What Was Filed

The House Rules Committee page for H.R. 8800 lists Burlison's amendment as amendment 1044. The sponsors named on the Rules page are Burlison of Missouri, Crane of Arizona, Carson of Indiana, Luna of Florida, Moskowitz of Florida, and Begich of Alaska. The amendment status is listed as submitted.

The summary on the Rules page says the amendment strengthens the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Records Collection at the National Archives and Records Administration. It also says the amendment creates an independent UAP Records Review Board to review and facilitate public disclosure of relevant records, and requires government agencies to identify, organise, and transmit those records.

The full PDF is dated June 17, 2026. It would add a new subtitle to title XVII of the NDAA: Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Records Collection At The National Archives And Records Administration.

The Fast Read

Item What The Amendment Says Practical Effect
NARA collection The Archivist would start establishing a UAP Records Collection within 60 days after enactment. UAP records would have a dedicated public archive path instead of staying scattered across agency systems.
Agency review Government offices would have to identify, organise, and prepare UAP records for transmission. The duty shifts from waiting for request-by-request disclosure toward an affirmative records sweep.
No destruction The amendment says no UAP record shall be destroyed, altered, or mutilated. Preservation becomes the first gate before arguments over public release.
Review board An independent nine-member board would review records and postponed disclosures. Agencies would not be the only actors deciding how long records stay delayed.
Legal status The amendment has been submitted to the House Rules process. Nothing changes in law unless the language is adopted and survives the NDAA process.

What The Amendment Would Create

The first major piece is the UAP Records Collection at NARA. The amendment says the collection would include record copies of government, government-provided, and government-funded records relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena, technologies of unknown origin, and non-human intelligence, with a carveout for temporarily non-attributed objects.

That scope is broader than a simple UFO sighting file. It covers records by topic, funding path, and custody path. It also pushes the Archivist to preserve physical integrity and original provenance, or the earliest known historical owner when provenance is unclear.

The amendment also asks NARA to prepare and publish a subject guidebook and index. That is a practical archive requirement. A collection without an index can still hide in plain sight. A guidebook and central directory give researchers a way to see what exists, what moved, and what remains postponed.

How NARA Fits In

NARA already says it holds records related to UFOs and UAP across numerous record groups and collections. The amendment would go further by setting up a named UAP Records Collection with a new set of deadlines and review rules.

For records transmitted to NARA for public disclosure, the amendment says they would be available for inspection and copying at the National Archives within 30 days after transmission. It also says digital availability through the NARA online database should happen within a reasonable time, not more than 180 days thereafter.

That is the core change. The public archive would no longer be just a place where older files eventually appear. It would become the endpoint for a defined transmission process.

What Agencies Would Have To Preserve

The amendment gives agency heads a direct job. As soon as practicable after enactment, each government office would have to identify and organise UAP records in its possession or control, then prepare them for transmission to the Archivist.

It also sets a 300-day review window. Agency heads would have to review, identify, and organise each UAP record in their custody or possession for public disclosure, Review Board review, and transmission to NARA.

The preservation language is blunt. No UAP record could be destroyed, altered, or mutilated. Publicly disclosed UAP records could not be newly withheld, redacted, postponed, or reclassified. Records created outside the federal government could not be withheld or redacted except for names or identities handled under the amendment's requirements.

What The Review Board Would Do

The amendment would create the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Records Review Board as an independent agency. The President would nominate nine U.S. citizens, with Senate confirmation, without regard to political affiliation.

The board's job would be to facilitate review, transmission to the Archivist, and public disclosure of government records relating to UAP. The language also gives the board a role in postponed disclosures, including records that agencies want to keep delayed.

One of the clearest pieces is the 25-year disclosure rule. The amendment says each UAP record should be publicly disclosed in full and available in the collection no later than 25 years after the record was first created, unless the President certifies that continued postponement is necessary because of identifiable harm to military defence, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or foreign relations, and that the harm outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

What The Amendment Does Not Do Yet

The amendment does not release any new file by itself. It does not prove that a particular sighting, retrieval claim, or biological claim is true. It does not settle the evidentiary debate around any single UAP case.

It also does not become law just because it was filed. The immediate status is procedural. The language has to be made in order, adopted, included in House-passed NDAA text, survive any Senate and conference process, and then become part of an enacted law.

The most careful reading is records first. If enacted, the amendment would change how the government identifies, preserves, reviews, and discloses UAP records. The evidence still has to be read document by document, the same way a new PURSUE Release 03 file has to be checked against its source path and record type.

How It Connects To Earlier UAP Records Battles

The amendment borrows the logic of earlier disclosure fights: build a collection, identify the records, create a review mechanism, limit indefinite postponement, and give the public a route into the archive. That is familiar territory for anyone who has followed long-running classification disputes.

Inside the UFO field, the connection runs back through official programs and public record fights. Project Blue Book showed how official case handling can become the record people argue about for decades. Modern UAP work adds new offices, new reporting language, and a more formal disclosure fight around custody.

The language also keeps the argument away from a single spectacular claim. It asks a more basic institutional question: which records exist, who controls them, which ones are postponed, and what standard decides the delay?

What To Watch Next

  • Whether the House Rules Committee makes the amendment in order for floor consideration.
  • Whether the language appears in House-passed NDAA text.
  • Whether the Senate carries a similar UAP records board provision.
  • Whether conference negotiations keep, narrow, or remove the UAP records language.
  • Whether NARA or AARO publishes implementation guidance if the language is enacted.
  • Whether researchers begin tracking agency compliance through FOIA, oversight letters, or future hearings.

Source Files

Verdict

The UAP Disclosure Act 2026 filing is a records custody story before it is anything else. If enacted, it would force agencies to preserve and identify UAP material, move records toward NARA, and put an independent review board between agencies and indefinite delay. It does not prove the claims inside the files. It changes the path for getting those files into public view.