44 U.S.C. § 1842

REVIEW, IDENTIFICATION, TRANSMISSION TO THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES, AND PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF UNIDENTIFIED ANOMALOUS PHENOMENA RECORDS BY GOVERNMENT OFFICES.

Read at: OLRCuscode.house.gov CornellLII GovInfogovinfo.gov JustiaTitle 44 CasesGoogle Scholar

“(a)Identification, Organization, and Preparation for Transmission.—“(1)In general.—As soon as practicable after the date of the enactment of this Act [Dec. 22, 2023], each head of a Government office shall—“(A) identify and organize records in the possession of the Government office or under the control of the Government office relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena; and“(B) prepare such records for transmission to the Archivist for inclusion in the Collection.“(2)Prohibitions.—“(A)Destruction; alteration; mutilation.—No unidentified anomalous phenomena record shall be destroyed, altered, or mutilated in any way.“(B)Withholding; redaction; postponement of disclosure; reclassification.—No unidentified anomalous phenomena record made available or disclosed to the public prior to the date of the enactment of this Act may be withheld, redacted, postponed for public disclosure, or reclassified.“(C)Records created by non-federal persons or entities.—No unidentified anomalous phenomena record created by a person or entity outside the Federal Government (excluding names or identities consistent with the requirements of section 1843) shall be withheld, redacted, postponed for public disclosure, or reclassified.“(b)Custody of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Records Pending Review.—During the review by the heads of Government offices under subsection (c), each head of a Government office shall retain custody of the unidentified anomalous phenomena records of the office for purposes of preservation, security, and efficiency, unless it is a third agency record described in subsection (c)(2)(C).“(c)Review by Heads of Government Offices.—“(1)In general.—Not later than 300 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Dec. 22, 2023], each head of a Government office shall review, identify, and organize each unidentified anomalous phenomena record in the custody or possession of the office for—“(A) disclosure to the public; and“(B) transmission to the Archivist.“(2)Requirements.—In carrying out paragraph (1), the head of a Government office shall—“(A) determine which of the records of the office are unidentified anomalous phenomena records;“(B) determine which of the unidentified anomalous phenomena records of the office have been officially disclosed or made publicly available in a complete and unredacted form;“(C)(i) determine which of the unidentified anomalous phenomena records of the office, or particular information contained in such a record, was created by a third agency or by another Government office; and“(ii) transmit to a third agency or other Government office those records, or particular information contained in those records, or complete and accurate copies thereof;“(D)(i) determine whether the unidentified anomalous phenomena records of the office or particular information in unidentified anomalous phenomena records of the office are covered by the standards for postponement of public disclosure under this subtitle; and“(ii) specify on the identification aid required by subsection (d) the applicable postponement provision contained in section 1841;“(E) organize and make available, upon request, to heads of Government offices other than the Government office with custody, including the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, all relevant unidentified anomalous records identified under subparagraph (D);“(F) organize and make available to the heads of Government offices other than the Government office with custody, including the All-domain Anomalous Resolution Office, for assistance with any record concerning which the office has any uncertainty as to whether the record is an unidentified anomalous phenomena record governed by this subtitle; and“(G) give precedence of work to—“(i) the identification, review, and transmission of unidentified anomalous phenomena records not already publicly available or disclosed as of the date of the enactment of this Act;“(ii) the identification, review, and transmission of all records that most unambiguously and definitively pertain to unidentified anomalous phenomena, technologies of unknown origin, and non-human intelligence;“(iii) the identification, review, and transmission of unidentified anomalous phenomena records that on the date of the enactment of this Act are the subject of litigation under section 552 of title 5, United States Code; and“(iv) the identification, review, and transmission of unidentified anomalous phenomena records with earliest provenance when not inconsistent with clauses (i) through (iii) and otherwise feasible.“(3)Priority of expedited review for directors of certain archival depositories.—The Director of each archival depository established under section 2112 of title 44, United States Code, shall have as a priority the expedited review for public disclosure of unidentified anomalous phenomena records in the possession and custody of the depository, and shall make copies of such records available to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office.“(d)Identification Aids.—“(1)In general.—“(A)Preparation and availability.—Not later than 45 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Dec. 22, 2023], the Archivist, in consultation with the heads of such Government offices as the Archivist considers appropriate, shall prepare and make available to all Government offices a standard form of identification, or finding aid, for use with each unidentified anomalous phenomena record subject to review under this subtitle whether in hardcopy (physical), softcopy (electronic), or digitized data format as may be appropriate.