Congress & law (topic)

Congress & law (topic)

Type	Topic overview
Events	69
Years	1950–2022
Timeline	Show on the Timeline

Congress & law is one of the twelve topics on the UAP Timeline. It covers hearings, laws and inquiries by Congress and other lawmakers. The Timeline lists 69 events on this topic, from 1950 to 2022.

Key people

• Jacques Vallée — Computer scientist and astronomer, author of the Forbidden Science journals and a central figure in UFO research.
• J. Allen Hynek — Astronomer and Air Force UFO consultant from 1948 to 1969 who later founded the Center for UFO Studies.
• Steven Greer — Physician who founded CSETI and the Disclosure Project.
• Donald Keyhoe — Retired Marine officer, author and director of NICAP who campaigned against UFO secrecy.
• Christopher Mellon — Former deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence who helped release the Navy UAP videos.
• David Grusch — Former intelligence officer who testified in 2023 that the U.S. has recovered non-human craft.
• Edward Ruppelt — Head of Project Blue Book in 1952–53 and author of The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects.
• Harold Puthoff — Physicist who co-founded the SRI remote-viewing research and later worked on AAWSAP and To The Stars Academy.
• C. Richard D'Amato — Senate Appropriations Committee counsel who looked into black budgets for Sen. Robert Byrd.
• Michael Swords — Historian of the Air Force UFO projects.
• John McCormack — House Majority Leader and Speaker who chaired a 1958 UFO briefing and doubted the Air Force.
• John F. Kennedy — 35th U.S. president, named in disputed MJ-12 memos.
• Gerald Ford — U.S. congressman and later president who called for UFO hearings in 1966.
• Barry Goldwater — U.S. senator and Air Force Reserve general who said he was denied access to UFO material at Wright-Patterson.
• Paul Bennewitz — Albuquerque physicist targeted by Air Force disinformation in the Bennewitz affair.
• Richard Doty — Air Force Office of Special Investigations agent who fed disinformation to UFO researchers in the 1980s.

Programs, places and terms

• Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
• Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
• U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
• Central Intelligence Agency — The U.S. foreign intelligence agency, which has followed UFO reports since the 1940s.
• U.S. Navy — The U.S. naval service, whose pilots reported the UAP encounters revealed in 2017.
• Project Blue Book — The Air Force's public UFO investigation from 1952 until its closure in December 1969.
• NICAP — The leading U.S. civilian UFO group of the 1950s and 1960s.
• Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — The Ohio air base that housed Project Blue Book and is linked to the Hangar 18 legend.
• AAWSAP — The Defense Intelligence Agency's UAP research program of 2008–2010, carried out by Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies.
• Disinformation — False information spread deliberately to mislead.
• Robertson Panel —
• AARO — The Pentagon office set up in 2022 to investigate UAP.
• NASA — The U.S. civilian space agency, created in 1958.
• Lockheed Martin — The aerospace company whose Skunk Works built the U-2, SR-71 and F-117.
• To The Stars Academy — The company founded by Tom DeLonge in 2017 that released the Navy UAP videos.
• House Armed Services Committee — The House committee that held a UFO hearing in 1966.

