UAP Whistleblower Protections May Not Cover CIA, NSA or Private Contractors

UAP whistleblower protections announced this week could help some people who worked with the Pentagon, but researchers and former officials say significant gaps remain across the intelligence community and among private defense contractors.

UAP Whistleblowers Say They Faced Retaliation

In his book, Statement to Congress, he wrote that he was “prevented from returning to his previous job” and “remains blacklisted from certain agencies within the intelligence community.”

Other UAP whistleblowers have reported similar problems after coming forward, including allegations involving a break-in at their home and leaked personal information.

Why the CIA and Other Agencies May Be Excluded

The new exemption covers people who have worked with the Pentagon, but it does not appear to extend to personnel connected to the CIA. That leaves a major gap in the proposed protections.

“I’m glad they waived the NDA for everyone who was involved,” Borland said. However, he argued that similar protections are needed on the intelligence-community side.

He said the protections should cover agencies including the CIA, the National Security Agency and the FBI, as well as scientific agencies such as NASA.

Malik von Rennenkampff, a former State Department analyst who was appointed to the Pentagon during the Obama era, now works with the Sol Foundation, a UAP research nonprofit. He said whistleblowers have alleged that information about non-human technology is held within a specific CIA unit.

That unit is “allegedly, reportedly, allegedly—and I can’t stress this enough—the quarterback of this legendary effort,” von Rennenkampff said.

“What has been publicly announced does not yet cover the core of the alleged legacy program,” von Rennenkampff told WIRED.

Private Contractors Present Another Challenge

A second gap involves private contractors. Many of the people alleged to hold information about UAP programs work for companies rather than the government, meaning the government cannot waive nondisclosure agreements to which it is not a party.

The 2022 law allows certain disclosures, but those agreements apply only to information shared through the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office’s official channels.

Why Supporters Say the Announcement Still Matters

Despite these limitations, von Rennenkampff said the announcement remains significant.

“After 80 years of governments denying, obfuscating and ridiculing this topic, real political capital is now being invested in this issue,” he said.

Unlike AARO, PURSUE is described as a “presidentially led initiative” that ultimately reports to political appointees in the White House rather than career bureaucrats.

Von Rennenkampff said the announcement shows that the Trump administration is taking seriously extraordinary claims involving the recovery of spacecraft of non-human origin.

He also pointed to language in the Pentagon’s release stating that “persons with direct knowledge of UAP-related programs” have historically feared legal liability for their statements.

“I’m not talking about people who have partial knowledge, people who have half knowledge, people who claim knowledge,” he said. “It says people with first-hand knowledge.”

UAP Whistleblower Urges the White House to Listen

Borland hopes PURSUE will provide answers to officials with the authority to act. He pointed to Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, who recently acknowledged that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is working on the UAP portfolio.

Borland said that acknowledgment suggests the White House may be taking more than a symbolic interest in the subject.

He also offered to meet with administration officials.

“There’s enough smoke and enough people behind the scenes,” he said, referring to himself and other whistleblowers. “If you want to know what Stephen Miller and Trump really are, you can call us to the White House right now, and I can say no, and so can everyone else.”