The New Paradigm Institute says the next US president should be asked whether he will release UFO-related documents.
The once-taboo subject that effectively drove whistleblowers like Bob Lazar into exile has become the topic of a social media campaign pressuring 2024 presidential candidates to ask debate moderators if they’d be willing to declassify their files.
“The next president of the United States will have important decisions to make regarding UAP disclosure and government transparency,” Daniel Sheehan, principal counsel at the New Paradigm Institute, said in a June 12 statement.
“It’s time for all presidential candidates — Joe Biden, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Donald Trump — to commit to UFO/UAP disclosure and transparency. … It’s time to bring UAP into the political debate of our elections, regardless of political stance.”
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Footage of a UFO flying near the USS Omaha off the coast of San Diego in July 2019 and disappearing into the ocean without a splash or crash debris. (Jeremy Corbell/Weaponized Podcast)
Republican Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee told Fox News Digital in a previous interview that the documentation on UFOs, or UAPs (unidentified anomalous phenomena), is “so fragmented that we’ll never get to the bottom of it.”
It would take a “Commander in Chief who says enough is enough” to declassify everything.
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So the New Paradigm Institute, an organization dedicated to securing the release of UFO-related files, has launched a social media campaign to convince the moderators of the next presidential debate to include a question about UFOs.
“Presidential candidates should be asked whether they are committed to UAP disclosure and government transparency,” Sheehan said, adding that the June 27 debate will be the “perfect forum” for the public to know where the candidates stand.
File photo of President Biden (left) and former President Trump. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon I Curtis Means/DailyMail.com via The Associated Press, Pool)
The UFO issue has been of continuing interest in Congress, where bipartisan efforts have urged government agencies to release their files.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was asked about UFOs during a presidential primary debate last April and scoffed at the idea.
“You know the UFO question? Get over it!” Christie said during the debate, joking with the moderator.
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He laughed and gave a vague answer.
“The job of the president of the United States is to be honest with the American people about everything,” Christie said, adding that UFOs pose a greater threat to children’s education.
Former Navy pilot Ryan Graves, former Navy commander David Fravor, and former U.S. intelligence officer David Grush testified before a House subcommittee specializing in UFOs. (House of Representatives Subcommittee on National Security, Borders, and Foreign Affairs)
The response angered many who have fought for years for disclosure, including former Navy pilot Ryan Graves.
“How can laughter ever be an acceptable response to a question about national security?” Graves told Fox News Digital after Christie’s response.
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The combination of gentle jeers and chuckles, and the fact that this was a question posed to a candidate vying for the highest office in the land, is emblematic of the current state of the issue.
Although there is still some stigma surrounding the possibility of UFOs and extraterrestrial life, it is becoming more mainstream.
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In government, Senator Chuck Schumer introduced a bipartisan UFO disclosure bill that was passed along with the new budget, but the law still gives the president the power to classify or seal certain records.
Republican Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) has introduced a bill that would allow federal agencies to release UFO-related documents within 270 days. Screenshot of the Super Bowl ad on the right. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images and Squarespace)
Whistleblowers have alleged that the government ran a secret program to recover crashed alien spacecraft and reverse-engineered the technology, a matter that has even been the subject of congressional hearings.
This is in stark contrast to people like Lazar, who made similar accusations in the late 1980s but were labelled as Area 51 conspiracy theorists.
So far, President Biden has not forced federal agencies to release classified documents about UFOs, but there is legislation under consideration in Congress that would force the executive branch to do so.
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Burchett’s proposed bill would essentially consolidate all of the federal agencies’ fragmented files on UFOs and put them into a declassified pool of information.
The Tennessee Republican told Fox News Digital in an earlier interview, “It’s simple. They keep saying it doesn’t exist and then they release the files. At all. … We just have to get this out there, clear up the misunderstanding and move forward.”