“(B)Uniform system.—The Archivist shall ensure that the identification aid program is established in such a manner as to result in the creation of a uniform system for cataloging and finding every unidentified anomalous phenomena record subject to review under this subtitle where ever and how ever stored in hardcopy (physical), softcopy (electronic), or digitized data format.“(2)Requirements for government offices.—Upon completion of an identification aid using the standard form of identification prepared and made available under subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) for the program established pursuant to subparagraph (B) of such paragraph, the head of a Government office shall—“(A) attach a printed copy to each physical unidentified anomalous phenomena record, and an electronic copy to each softcopy or digitized data unidentified anomalous phenomena record, the identification aid describes; and“(B) attach a printed copy to each physical unidentified anomalous phenomena record, and an electronic copy to each softcopy or digitized data unidentified anomalous phenomena record the identification aid describes, when transmitted to the Archivist.“(3)Records of the national archives that are publicly available.—Unidentified anomalous phenomena records which are in the possession of the National Archives on the date of the enactment of this Act, and which have been publicly available in their entirety without redaction, shall be made available in the Collection without any additional review by another authorized office under this subtitle, and shall not be required to have such an identification aid unless required by the Archivist.“(e)Transmission to the National Archives.—Each head of a Government office shall—“(1) transmit to the Archivist, and, as soon as possible, make available to the public, all unidentified anomalous phenomena records of the Government office that can be publicly disclosed, including those that are publicly available on the date of the enactment of this Act [Dec. 22, 2023], without any redaction, adjustment, or withholding under the standards of this subtitle; and“(2) transmit to the Archivist upon approval for postponement by the original classification authority upon completion of other action authorized by this subtitle, all unidentified anomalous phenomena records of the Government office the public disclosure of which has been postponed, in whole or in part, under the standards of this subtitle, to become part of the protected, yet-to-be disclosed, or classified portion of the Collection.“(f)Custody of Postponed Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Records.—An unidentified anomalous phenomena record the public disclosure of which has been postponed shall, pending transmission to the Archivist, be held for reasons of security and preservation by the originating body until such time as the information security program has been established at the National Archives as required in section 1841(d)(2).“(g)Periodic Review of Postponed Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Records.—“(1)In general.—All postponed or redacted records shall be reviewed periodically by the originating agency and the Archivist.“(2)Requirements.—“(A)Public disclosure.—A periodic review under paragraph (1) shall address the public disclosure of additional unidentified anomalous phenomena records in the Collection under the standards of this subtitle.“(B)Unclassified written description of reason.—All postponed unidentified anomalous phenomena records determined to require continued postponement shall require an unclassified written description of the reason for such continued postponement relevant to these specific records. Such description shall be provided to the Archivist and published in the Federal Register upon determination.“(C)Periodic review; downgrading and desclassification [sic] of information.—The Archivist shall establish requirements for periodic review of postponed unidentified anomalous phenomena records that shall serve to downgrade and declassify information.“(D)Deadline for full disclosure.—Each unidentified anomalous phenomena record shall be publicly disclosed in full, and available in the Collection, not later than the date that is 25 years after the date of the first creation of the record by the originating body, unless the President certifies that—“(i) continued postponement is made necessary by an identifiable harm to the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or conduct of foreign relations; and“(ii) the identifiable harm is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in disclosure.“(h)Requirements for Executive Agencies.—“(1)In general.—The heads of Executive agencies shall—“(A) transmit digital records electronically in accordance with section 2107 of title 44, United States Code;“(B) charge fees for copying unidentified anomalous phenomena records; and“(C) grant waivers of such fees pursuant to the standards established by section 552(a)(4) of title 5, United States Code.“(2)Amount of fees.—The amount of a fee charged by the head of an Executive agency pursuant to paragraph (1)(B) for the copying of an unidentified anomalous phenomena record shall be such amount as the head determines appropriate to cover the costs incurred by the Executive agency in making and providing such copy, except that in no case may the amount of the fee charged exceed the actual expenses incurred by the Executive agency in making and providing such copy.