittman revealed: "We saw recently a very disturbing trend at Langley AFB, where because of a large number of UASs that were in that airspace, Langley had to close down [to defend the safety & operations of the base]."

Following the AARO briefing, several Reps. (namely Burchett, Luna, and Ogles) were generally unimpressed – describing the session as a 'nothingburger'.

Rep. Garcia seemed pleased with some of the answers to his questions, although he reiterated the need for further investigation:

"I had one major question, which was answered to my satisfaction. But, I still think — I’ll just reiterate my position — that we need more public hearings at the Oversight [Committee] level. We need to bring in more witnesses and have them testify. It’s not like anything’s resolved. [...] I’m glad there’s bipartisan support and there’s bipartisan lawmakers looking at this issue. And, I just want to remind people that it’s a serious issue. It’s not a joke."

Rep. Burlison left the session with his skepticism bolstered (i.e., that the UAP issue can be explained prosaically):

"My worldview has been very skeptical that this is extraterrestrial and that remains. There's nothing that I learned today that — in fact, probably had more validated today but, my worldview’s probably more validated today.” 

All sourced via AskaPol.

In a FOIA release triggered by the BlackVault, more context has been provided on the extent of communications between AARO (i.e. Dr. Kirkpatrick) and UAP whistleblower David Grusch.

According to coverage from the Liberation Times:

"The documents affirmed that David Grusch, a former senior intelligence officer and whistleblower on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), deliberated on presenting testimony and evidence concerning purported U.S. government activities in the retrieval and reverse engineering of non-human materials to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), the DoD’s UAP office. 

Concerns about AARO, as a third party, being exposed to information provided securely and legally by Grusch to the Intelligence Community’s Inspector General and Congress, while there is an ongoing DoD IG Whistleblower Reprisal Investigation, led to his decision not to provide evidence and testimony."

While some have interpreted the documents as proof that Grusch was evading AARO's desire to hear him out, others cite it as evidence that AARO was unable to adequately address Grusch's concerns for secure transmission of UAP-related information.

In a follow-up conversation with AskaPol, Rep. Ogles counters Rep. Burlison's skepticism by underscoring the fact that investigating alleged programs that may be nestled within Special Access Programs (SAPs) can be particularly difficult.

“That's the issue with SAPs, they are so compartmentalized that if you ask about a particular SAP, not only do you have to find the right one but you have to ask the right question. So you could literally find a bed of rocks that has the jewel that you're looking for, but if you don't turn over the right rock...the jewel's right there in front of you. And so that would be my pushback. And I think we need more digging, more investigation. [...] I think there should be a Select Committee.”

• 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.”

• 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.
  
  Note – a select subcommittee was formally requested on March 13th.
• 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 exactly we might expect that to occur, however as of Jan 12 – Rep. Luna confirmed: "I feel confident that we have enough evidence to move forward with our first field hearing. @mattgaetz @JaredEMoskowitz @timburchett . We will be announcing details soon."
• 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)
• David Grusch has received additional clearances through DOPSR to discuss some of his (alleged) first-hand knowledge of Legacy programs. He has mentioned he may be covering more of this information in an upcoming Op-Ed
• Some commentators have speculated that the architects of the UAPDA (e.g. Sens. Schumer/Rounds et al) are working diligently behind the scenes to continue furthering serious legislative UAP transparency efforts