G:\M\17\GALLWI\GALLWI_166.XMLAMENDMENT TO RULES COMMITTEE PRINT 117–54
OFFERED BY MR. GALLAGHER OF WISCONSINAt the end of subtitle E of title XVI, add the following new section:
1SEC. 16ll. UNIDENTIFIED AERIAL PHENOMENA REPORT-

2
3ING PROCEDURES.

(a) AUTHORIZATIONFORREPORTING.—Notwith-4 standing the terms of any written or oral nondisclosure
5 agreement, order, or other instrumentality or means, that
6 could be interpreted as a legal constraint on reporting by
7 a witness of an unidentified aerial phenomena, reporting
8 in accordance with the system established under sub9 section (b) is hereby authorized and shall be deemed to10 comply with any regulation or order issued under the au11 thority of Executive Order 13526 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note;
12 relating to classified national security information) or
13 chapter 18 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C.
14 2271 et seq.).
15(b) SYSTEM FOR REPORTING.—

16(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The head of the Office,17on behalf of the Secretary of Defense and the Direc-g:\VHLD\070122\D070122.024.xml
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tor of National Intelligence, shall establish a secure2

system for receiving reports of—3(A) any event relating to unidentified aer-4

ial phenomena; and5(B) any Government or Government con-6

tractor activity or program related to unidenti-

7

fied aerial phenomena.

8(2) PROTECTION OF SYSTEMS, PROGRAMS, AND

9ACTIVITY.—The

10paragraph (1) shall serve as a mechanism to prevent

11

unauthorized public reporting or compromise of

12

properly classified military and intelligence systems,

13programs, and related activity, including all cat-

14egories and levels of special access and compart-

15

mented access programs, current, historical, and fu-

16ture.

17(3) ADMINISTRATION.—The system established18

pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be administered by19

designated and widely known, easily accessible, and20

appropriately cleared Department of Defense and in-21

telligence community employees or contractors as-22

signed to the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task

23

Force or the Office.

24(4) SHARING OF INFORMATION.—The system25

established under paragraph (1) shall provide for the

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immediate sharing with Office personnel and sup-2

porting analysts and scientists of information pre-3

viously prohibited from reporting under any non-4

disclosure written or oral agreement, order, or other5

instrumentality or means, except in cases where the6cleared Government personnel administering such

7system conclude that the preponderance of informa-

8tion available regarding the reporting indicates that9

the observed object and associated events and activi-

10ties likely relate to a special access program or com-

11partmented access program that, as of the date of12

the reporting, has been explicitly and clearly re-13

ported to the congressional defense committees and

14

congressional intelligence committees, and is docu-

15

mented as meeting those criteria.

16(5) INITIAL REPORT AND PUBLICATION.—Not

17

later than 180 days after the date of the enactment

18of this Act, the head of the Office, on behalf of the19

Secretary and the Director, shall—

20(A) submit to the congressional intelligence

21

committees, the congressional defense commit-

22

tees, and congressional leadership a report de-23tailing the system established under paragraph24(1); andg:\VHLD\070122\D070122.024.xml
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41(B) make available to the public on a2

website of the Department of Defense informa-3

tion about such system, including clear public4

guidance for accessing and using such system

5and providing feedback about the expected

6timeline to process a report.

7(6) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Section 1683 of the8National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year

92022 (50 U.S.C. 3373) is amended—

10(A) in subsection (h)—11(i) in paragraph (1), by inserting

12‘‘and congressional leadership’’ after ‘‘ap-

13

propriate congressional committees’’; and14(ii) in paragraph (2), by adding at the15end the following new subparagraph:16‘‘(Q) A summary of the reports received

17

using the system established under title XVI of18

the National Defense Authorization Act for Fis-

19cal Year 2023.’’; and20(B) in subsection (l)—21(i) by redesignating paragraphs (2)22through (5) as paragraphs (3) through (6),23respectively; and24(ii) by inserting after paragraph (1)25the following new paragraph (2):g:\VHLD\070122\D070122.024.xml
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C:\USERS\AJSCIASCIA\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\11.0\GEN\C\GALLWI_1G:\M\17\GALLWI\GALLWI_166.XML51‘‘(2)2means—term‘congressionalleadership’3‘‘(A) the majority leader of the Senate;4‘‘(B) the minority leader of the Senate;5‘‘(C) the Speaker of the House of Rep-

