The NARA Frequently Asked Questions page for the UAP Records Collection contains a sentence that marks a definitive shift in the language of US federal law. Describing what records the collection will include, NARA states:
“The Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) Records Collection will consist of copies of all Government, Government-provided, or Government-funded records relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena, technologies of unknown origin, and non-human intelligence (or equivalent subjects by any other name with the specific and sole exclusion of temporarily non-attributed objects).”
What This Language Does
This language is drawn directly from sections 1841–1843 of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, now codified at 44 U.S.C. 2107 note. By placing “non-human intelligence” in federal statute as a records category, Congress has formally acknowledged that this is a possible description of something the US government has documented. You cannot legislate a records category for a thing that definitively does not exist. “Technologies of unknown origin” and “non-human intelligence” are legal concepts in US federal law as of 2024.
The Explicit Exclusion
The parenthetical exclusion — “with the specific and sole exclusion of temporarily non-attributed objects” — is also significant. It carves out objects that are temporarily unidentified but ultimately explained as human in origin. The category of “technologies of unknown origin” and “non-human intelligence” therefore explicitly describes something that is not temporarily non-attributed — something whose unknown origin is not resolved by further investigation into human technology. Congress wrote this exclusion deliberately. Someone insisted on it.
The Agencies Defined as Holding These Records
The law requires “each federal agency” to review, identify, and organise all UAP records — including records relating to non-human intelligence — for transfer to NARA. Every federal agency. Not just DoD or intelligence agencies. The law’s scope explicitly covers any government, government-provided, or government-funded record. If a federally funded research university produced a document about non-human intelligence, that document is legally within scope.
Source: NARA UAP Records Collection FAQ. archives.gov/research/topics/uaps/faqs. 2024 NDAA sections 1841–1843. 44 U.S.C. 2107 note.