I think it’s also important to note that in this letter, Dr. Kirkpatrick states, ‘The Subcommittee, whose questions and oversight duties are irreproachable and genuinely in need of answers, has never asked AARO for an update on the reporting system, the historical review, the operations, or the S&T strategy that AARO leads and is undertaking.’
I find this transcript from the April 19th hearing segment, regarding the public website that AARO is supposed to launch for whistleblowers to report UAP data, to be relevant:
Gillibrand:
Dr. Kirkpatrick Congress has mandated that your office establish a discoverable and accessible electronic method for potential witnesses of UAP incidents and potential participants in government UAP related activities to contact your office and tell their stories. Congress also set up a process whereby people are subject to nondisclosure agreements, preventing them from disclosing what they may have witnessed or participated in could tell you what they know about risk of retribution from or violation of their NDAs. Have you submitted a public facing website product for approval to your superiors and how long has it been under review?
Kirkpatrick:
I have. We submitted the first version of that before Christmas.
Gillibrand:
And do you have an estimate from them when they will respond and when you’ll have feedback on that?
Kirkpatrick:
No, I don’t.
Gillibrand:
Okay. We will author a letter asking for that timely response to your superiors. When? When do you expect that you will establish a public facing discoverable and access portal for people to use to contact your office as the law requires.
Kirkpatrick:
So I would like to first say thank you all very much for referring the witnesses that you have thus far to us. I appreciate that we’ve brought in nearly two dozen so far. It’s been that’s been very helpful. I’d ask that you continue to do that until we have an approved plan. We have a multi-phased approach for doing that, that we’ve been socializing and have submitted for approval some time. And once that happens, then we should be able to push all that out and get get this a little more automated.
Gillibrand:
Great.
Kirkpatrick:
What I would ask, though, is, as you all continue to refer to us and refer witnesses to us, I’d appreciate if you do that. Please try to prioritize the ones that you want to do, because we do have a small research staff dealing with that.
Gillibrand:
Thank you. And then do you have any plans for public engagement that you want to share now that you think it’s important that the public knows what the plan is?
Kirkpatrick:
So we have a number of public engagement recommendations as according to our strategic plan. All of those have been submitted for approval. They have to be approved by USDINS We are waiting for approval to go do that.
I think it’s also important to note that in this letter, Dr. Kirkpatrick states, ‘The Subcommittee, whose questions and oversight duties are irreproachable and genuinely in need of answers, has never asked AARO for an update on the reporting system, the historical review, the operations, or the S&T strategy that AARO leads and is undertaking.’
I find this transcript from the April 19th hearing segment, regarding the public website that AARO is supposed to launch for whistleblowers to report UAP data, to be relevant:
Gillibrand: Dr. Kirkpatrick Congress has mandated that your office establish a discoverable and accessible electronic method for potential witnesses of UAP incidents and potential participants in government UAP related activities to contact your office and tell their stories. Congress also set up a process whereby people are subject to nondisclosure agreements, preventing them from disclosing what they may have witnessed or participated in could tell you what they know about risk of retribution from or violation of their NDAs. Have you submitted a public facing website product for approval to your superiors and how long has it been under review?
Kirkpatrick: I have. We submitted the first version of that before Christmas.
Gillibrand: And do you have an estimate from them when they will respond and when you’ll have feedback on that?
Kirkpatrick: No, I don’t.
Gillibrand: Okay. We will author a letter asking for that timely response to your superiors. When? When do you expect that you will establish a public facing discoverable and access portal for people to use to contact your office as the law requires.
Kirkpatrick: So I would like to first say thank you all very much for referring the witnesses that you have thus far to us. I appreciate that we’ve brought in nearly two dozen so far. It’s been that’s been very helpful. I’d ask that you continue to do that until we have an approved plan. We have a multi-phased approach for doing that, that we’ve been socializing and have submitted for approval some time. And once that happens, then we should be able to push all that out and get get this a little more automated.
Gillibrand: Great.
Kirkpatrick: What I would ask, though, is, as you all continue to refer to us and refer witnesses to us, I’d appreciate if you do that. Please try to prioritize the ones that you want to do, because we do have a small research staff dealing with that.
Gillibrand: Thank you. And then do you have any plans for public engagement that you want to share now that you think it’s important that the public knows what the plan is?
Kirkpatrick: So we have a number of public engagement recommendations as according to our strategic plan. All of those have been submitted for approval. They have to be approved by USDINS We are waiting for approval to go do that.
Gillibrand: Okay. I will follow up on that.