UAP Whistleblower Protection Act
The UAP Whistleblower Protection Act would add a new protected disclosure category to multiple federal whistleblower laws, specifically shielding federal personnel who reveal the use of federal taxpayer funds to evaluate or research unidentified anomalous phenomenon (UAP) material. In effect, the bill makes it unlawful to retaliate against employees or contractors who raise concerns about how taxpayer dollars are being spent on UAP research or evaluation. The protections would apply across a broad set of actors, including civilian federal employees, the FBI, the Department of Defense (including armed forces and DoD contractors), federal civilian contractors, and members of the intelligence community, by amending several existing statutes. The bill signals Congress’s intent to bolster oversight and transparency around UAP-related spending, while relying on existing whistleblower remedies and processes to address any retaliation.
Key Points
- 1Expands whistleblower protections for federal civilian employees under 5 U.S.C. 2302(b)(8) to include disclosures about the use of federal taxpayer funds to evaluate or research unidentified anomalous phenomenon material.
- 2Extends similar protections within FBI whistleblower provisions (5 U.S.C. 2303(a)(2)) to cover the use of federal taxpayer funds to evaluate or research UAP material.
- 3Adds UAP funding disclosures to Department of Defense provisions, covering both armed forces (10 U.S.C. 1034) and DoD contractors (10 U.S.C. 4701), to protect disclosures about U.S. taxpayer funds used for UAP evaluation or research.
- 4Incorporates the UAP funding disclosure protection for federal civilian contractors under 41 U.S.C. 4712(a)(1).
- 5Extends protections to the Intelligence Community through amendments to the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3234), including relevant sections of 1104, to safeguard disclosures about the use of federal taxpayer funds for UAP evaluation or research.
- 6The bill has a multi-committee referral (Oversight and Government Reform; Armed Services; Intelligence (Permanent Select)) for consideration of provisions within each committee’s jurisdiction.