Not later than 180 days after December 27, 2021, the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Director of National Intelligence, shall establish an office within a component of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, or within a joint organization of the Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, to carry out the duties of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, as in effect on the day before December 27, 2021, and such other duties as are required by this section.
The Secretary, in coordination with the Director, shall designate one or more line organizations within the Department of Defense and the intelligence community that possess appropriate expertise, authorities, accesses, data, systems, platforms, and capabilities to rapidly respond to, and conduct field investigations of, incidents involving unidentified aerial phenomena under the direction of the head of the Office established under subsection (a).
The Secretary, in coordination with the Director, shall ensure that each line organization designated under paragraph (1) has adequate personnel with the requisite expertise, equipment, transportation, and other resources necessary to respond rapidly to incidents or patterns of observations involving unidentified aerial phenomena of which the Office becomes aware.
The Secretary, in coordination with the Director, shall designate one or more line organizations that will be primarily responsible for scientific, technical, and operational analysis of data gathered by field investigations conducted pursuant to subsection (c) and data from other sources, including with respect to the testing of materials, medical studies, and development of theoretical models, to better understand and explain unidentified aerial phenomena.
The Secretary and the Director shall each issue such directives as are necessary to ensure that the each [1] line organization designated under paragraph (1) has authority to draw on the special expertise of persons outside the Federal Government with appropriate security clearances.
The head of the Office established under subsection (a), acting on behalf of the Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence, shall supervise the development and execution of an intelligence collection and analysis plan to gain as much knowledge as possible regarding the technical and operational characteristics, origins, and intentions of unidentified aerial phenomena, including with respect to the development, acquisition, deployment, and operation of technical collection capabilities necessary to detect, identify, and scientifically characterize unidentified aerial phenomena.
In developing the plan under paragraph (2), the head of the Office established under subsection (a) shall consider and propose, as the head determines appropriate, the use of any resource, capability, asset, or process of the Department and the intelligence community.
The Director, in consultation with, and with the recommendation of the Secretary, shall assign an appropriate level of priority within the National Intelligence Priorities Framework to the requirement to understand, characterize, and respond to unidentified aerial phenomena.
Not later than October 31, 2022, and annually thereafter until October 31, 2026, the Director, in consultation with the Secretary, shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on unidentified aerial phenomena.
Not later than 90 days after December 27, 2021, and not less frequently than semiannually thereafter until December 31, 2026, the head of the Office established under subsection (a) shall provide to the congressional committees specified in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (D) of subsection (l)(1) classified briefings on unidentified aerial phenomena.
The first briefing provided under paragraph (1) shall include all incidents involving unidentified aerial phenomena that were reported to the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force or to the Office established under subsection (a) after June 24, 2021, regardless of the date of occurrence of the incident.
Each briefing provided subsequent to the first briefing described in paragraph (2) shall include, at a minimum, all events relating to unidentified aerial phenomena that occurred during the previous 180 days, and events relating to unidentified aerial phenomena that were not included in an earlier briefing.
For each briefing period, the head of the Office established under subsection (a) shall jointly provide to the chairman and the ranking minority member or vice chairman of the congressional committees specified in subparagraphs (A) and (D) of subsection (k)(1) an enumeration of any instances in which data relating to unidentified aerial phenomena was not provided to the Office because of classification restrictions on that data or for any other reason.
Not later than the date on which the Secretary establishes the Office under subsection (a), the Secretary shall terminate the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force.