6

resentatives; and7‘‘(D) the minority leader of the House of

89Representatives.’’.
(c) RECORDS OF NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENTS.—

10(1)IDENTIFICATIONOFNONDISCLOSURE

11

AGREEMENTS.—The12

rector of National Intelligence, the Secretary of13

Homeland Security, the heads of such other depart-

14

ments and agencies of the Federal Government that15

have supported investigations of the types of events

16

covered by subparagraph (A) of subsection (b)(1)17

and activities and programs described subparagraph

18(B) of such subsection, and contractors of the Fed-19

eral Government supporting such activities and pro-

20

grams shall conduct comprehensive searches of all

21

records relating to nondisclosure orders or agree-

22ments or other obligations relating to the types of23

events described in subsection (a) and provide copies

24of all relevant documents to the Office.

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612(2) SUBMITTAL TO CONGRESS.—The head ofthe Office shall—3(A) make the records compiled under para-

4graph (1) accessible to the congressional intel-

5ligence committees, the congressional defense

6committees, and congressional leadership; and7(B) not later than September 30, 2023,

8and at least once each fiscal year thereafter

9through fiscal year 2026, provide to such com-

10mittees and congressional leadership briefings

11and reports on such records.

12(d) PROTECTION FROM LIABILITY AND PRIVATE

13 RIGHT OF ACTION.—
14(1) PROTECTION FROM LIABILITY.—It shall not

15

be a violation of section 798 of title 18, United

16

States Code, or any other provision of law, and no17

cause of action shall lie or be maintained in any18

court or other tribunal against any person, for re-19

porting any information through, and in compliance20

with, the system established pursuant to subsection

21(b)(1).

22(2) PROHIBITION ON REPRISALS.—An employee

23of a Federal agency and an employee of a contractor

24

for the Federal Government who has authority to25

take, direct others to take, recommend, or approve

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71

any personnel action, shall not, with respect to such

2authority, take or fail to take, or threaten to take3

or fail to take, a personnel action, including the rev-

4

ocation or suspension of security clearances, with re-5spect to any individual as a reprisal for any report-

6ing as described in paragraph (1).

7(3) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—In a case in8which an employee described in paragraph (2) takes

9a personnel action against an individual in violation

10of such paragraph, the individual may bring a pri-

11

vate civil action for all appropriate remedies, includ-12

ing injunctive relief and compensatory and punitive

13

damages, against the Government or other employer

14

who took the personnel action, in the United States

15

Court of Federal Claims.

16(e) REVIEW BY INSPECTORS GENERAL.—Not later17 than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act,18 the Inspector General of the Department of Defense and19 the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community shall
20 each—21(1) conduct an assessment of the compliance

22with the requirements of this section and the oper-23

ation and efficacy of the system established under24

subsection (b); andg:\VHLD\070122\D070122.024.xml
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G:\M\17\GALLWI\GALLWI_166.XML81(2) submit to the congressional intelligence2committees, the congressional defense committees,

3and congressional leadership a report on their re-4

spective findings with respect to the assessments

5

they conducted under paragraph (1).

6(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:7(1) The term ‘‘congressional intelligence com-

8mittees’’ has the meaning given such term in section

93 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C.

103003).

11(2)12means—The‘‘congressional

leadership’’13(A) the majority leader of the Senate;14(B) the minority leader of the Senate;15(C) the Speaker of the House of Rep-

16

resentatives; and17(D) the minority leader of the House of18

Representatives.

19(3) The term ‘‘intelligence community’’ has the20

meaning given such term in section 3 of the Na-

21tional Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003).

22(4) The term ‘‘Office’’ means the office estab-

23

lished under section 1683(a) of the National Defense

24

Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 (50 U.S.C.

253373(a)).

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term

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G:\M\17\GALLWI\GALLWI_166.XML91(5) The term ‘‘personnel action’’ has the mean-

2

ing given such term in section 1104(a) of the Na-

3tional Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3234(a)).

4(6) The term ‘‘unidentified aerial phenomena’’5

has the meaning given such term in section 1683(l)6of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal

7

Year 2022 (50 U.S.C. 3373(l)).

◊

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