The conferenced version of the fiscal year (FY) 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) gives the Pentagon’s UFO sleuths three specific mandates, including expanded briefings to Congress.
The Defense Department’s (DOD) All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) was established in 2022 to investigate unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), which are more colloquially known as UFOs.
The DOD has been rebranded as the War Department by the Trump administration.
However, lawmakers have found issue with the quantity and the transparency of reports from the AARO to Congress. To address those deficiencies, lawmakers added several new requirements to the NDAA, which establishes defense funding levels and priorities.
First, the NDAA directs the AARO to provide expanded congressional briefings on UAPs.
Specifically, the mandate targets any UAP intercepts conducted by the U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
Briefings must include the number, location and nature of intercepts, as well as descriptions of procedures and protocols followed, and any data collected or analyzed. The first briefing must also include intercepts dating back to Jan. 1, 2004, that have not previously been reported.
Second, the NDAA eliminates duplicative reporting requirements and streamlines how UAP-related data is provided to AARO.
It requires the director of national intelligence and the defense secretary to ensure all intelligence community elements and DOD components immediately make such data available to the office, while protecting intelligence sources and methods.
Third, the NDAA requires the AARO to account for all security classification guides that govern UAP-related reporting and investigations, an area that has drawn new attention on Capitol Hill as Republicans call for UAP document declassification.
According to the NDAA provision, the director may issue a consolidated classification matrix for programs affected by UAP inquiries, and information on these guides must appear in AARO’s 2026 annual report.
The FY 2026 NDAA, which authorizes $900.6 billion in defense spending, cleared the House on Dec. 10 by a 312-112 vote. Leadership from the House and Senate Armed Services committees released the compromise text on Dec. 7, and Senate passage is expected the week of Dec. 15.
The White House has already signaled its support, putting the bill on track to become law before the holiday recess.