Lawmakers in Washington say they have secured full funding for a Department of Defense office tasked with investigating unidentified flying objects and other phenomena, about six months after an alleged Chinese spy balloon floated across the U.S.
Funding for the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office was included in the Senate Armed Services Committee’s markup of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2024, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand confirmed last week.
“With aggression from adversaries on the rise and with incidents like the Chinese spy balloon, it’s critical to our national security that we have strong air domain awareness over our homeland and around U.S. forces operating overseas,” Ms. Gillibrand, New York Democrat, said in a statement.
Along with Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, Ms. Gillibrand pushed a bipartisan effort to fully fund the office after the previous year’s NDAA failed to provide sufficient funding. She called it a matter of national security.
“The office provides the opportunity to integrate and resolve threats and hazards to the U.S., while also offering increased transparency to the American people and reducing the stigma around this issue of high public interest,” Ms. Gillibrand said.
In addition to focusing the Department of Defense’s effort to resolve sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena, the office is to improve data sharing between the Pentagon and the intelligence community to address security and health concerns related to UAP events, Ms. Gillibrand’s office said.
It wasn’t clear Wednesday how much additional funding the office will receive because the budget is classified.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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