Summary
donald-trump has directed federal agencies to waive prior nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) for former government employees and contractors with relevant UAP information, per senior administration officials. This moves the uap-whistleblower-protections question from congressional ask to executive action: at the June 9, 2026 david-grusch press conference, Reps. eric-burlison and anna-paulina-luna called on Trump to grant immunity and waive NDAs (see “June 2026 — executive-immunity ask” in uap-whistleblower-protections); this directive is the administration’s response. Under the new process, former personnel believing they hold relevant information meet with cleared officials at aaro or pursue, where applicable NDAs “could be waived.” Officials stressed this is not a declassification directive — only a channel for coming forward — and that resulting information still passes through existing declassification review. The story recaps the pursue release cadence (next tranche “very soon”), Secretary of State marco-rubio’s 2023 Senate Intelligence Committee remarks on reluctant witnesses, and Grusch’s disputed “slush fund” and NHI-species claims, which aaro continues to deny evidence for.
Key Claims
- Trump directed the Department of War and IC to let former employees/contractors with relevant UAP information meet designated officials at aaro or pursue and have prior NDAs abrogated (senior administration official).
- The move is explicitly not a declassification directive — it only permits coming forward through official channels (second senior official).
- Any information received will still go through existing declassification procedures before public release (official).
- Officials are uncertain whether witnesses possess significant new information but want to remove perceived legal barriers to find out (“You don’t know what you don’t know”).
- Next pursue file tranche expected “very soon,” continuing the rolling-release pattern.
- Then-Vice Chairman marco-rubio said in 2023 that multiple individuals with firsthand knowledge approached the Senate Intelligence Committee but hesitated to speak publicly, citing job security, clearance loss, career damage, and personal-safety concerns.
- Recaps Rep. eric-burlison’s June 9, 2026 demand: “Grant immunity to anyone who has already come forward, and everyone who will come forward.”
- Recaps david-grusch’s claims of “slush funds… billions of dollars per annum” for UAP activities outside oversight; aaro disputes his central claims and states no verified evidence of ET technology or recovered/reverse-engineered NHI craft.
Notable Quotes
“President Trump recently directed the Department of War and the intelligence community to allow former government employees or contractors, that have relevant information about the disclosure of UAP, to come forward to meet with designated government representatives — AARO or the President’s UAP taskforce, ‘PURSUE’ — and have their prior NDAs abrogated.” — senior administration official
“People who believe that they have information have expressed reluctance in coming forward. We are eliminating that source of reluctance.” — senior administration official
“Any information that is received that sheds light on the UAP mystery will ultimately be made public.” — senior administration official
“You don’t know what you don’t know.” — senior administration official
“Grant immunity to anyone who has already come forward, and everyone who will come forward. Open the door and let them speak.” — Rep. Eric Burlison, June 9, 2026
Follow-up
On August 1, 2026, odni publicly released (via Rep. Burlison’s office) an implementation memo providing preliminary guidance for executing this directive, formally routing NDA-waived disclosures to PURSUE and setting a 30-day IC point-of-contact deadline. See src-odni-nda-waiver-memo-2026-07.