Congress passed a defense bill on Thursday that includes a measure to compel the government to release records about UFOs, or «unidentified anomalous phenomena,» as they are now called in official circles.
The bill tells the National Archives to collect these documents, and says any records that are not already public knowledge must be unclassified and released within 25 years, unless the president decides otherwise.
«This is a major, major win for government transparency on UAPs, and it gives us a strong foundation for more action in the future,» said Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, according to the New York Times.
However some lawmakers were less happy with the decision. Representative Tim Burchett (R-TE.) had wanted all records to do with known UAP sightings to be declassified unless it would affect national security.
There has been a broader push for more transparency and ease of reporting around such unidentified phenomena across the government, including at NASA, which released its first UFO report this summer.
The bill will now go to President Joe Biden, who is expected to sign it into law.
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