Events

• Henry J. Taylor secret-weapon broadcast (1950) (27 March 1950) — A broadcaster announces saucers are secret U.S. weapons; the story is later called CIA disinformation.
• Dewey Fournet's motion study and Navy inquiry (1951) — A Blue Book officer reportedly runs a private, Navy-assisted inquiry into undersea and aerial UAP.
• Submarine encounters study (1952) (24 April 1952) — Air Force and Navy intelligence study nine undersea UAP encounters reported by U.S. submarines.
• Air Force Regulation 200-2 (26 August 1953) — Air Force Regulation 200-2 tightens UAP reporting and routes key reports away from Project Blue Book.
• Senator Russell's Soviet sighting (1955) (15 October 1955) — Sen. Richard Russell sees two discs in the Soviet Union; the CIA classifies the case.
• Afghanistan saucer reports (1956) (24 January 1956) — Wright-Patterson monitors a reported saucer landing in Afghanistan and plans an overflight.
• Ruppelt's account of the Estimate of the Situation (February 1956) — Edward Ruppelt writes he once saw a top-secret 'Estimate of the Situation' on UAP.
• Air Force Manual 190-4 (1 May 1956) — A former Air Force spokesman says a manual governed all official statements about UFOs.
• Navy pilots' shoot-down orders claim (1956) (5 July 1956) — Unnamed Navy pilots claim standing orders to shoot down hostile UAP over the Pacific.
• Mach 3 radar target alert (1957) (24 September 1957) — The Air Force intelligence chief warns of a radar target crossing the U.S. at Mach 3.
• McClellan subcommittee persuaded against hearings (1958) (28 February 1958) — An Air Force general says informal talks persuaded Senate investigators no UAP hearings were needed.
• Henderson UFO briefing (1958) (20 June 1958) — The Air Force briefs members of Congress on handling constituent questions about UAP.
• McCormack subcommittee UFO briefing (1958) (13 August 1958) — The Air Force tells a House committee civilian UAP groups are its biggest UAP-related challenge.
• Airline pilots and the "Big Brother" gag rules (1958) (21 December 1958) — About 50 airline pilots criticize the Air Force's UAP gag rules as 'Big Brother'.
• John McCormack's doubts about the Air Force (1961) (16 February 1961) — House leader John McCormack says the Air Force isn't sharing all it knows about UFOs.
• Air Force proposals to improve UFO work (1961) (17 March 1961) — Asked how to improve UAP work, the Air Force suggests a raise for adviser J. Allen Hynek and a new camera.
• Arthur Sylvester's "right to lie" remarks (29 October 1962) — A Pentagon spokesman defends withholding information when it's in the public interest.
• Gerald Ford's call for UFO hearings (3 April 1966) — Rep. Gerald Ford is told an upcoming UAP study won't be tied to the Air Force.
• National Bureau of Standards 1943 UFO claim (1969) — A former intelligence officer tells Vallée the National Bureau of Standards studied UAP as early as 1943.
• Hynek's The UFO Experience (May 1972) — Blue Book adviser J. Allen Hynek writes that Blue Book was a cover-up and the problem was glossed over.
• Barry Goldwater and the Wright-Patterson room (28 December 1973) — Sen. Barry Goldwater says he was refused access to a UAP 'room' at Wright-Patterson.
• Goldwater letter to Shlomo Arnon (1975) (28 March 1975) — Goldwater writes that UAP information is classified above Top Secret.
• Rumsfeld's "no need to know" remark (13 April 1975) — Hynek says Donald Rumsfeld told him he had no need to know about any secret UAP study.
• Hynek on the Robertson Panel's legacy (1979) — Hynek says the Robertson Panel set an unwritten Air Force rule to play UAP down.
• Mississippi UFO resolution (1979) (February 1979) — A Mississippi resolution calling for a Senate UAP investigation dies in committee.
• Gabe Valdez and the Dulce cattle mutilations (16 February 1979) — An FBI memo relays a police officer's claim of a cover-up of New Mexico cattle mutilations.
• Bennewitz affair (17 November 1980) — Doty gives physicist Paul Bennewitz a forged document to confuse him.
• Sandia uncle crashed saucer story (1982) (29 September 1982) — Puthoff relays a story of a scientist who studied a crashed saucer and copied an antigravity device.
• Groom Range land withdrawal (1984) (7 August 1984) — The Air Force admits it restricted public access to land near Area 51 without legal authority.
• GAO testimony on special access programs (1986) (24 July 1986) — A GAO official testifies about secret 'black' defense programs.
• Cabo Rojo jet disappearance (1988) (January 1989) — A Navy sailor says F-14 pilots chased a UAP near Puerto Rico.
• Osedacz thesis on fastwalkers (1989) (June 1989) — An Air Force captain writes that a database of UAP in near-Earth orbit has long existed.
• C. Richard D'Amato's warning to Vallée (1991) (1991) — Senate counsel Dick D'Amato tells Vallée that a secretive group spreading false information is breaking the law.
