From WIRED · Nathaniel Janowitz · · 3m
Trump opens door for UFO whistleblowers, but it's not wide enough
A new Pentagon waiver lets defense workers share UFO secrets with the White House, but whistleblowers say it misses the real problem.
In brief
A new Pentagon waiver lets defense workers share UFO secrets with the White House, but whistleblowers say it misses the real problem. The Trump administration's NDA waiver for UFO disclosures signals political will but leaves major gaps: it doesn't cover intelligence agencies, private contractors, or speaking to…
Air Force officer saw triangular craft
Dylan Borland, a former Air Force geospatial intelligence specialist, told Congress he watched a roughly 100-foot triangular craft silently lift off at Langley Air Force Base in 2012.
Borland couldn't answer Congress freely
During his House Oversight hearing, Borland repeatedly said he could only answer questions inside a secure facility, citing fears of being charged under the Espionage Act.
Pentagon issues targeted legal waiver
On September 14, the Defense Department announced a waiver allowing current and former service members, civilians, and contractors to disclose UFO-related secrets to the White House's PURSUE team without legal risk.
Trump directed the intelligence shift
President Trump telegraphed the move over summer by directing the Defense Department and intelligence community to waive UFO-related NDAs. On July 31, the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence reinforced it with a memo to 18 intelligence chiefs.
Borland says waiver changes nothing
The whistleblower told WIRED the waiver is just one more place to report, not a breakthrough. He already knew his NDA was waived and had been told this for years.
“It's one more place to go.”
Congress already protected AARO disclosures
A December 2022 law already stated that authorized UFO disclosures through AARO, the Pentagon's official channel, are not subject to NDAs and don't violate the Espionage Act.
AARO lacks credibility with whistleblowers
The Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office has little trust among the people it was built to hear from, especially after its former director questioned whistleblower credibility and its 2024 report found no evidence of recovered alien technology.
Waiver leaves CIA-sized hole
The new waiver only covers Pentagon workers, not those in the CIA, NSA, FBI, or other intelligence agencies where whistleblowers say the real secrets about nonhuman technology are kept.
Private contractors still unprotected
Many alleged UFO insiders work for private contractors. The government can't waive NDAs it didn't sign, leaving a major gap only the 2022 law partially addresses.
PURSUE signals real political will
Unlike the career bureaucrats at AARO, PURSUE is a presidentially directed initiative reporting to White House political appointees, suggesting the Trump administration is taking UFO claims seriously.
Borland wants direct White House access
Borland hopes PURSUE answers to someone with power to act. He points to White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller as a signal of genuine commitment and offers to brief Trump directly.
“If Stephen Miller and Trump wanted to actually know some stuff, they could call us into the White House right now.”
At a glance
The Trump administration's NDA waiver for UFO disclosures signals political will but leaves major gaps: it doesn't cover intelligence agencies, private contractors, or speaking to Congress and the press.
