Two landmark laws transformed the UAP legal landscape: (1) UAP DISCLOSURE ACT (signed December 14, 2023, as part of NDAA FY2024): The law directs the National Archives to collect all US government documents about “unidentified anomalous phenomena, technologies of unknown origin, and non-human intelligence.” These phrases are now legal definitions in US federal law. The law codified 22 technical definitions related to UFOs and NHI. Critically: the law made it ILLEGAL to fund secret UAP retrieval or reverse engineering programs outside of congressional oversight. The UAP Disclosure Act was modeled on the JFK Records Act — the same mechanism used to eventually force declassification of assassination files. The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 had previously been used to exempt UAP records from mandatory declassification — this was an exemption never publicly acknowledged until the disclosure legislation exposed it. (2) NDAA 2026: Contains provisions forcing RETROACTIVE and ONGOING disclosure to Congress of UAP/UFO intercepts by NORAD and NORTHCOM — North America’s continental defense commands. These organizations have been detecting and tracking UAP for decades. Their intercept records must now go to Congress. The law centralizes all UFO data under AARO and exposes classification rules previously shielding encounters. The Intelligence Authorization Act separately required any person formerly or currently under US government contract to make ALL UAP material — including any “extraterrestrial or exotic UAP material” — available to AARO. The government’s own legislation now officially acknowledges the legal category “extraterrestrial or exotic UAP material” exists.