Within Disclosure Act
The Schumer–Rounds UAP Disclosure Act did not propose automatic publication of every unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) record. Instead, it attempted to change the burden of proof. Under the proposal, secrecy would no longer be justified merely because a record was classified or because an agency preferred to keep it hidden.
Page outline Jump by section
Introduction
The Schumer–Rounds UAP Disclosure Act did not propose automatic publication of every unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) record. Instead, it attempted to change the burden of proof. Under the proposal, secrecy would no longer be justified merely because a record was classified or because an agency preferred to keep it hidden. Disclosure could be postponed only if there was “clear and convincing evidence” that a specific, substantial harm would result and that this harm outweighed the public interest in disclosure. [senate]democrats.senate.govIN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—118th Cong.Read moreSenate Democratic Leadershipuap_amendment.pdfJuly 13, 2023 — 9 May 2023 — Purpose: To provide for the expeditious disclosure of uniden- t…
For supporters of the UFO disclosure movement, this was one of the proposal’s most important mechanisms. The goal was not to abolish secrecy but to prevent broad, indefinite, or poorly justified secrecy from becoming the default response to UAP-related records. [senate]democrats.senate.govIN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—118th Cong.Read moreSenate Democratic Leadershipuap_amendment.pdfJuly 13, 2023 — 9 May 2023 — Purpose: To provide for the expeditious disclosure of uniden- t…
How high should the bar for UAP secrecy be?
At the centre of the proposal was a legal standard known as “clear and convincing evidence”. This is a higher threshold than a simple assertion or administrative preference. Agencies seeking to delay disclosure would have needed to demonstrate that the claimed harm was real, specific, and substantial enough to outweigh the public interest in release. [senate]democrats.senate.govIN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—118th Cong.Read moreSenate Democratic Leadershipuap_amendment.pdfJuly 13, 2023 — 9 May 2023 — Purpose: To provide for the expeditious disclosure of uniden- t…
The significance of this requirement becomes clearer when compared with ordinary classification practice. In many government systems, records can remain secret because they fall within a classified category or because officials determine that release could create risks. The Schumer–Rounds framework sought to narrow that discretion by requiring an explicit balancing test between harm and public disclosure. [senate]democrats.senate.govIN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—118th Cong.Read moreSenate Democratic Leadershipuap_amendment.pdfJuly 13, 2023 — 9 May 2023 — Purpose: To provide for the expeditious disclosure of uniden- t…
In practical terms, the proposal was aimed at preventing several outcomes that disclosure advocates had long criticised:
- Blanket withholding of entire collections without record-by-record review.
- Reliance on vague national-security claims unsupported by specific evidence.
- Indefinite postponement based on institutional habit rather than demonstrated need.
- Agencies acting as the sole judges of whether their own records should remain hidden. [senate]democrats.senate.govIN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—118th Cong.Read moreSenate Democratic Leadershipuap_amendment.pdfJuly 13, 2023 — 9 May 2023 — Purpose: To provide for the expeditious disclosure of uniden- t… Democratic Leadership [NYU Journal of Legislation]nyujlpp.orgNYU Journal of LegislationTHE UAP DISCLOSURE ACTby A Yang — disclosure in four circumstances: (i) there is clear and convincing evidence…
The mechanism reflected the broader JFK Records Act model, where disclosure is presumed and secrecy requires affirmative justification rather than the reverse. [senate]democrats.senate.govIN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—118th Cong.Read moreSenate Democratic Leadershipuap_amendment.pdfJuly 13, 2023 — 9 May 2023 — Purpose: To provide for the expeditious disclosure of uniden- t…
The clear and convincing evidence standard
The text of the proposal established a presumption that UAP records should become public unless one of a limited number of postponement grounds could be proven. Crucially, the standard was not simply whether some potential harm could be imagined. The evidence supporting postponement had to be “clear and convincing”. [senate]democrats.senate.govIN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—118th Cong.Read moreSenate Democratic Leadershipuap_amendment.pdfJuly 13, 2023 — 9 May 2023 — Purpose: To provide for the expeditious disclosure of uniden- t…
This distinction mattered because one of the recurring complaints within the disclosure movement has been that secrecy decisions are often difficult for outsiders to challenge. If an agency merely states that a document remains sensitive, the public has little way to assess whether the claim is justified. The proposed standard attempted to force a more rigorous explanation tied to identifiable harms. [senate]democrats.senate.govIN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—118th Cong.Read moreSenate Democratic Leadershipuap_amendment.pdfJuly 13, 2023 — 9 May 2023 — Purpose: To provide for the expeditious disclosure of uniden- t…
The proposal therefore sought to prevent secrecy from operating as a catch-all category. A record would not remain hidden simply because it concerned UAPs, intelligence activities, or historically controversial subjects. The government would need to demonstrate why disclosure created a current and substantial problem. [senate]democrats.senate.govIN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—118th Cong.Read moreSenate Democratic Leadershipuap_amendment.pdfJuly 13, 2023 — 9 May 2023 — Purpose: To provide for the expeditious disclosure of uniden- t…
The harms that could justify postponement
The proposal recognised that some forms of secrecy could remain legitimate. It identified specific categories of harm that might justify delaying disclosure if they outweighed the public interest. [senate]democrats.senate.govIN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—118th Cong.Read moreSenate Democratic Leadershipuap_amendment.pdfJuly 13, 2023 — 9 May 2023 — Purpose: To provide for the expeditious disclosure of uniden- t…
