News
Congressional Press Conference Calls for Whistleblower Immunity and Full UAP Disclosure
June 9, 2026
Representatives Luna, Burlison, Moskowitz, Burchett, and Perry joined David Grusch, Leslie Kean, James Fox, and Disclosure Foundation Executive Director Jordan Flowers to demand whistleblower protections, executive action, and the release of historical UAP records. The article also examines a declassified 1971 Australian intelligence assessment that Grusch cited during the press conference.
On June 9, 2025, Representatives Luna, Burlison, Moskowitz, Burchett, and Perry joined whistleblower David Grusch, journalist Leslie Kean, filmmaker James Fox, Disclosure Foundation Executive Director Jordan Flowers, and other disclosure advocates for a congressional press conference on UAP transparency, whistleblower protections, and the ongoing push for full government disclosure.
The Press Conference
Members of Congress and key figures in the UAP disclosure movement gathered on Capitol Hill to discuss the current state of UAP transparency efforts, the need for continued whistleblower protections, and the importance of legislative action to ensure government accountability on this issue.
The press conference featured statements from:
- Rep. Anna Paulina Luna — Chair of the UAP Declassification Task Force, calling for permanent immunity for whistleblowers and continued coordination with the White House
- Rep. Eric Burlison — Detailing three years of congressional progress, credible claims of recovered craft and reverse engineering programs, and calling on the president to waive non-disclosure agreements binding whistleblowers
- Rep. Scott Perry — Emphasizing that government-held information belongs to the American people
- Rep. Tim Burchett — Calling out institutional obstruction and the decades-long cover-up
- Rep. Jared Moskowitz — Noting the significance of military-grade witnesses, the pattern of legislative obstruction, and trillions of unaccounted Pentagon dollars
- Leslie Kean — Calling for prioritized declassification of biological evidence, noting that knowledge of another life form should not be classified as a national security threat
- David Grusch — Describing foreign intelligence corroborating U.S. crash retrieval programs, ongoing DIA obstruction of congressional requests, and billions in annual slush funding for legacy programs
Key Themes
The press conference addressed several interconnected issues:
Whistleblower protections. Multiple speakers called for permanent immunity for individuals who come forward with information about UAP programs, noting that current protections are insufficient. Rep. Luna stated that the White House is considering permanent immunity provisions so that potential witnesses cannot face Espionage Act violations for speaking to Congress.
Legislative obstruction. Representatives described repeated efforts by intelligence agency staff and congressional staffers to block UAP-related hearings, strip legislative language from bills, and disrupt classified briefings. The speakers framed this obstruction as a constitutional crisis in which unelected officials have placed programs beyond the oversight of elected representatives.
Presidential action. Speakers praised President Trump's directive to release UAP files and called for additional executive action, including waiving non-disclosure agreements and granting immunity to whistleblowers who provide locations of materials and craft.
Historical records. David Grusch specifically referenced a declassified 1971 Australian government assessment that discussed the U.S. government's covert involvement with UFO investigations and the role of the CIA in public debunking. He encouraged the public to read pages seven through sixteen of the document.
International disclosure. Rep. Luna issued a direct challenge to foreign governments to follow the United States' lead on transparency, noting that multiple countries possess relevant information.
The 1971 Australian Assessment
During the press conference Q&A, David Grusch referenced a specific historical document that warrants closer examination: a declassified 1971 Australian government assessment titled "Scientific and Intelligence Aspects of the UFO Problem," prepared by O.H. Turner, Head of the Nuclear Branch in Australia's Joint Intelligence Organisation.
Grusch described it as "a little known document that is publicly available" and encouraged people to "read page seven through sixteen" where Turner discussed "the U.S. cover up and the involvement of the CIA back in the seventies."
The document is significant because it represents a formal allied government assessment — not speculation from a private researcher — that examined U.S. intelligence involvement with UFO reports, the role of the CIA and Robertson Panel in public debunking, advanced propulsion research, and the distinction between the U.S. government's public posture and its private intelligence interest.
Read the Full Declassified Assessment
The full 1971 Australian assessment referenced by Grusch is embedded below and available for download.