• Jud Roberts and the Mac Brazel interview (30 December 1991) — A Roswell radio manager says he interviewed rancher Mac Brazel and was warned off broadcasting it.
• Vallée meets D'Amato on secret programs (1992) (22 May 1992) — Vallée writes he met Senate counsel Dick D'Amato about secret programs.
• Rockefeller Initiative (15 April 1993) — White House science office papers show CIA interest in a UAP researcher's work.
• D'Amato and untraceable black budgets (1994) — Dick D'Amato reportedly says $40–80 billion a year went to programs that couldn't be traced.
• GAO Roswell records report (28 July 1995) — Rep. Steven Schiff says Roswell base records were destroyed, per a GAO audit.
• Las Vegas data-gathering meeting (1996) (28 January 1996) — Military, scientific and corporate figures meet in Las Vegas about gathering UAP data.
• Mathew Bevan (Kuji) arrest (21 June 1996) — A British hacker is arrested over intrusions into U.S. military and NASA systems.
• CSETI site list for Congress (1996) (30 August 1996) — Greer's CSETI allegedly briefs Congress with a list of sites tied to UAP.
• Burned Kennedy MJ memo (23 January 1999) — An alleged JFK-era 'MJ' memo is sent to a researcher.
• Cold fusion and the Energy Department (1999) (17 May 1999) — A journalist reports concerns about the Energy Department and cold fusion research.
• Proposal for a new Project Blue Book (2000) (24 January 2000) — Bigelow tells Vallée of an idea to push Congress for a new Project Blue Book.
• Don Phillips testimony (April 2001) — Former contractor Don Phillips claims Lockheed studies extraterrestrial technology.
• Norton AFB UFO files claim (1 September 2002) — A couple tells Vallée they saw a large collection of UFO files at Norton AFB in 1985.
• Nevada weapons storage orb (2002) (October 2002) — A three-foot orb is reported moving along fences at a Nevada nuclear weapons storage area.
• Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry (27 November 2002) — A federal commission on the aerospace industry delivers its final report to Congress.
• Catherine Austin Fitts and the missing money (June 2004) — Catherine Austin Fitts writes that huge sums are being diverted into secret programs.
• George H.W. Bush and the Trudeau briefing (17 October 2006) — Eric Davis says George H.W. Bush recalled a briefing about recovered material.
• Projected AAWSAP funding (29 October 2008) — Kit Green tells Vallée AAWSAP funding could reach $240 million.
• Obama White House meeting interest (2008) (24 December 2008) — Puthoff tells Vallée the White House is interested in a meeting about the phenomenon.
• CSETI energy briefing (2009) (13 February 2009) — CSETI allegedly briefs Obama officials and senators on breakthrough energy.
• Navy metamaterials research (2014) (March 2014) — A Navy budget document mentions research on metamaterials to control electromagnetic waves.
• NRO "no UFO records" reply (2015) (5 November 2015) — The NRO tells a FOIA requester it has no UFO records.
• Greer's underground facilities list (18 April 2016) — Steven Greer names underground facilities he claims are tied to secret programs.
• InterNASA lawsuit (26 February 2019) — A TV producer sues former officials over a company called InterNASA.
• TTSA Senate briefings (12 July 2019) — DeLonge says To The Stars spent 18 months briefing the Senate and committees.
• Mark Walker and the Navy (2019) (6 September 2019) — Rep. Mark Walker accuses the Navy of withholding UAP information.
• Mary Elizabeth Elliot inquiry (15 September 2021) — Researchers ask sources about a name in the alleged Wilson memo.
• Energy Department labs as analysts claim (2 October 2021) — Eric Davis says Energy Department labs analyzed UAP materials for another owner.
• Politico "Skull and Bones" faction report (16 May 2022) — An official tells Politico a 'secret society' withholds UAP information from Congress.
• 2022 House UAP hearing (17 May 2022) — Rep. Mike Gallagher asks a Pentagon official about the 'Admiral Wilson memo' at a hearing.
• Garry Nolan on crash materials and contractors (3 August 2022) — Stanford's Garry Nolan discusses claims that crash materials went to aerospace companies.
• Mellon on off-the-books operation allegations (September 2022) — Mellon says there are many allegations of an off-the-books aerospace UAP operation.
• John Warner and AUTEC (14 October 2022) — Former Navy Secretary John Warner's son says his father saw something at a Navy test center.
• Cosmos Club MJ-12 forerunner claim (14 October 2022) — Warner's son describes a 'Cosmos Club' as a forerunner of a group like MJ-12.
• FY2023 NDAA UAP provisions (6 December 2022) — The UAP sections of the 2023 defense bill are published with late changes.
• Committees told more than the public (2022) (18 December 2022) — A journalist says certain congressional committees have been told more than the public.