National security, intelligence, and foreign relations
The most prominent category involved military defence, intelligence operations, and foreign relations. Disclosure could be postponed if release would reveal a protected intelligence agent, expose an intelligence source or method, or otherwise demonstrably and substantially impair national security. [senate]democrats.senate.govIN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—118th Cong.Read moreSenate Democratic Leadershipuap_amendment.pdfJuly 13, 2023 — 9 May 2023 — Purpose: To provide for the expeditious disclosure of uniden- t…
This provision was designed to prevent disclosure from becoming a back door for revealing active surveillance capabilities, intelligence collection techniques, or sensitive military information. At the same time, the language required those harms to outweigh the public interest rather than merely coexist with it. [senate]democrats.senate.govIN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—118th Cong.Read moreSenate Democratic Leadershipuap_amendment.pdfJuly 13, 2023 — 9 May 2023 — Purpose: To provide for the expeditious disclosure of uniden- t…
Protection of confidential sources
Another category involved individuals who had supplied confidential information to the government. If disclosure would reveal a living confidential source and create a substantial risk of harm, postponement could be justified. [senate]democrats.senate.govIN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—118th Cong.Read moreSenate Democratic Leadershipuap_amendment.pdfJuly 13, 2023 — 9 May 2023 — Purpose: To provide for the expeditious disclosure of uniden- t…
This provision addressed a practical concern: witnesses and insiders are less likely to cooperate if they believe later disclosure will expose them to retaliation, professional consequences, or personal danger. The proposal therefore attempted to balance transparency with source protection. [senate]democrats.senate.govIN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—118th Cong.Read moreSenate Democratic Leadershipuap_amendment.pdfJuly 13, 2023 — 9 May 2023 — Purpose: To provide for the expeditious disclosure of uniden- t…
Personal privacy
Records could also remain temporarily withheld if disclosure would create a substantial and unwarranted invasion of personal privacy that outweighed the public interest. [senate]democrats.senate.govIN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—118th Cong.Read moreSenate Democratic Leadershipuap_amendment.pdfJuly 13, 2023 — 9 May 2023 — Purpose: To provide for the expeditious disclosure of uniden- t…
This limitation reflected the fact that not every UAP-related document concerns government policy. Some records may contain personal information about witnesses, service members, researchers, or civilians whose identities are not necessary for public understanding of the underlying events. [senate]democrats.senate.govIN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—118th Cong.Read moreSenate Democratic Leadershipuap_amendment.pdfJuly 13, 2023 — 9 May 2023 — Purpose: To provide for the expeditious disclosure of uniden- t…
Confidential relationships
The final major category covered confidential understandings between government personnel and cooperating individuals or foreign governments. If disclosure would damage an ongoing confidentiality arrangement and the resulting harm outweighed the public interest, postponement could be allowed. [senate]democrats.senate.govIN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—118th Cong.Read moreSenate Democratic Leadershipuap_amendment.pdfJuly 13, 2023 — 9 May 2023 — Purpose: To provide for the expeditious disclosure of uniden- t…
This provision was intended to prevent disclosure requirements from undermining relationships that governments rely upon for intelligence sharing and international cooperation. [senate]democrats.senate.govIN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—118th Cong.Read moreSenate Democratic Leadershipuap_amendment.pdfJuly 13, 2023 — 9 May 2023 — Purpose: To provide for the expeditious disclosure of uniden- t…
Why structured secrecy still matters to disclosure
A common misunderstanding is that disclosure advocates and secrecy advocates occupy opposite sides of a simple transparency-versus-secrecy debate. The Schumer–Rounds proposal embodied a more nuanced position. It assumed that some records should remain protected for legitimate reasons, but it attempted to make those reasons explicit, reviewable, and temporary where possible. [senate]democrats.senate.govIN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—118th Cong.Read moreSenate Democratic Leadershipuap_amendment.pdfJuly 13, 2023 — 9 May 2023 — Purpose: To provide for the expeditious disclosure of uniden- t…
The proposal paired the clear-evidence test with other mechanisms designed to limit perpetual secrecy. Postponed records were subject to periodic review, and the framework envisioned eventual public disclosure unless continued withholding could still be justified. The proposal also established a strong presumption that records should move into a central archive rather than remain scattered among agencies. [senate]democrats.senate.govIN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—118th Cong.Read moreSenate Democratic Leadershipuap_amendment.pdfJuly 13, 2023 — 9 May 2023 — Purpose: To provide for the expeditious disclosure of uniden- t…
From the perspective of the UFO disclosure movement, the key objective was not immediate publication of every document. It was preventing secrecy from resting on broad assertions that could never be independently tested. The “clear and convincing evidence” requirement was intended to force a more disciplined question: what specific harm would disclosure cause, and is that harm truly greater than the public’s interest in knowing? [senate]democrats.senate.govIN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—118th Cong.Read moreSenate Democratic Leadershipuap_amendment.pdfJuly 13, 2023 — 9 May 2023 — Purpose: To provide for the expeditious disclosure of uniden- t… Democratic Leadership [NYU Journal of Legislation]nyujlpp.orgNYU Journal of LegislationTHE UAP DISCLOSURE ACTby A Yang — disclosure in four circumstances: (i) there is clear and convincing evidence…
eBay marketplace picks
Marketplace Samples
Example marketplace items related to this page. Use the search link to explore similar finds on eBay.
