Apr 16 -- AARO publishes declassified records related to a proposed UAP program designated as "KONA BLUE"
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.
Apr 17 -- Steven Spielberg is allegedly working on an original UFO-related movie
According to Variety, Steven Speilberg's next film will be a UFO-oriented movie with an original screenplay written by David Koepp.
Apr 17 -- the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) launches its UAP integration and outreach committee with a new website
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.
Apr 17 -- "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."
-Rep. Wittman
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]."
Apr 17 -- AARO holds a classified briefing with Members of Congress on the UAP topic
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."
Apr 18 -- FOIA documents reveal the extent of communications between David Grusch and AARO
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.
Apr 19 -- Rep. Ogles reiterates the need for a Select Committee to investigate the UAP issue
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."