INTELLIGENCE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2023
[...]
Modification of Requirement for Office to
Address Unidentified
Aerospace-Undersea Phenomena
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At a time when
cross-domain transmedium threats to United States national
security are expanding exponentially, the Committee is disappointed with
the slow pace of DoD-led
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By Congress
7-20-22
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efforts to establish the office to address those threats and to replace the
former
Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force as required in Section
1683 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022. The
Committee was hopeful that the new office would address many of the structural
issues hindering progress. To accelerate progress, the Committee has, pursuant
to Section 703, renamed the organization formerly known as the efforts to
establish the office to address those threats and to replace the former
Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force as required in Section 1683 of the
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022. The Committee was
hopeful that the new office would address many of the structural issues
hindering progress. To accelerate progress, the Committee has, pursuant to
Section 703, renamed the organization formerly known as the Unidentified Aerial
Phenomena Task Force and the Aerial Object Identification and Management
Synchronization Management Group to be the Unidentified Aerospace-Undersea
Phenomena Joint Program Office. That change reflects the broader scope of the
effort directed by the Congress. Identification, classification, and scientific
study of unidentified aerospace- undersea phenomena is an inherently challenging
cross-agency, cross-domain problem requiring an integrated or joint Intelligence
Community and DoD approach. The new Office will continue to be led by DoD, with
a Deputy Director named by the Intelligence Community. The formal DoD and
Intelligence Community definition of the terms used by the Office shall be
updated to include space and undersea, and the scope of the Office shall be
inclusive of those additional domains with focus on addressing technology
surprise and ``unknown unknowns.'' Temporary nonattributed objects, or those
that are positively identified as man-made after analysis, will be passed to
appropriate offices and should not be considered under the definition as
unidentified aerospace-undersea phenomena.Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task
Force and the Aerial Object Identification and Management Synchronization
Management Group to be the Unidentified Aerospace-Undersea Phenomena Joint
Program Office. That change reflects the broader scope of the effort directed by
the Congress. Identification, classification, and scientific study of
unidentified aerospace- undersea phenomena is an inherently challenging
cross-agency, cross-domain problem requiring an integrated or joint Intelligence
Community and DoD approach. The new Office will continue to be led by DoD, with
a Deputy Director named by the Intelligence Community. The formal DoD and
Intelligence Community definition of the terms used by the Office shall be
updated to include space and undersea, and the scope of the Office shall be
inclusive of those additional domains with focus on addressing technology
surprise and ``unknown unknowns.'' Temporary nonattributed objects, or those
that are positively identified as man-made after analysis, will be passed to
appropriate offices and should not be considered under the definition as
unidentified aerospace-undersea phenomena.