Endnotes
-
Source: democrats.senate.gov
Title: IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—118th Cong.Read more
Link: https://www.democrats.senate.gov/imo/[mediaSource snippet
Senate Democratic Leadershipuap_amendment.pdfJuly 13, 2023 — 9 May 2023 — Purpose: To provide for the expeditious disclosure of uniden- t...
Published: July 13, 2023
-
Source: democrats.senate.gov
Link: https://www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/schumer-rounds-introduce-new-legislation-to-declassify-government-records-related-to-unidentified-anomalous-phenomena-and-ufos_modeled-after-jfk-assassination-records-collection-act–as-an-amendment-to-ndaaSource snippet
postponement is necessary because of a direct harm to national security. The amendment will be modeled on the President John F. Kennedy...
-
Source: nyujlpp.org
Link: https://nyujlpp.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/JLPP-27-2-Yang.pdf
Additional References
-
Source: insidegovernmentcontracts.com
Link: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2024/01/implications-of-the-unidentified-anomalous-phenomena-uap-amendment-in-the-2024-national-defense-authorization-act-ndaa/Source snippet
Implications of the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena...9 Jan 2024 — The newly enacted law requires only the establishment of a governmen...
-
Source: defensescoop.com
Link: https://defensescoop.com/2023/12/07/government-uap-records-repository-on-the-verge-of-becoming-law-opened-to-public-viewing/Source snippet
Government UAP records repository on the verge of...7 Dec 2023 — Public disclosure could be postponed if the original classification aut...
-
Source: defensescoop.com
Title: military [whistleblowers]({{ ‘whistleblowers/’ | relative_url }}) share new evidence alleged uap ufo hearing
Link: https://defensescoop.com/2025/09/09/military-whistleblowers-share-new-evidence-alleged-uap-ufo-hearing/Source snippet
UAP reports and associated data. “Sailors need to know that reporting UAP encounters will not harm their careers,” Wiggins said. During t...
-
Source: amendments-rules.house.gov
Title: GARCRO 115 xml240529153551283
Link: https://amendments-rules.house.gov/amendments/GARCRO_115_xml240529153551283.pdfSource snippet
D—Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure29 May 2024 — 5. (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established as an. 6 independent agency a board...
Published: May 2024
-
Source: c-span.org
Title: User Clip: Schumer/Rounds
Link: https://www.c-span.org/clip/us-senate/user-clip-schumer-rounds-uap-disclosure-act/5097966Source snippet
UAP Disclosure Act13 Dec 2023 — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Mike Rounds discuss the rationale and pushback against t...
-
Source: youtube.com
Title: Key moments at House UFO transparency hearing
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Sjv30bCioSource snippet
Schumer UAP Disclosure Act secrecy House holds hearing on UFO transparency and whistleblower protection | full video CBS News...
-
Source: youtube.com
Title: Sen Chuck Schumer Leads Bill To EXPOSE UFO Gov’t Secrets: Rising
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KUQZTHc93MSource snippet
UAP disclosure battle: Whistleblowers, sightings and the transparency fight | Backscroll...
-
Source: fairobserver.com
Title: public interest of disclosure.Read more
Link: https://www.fairobserver.com/world-news/ufo-disclosure-the-most-significant-law-in-human-history/Source snippet
Fair ObserverUFO Disclosure: The Most Significant Law in Human History?11 Sept 2023 — Section 9006 basically says that disclosure can be...
-
Source: youtube.com
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbqYA5NjcJUSource snippet
Key moments at House UFO transparency hearing...
-
Source: archives.gov
Title: uap guidance
Link: https://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/uap-guidanceSource snippet
Guidance to Federal Agencies on Unidentified Anomalous...8 May 2024 — The law requires that by October 20, 2024, each federal agency rev...
Published: October 20, 2024
Topic Tree