Full 1971 Australian Assessment — Scientific and Intelligence Aspects of the UFO Problem
Why This Document Matters
The importance of this assessment is not that every conclusion should be accepted uncritically. Historical intelligence documents often reflect the assumptions, limitations, and information environment of their time. The importance is that a senior Australian government official working in a scientific and intelligence capacity assessed the UFO issue as a serious matter involving national security, scientific investigation, and public information management.
The assessment describes early USAF intelligence analyses that, according to Turner, found some UFO reports involved flight characteristics beyond known U.S. aircraft. It further states that some analysts could only envisage an extraterrestrial origin for certain reports. Whether or not one accepts that conclusion, the passage is historically significant because it records how the issue was being evaluated inside allied government channels.
The document also discusses CIA/Office of Scientific Intelligence involvement, the Robertson Panel, and the U.S. government's public posture toward UFO reports. Turner's assessment argues that public debunking and ridicule helped suppress scientific inquiry even as underlying intelligence and scientific questions remained unresolved.
Key Passages in the Assessment
What the Assessment Says
Turner's assessment states that early USAF intelligence analyses found some UFO reports difficult to reconcile with known U.S. aircraft capabilities. The document says that, in those analyses, an extraterrestrial origin was the only explanation some analysts could envisage for certain reports.
The assessment also describes the role of CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence and the 1953 Robertson Panel in shaping the U.S. government's public posture. According to Turner, public debunking helped reduce public alarm and discouraged adversarial exploitation of UFO reports, but it also created an environment in which serious scientific consideration of the subject became difficult.
The document goes further than public messaging. It discusses advanced propulsion, gravity control research, and the possibility that some UFO-related questions intersected with aerospace research. These claims should be read carefully, but their presence in a declassified government assessment is itself historically significant.
The Australian portions of the file also show that UFO reporting was treated as an air defense and intelligence matter. Appendix B records that in 1953 a USAF Assistant Air Attaché at the U.S. Embassy approached Australian officials and requested that UFO reports be sent to the United States.
Historical Context
The assessment was written in the Cold War context, when air defense, nuclear weapons, missile development, foreign intelligence collection, and psychological warfare were central government concerns. UFO reports were therefore not simply a matter of public curiosity. They could implicate airspace sovereignty, adversarial technology, intelligence deception, public panic, and classified aerospace research.
The document is best understood as a historical intelligence assessment, not as a final scientific determination. Some claims may reflect incomplete information, inference, or the analytical assumptions of the period. Even so, the file remains important because it shows that the UFO issue was being assessed within a serious national security and scientific framework by allied officials.
What This Document Does and Does Not Show
This document does not prove that any particular UFO report involved non-human technology. It does not independently verify every claim made in the assessment. It does not resolve the modern UAP debate.
It does show something narrower and important: a declassified allied government assessment treated the UFO issue as a matter involving U.S. intelligence activity, public information management, air defense, scientific inquiry, and potential advanced propulsion research. It also documents that Australian officials understood the United States to have private interest in UFO reporting even as the public posture emphasized conventional explanations and debunking.
For Congress, the relevance is straightforward. Historical records can help determine whether the public record accurately reflects what government agencies knew, how they handled reports, and whether lawful oversight was impeded by excessive secrecy or misleading public narratives.
Why Congress Should Care
Current congressional interest in UAP has focused on three central questions: whether relevant records have been withheld from Congress or the public, whether whistleblowers can safely provide protected disclosures, and whether legacy programs or historical records remain outside meaningful oversight.
This 1971 assessment does not answer those questions by itself. It does, however, show that concerns about secrecy, public messaging, scientific stigma, and the intelligence handling of UFO reports are not new. They have existed for decades, including inside allied government channels.
That is why historical UAP records should be collected, reviewed, declassified where appropriate, and made available to Congress and the public.
Source Information
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Title | Scientific and Intelligence Aspects of the UFO Problem |
| Prepared by | O.H. Turner, Head, Nuclear Branch, Joint Intelligence Organisation |
| Date | May 27, 1971 |
| Archive | National Archives of Australia |
| Series | A13693 |
| Control Symbol | 3092/2/000 |
| Item ID / Barcode | 30030606 |
| Status | Open |
| Subject | Australian assessment of U.S. official attitude and intelligence involvement concerning UFO reports |