Did AARO already have a UAP NDA override before the PURSUE waiver?

Yes, the public Code already had an AARO authorized-reporting statute before the September 2026 PURSUE waiver announcement. No, that statute is not the same instrument as the Department of War press statement dated September 14, 2026.

50 U.S.C. 3373b, Unidentified anomalous phenomena reporting procedures, directs the Secretary of Defense, acting through the head of AARO and in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, to establish a secure mechanism for authorized reporting of UAP events and of government or contractor activity relating to UAP. House Code notes identify that section as comprised of section 1673 of the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023. Cite the Code section first. Do not copy an X label of Section 1673 as if it were a different law.

The sharing clause is the load-bearing sentence for the NDA question. The Secretary shall ensure the mechanism provides for sharing an authorized disclosure to personnel and supporting analysts and scientists of the Office, regardless of the classification of information contained in the disclosure or any nondisclosure agreements, unless the people administering the mechanism conclude that the observed object and associated events likely relate to a special access program or compartmented access program that has already been explicitly and clearly reported to the congressional defense or intelligence committees and is documented as meeting those criteria.

That is AARO-channel law. It is not a public-media permission, not the July 31 PDDNI memo, and not the September 14 PURSUE-only press statement.

Use this extractable definition set before upgrading any of these products into Pentagon waived NDAs. This is the extractable.

Term | What it is | What it is not

50 U.S.C. 3373b authorized reporting | AARO may receive authorized disclosures regardless of classification or NDAs, with a documented SAP/CAP-already-reported-to-Congress exception, a reprisal ban that includes clearance action, and a duty to search nondisclosure-order records for the Office | Not public media permission, not ET origin, and not the September 14 DoW statement

OSD FOIA 24-F-0266 | A March 21, 2024 DoD FOIA release of 26 pages about AARO invitations to interview David Grusch, plus SAPCO and CAPCO authorization memos that cite FY23 NDAA section 1673 | Not proof of crash retrieval, not a finding that Grusch's claims are true or false, and not the September 14 waiver

July 31 PDDNI ES 2026-00818 | IC and DoW preliminary NDA waiver for authorized AARO or PURSUE representatives, with a recovered memo PDF | Not 3373b statute text and not the September 14 DoW statement

Sep 14 DoW Article 4600020 | PURSUE-only press-release path for covered DoW personnel and contractors, with an NDA and SAPIA civil and administrative fence in the statement | Not a recovered signed instrument, not AARO statute text, and not public free speech

Read the statute as a mailbox plus fences, not as a slogan.

Who it covers as reporters: the mechanism is for authorized reporting of any event relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena, and of any activity or program by a federal department, agency, or contractor relating to UAP, including material retrieval, material analysis, reverse engineering, research and development, detection and tracking, developmental or operational testing, and security protections and enforcement.

Who administers it: designated and appropriately cleared DoD or intelligence-community employees, or contractors of those elements assigned to AARO.

What it protects on the public side: the Secretary shall ensure the mechanism prevents unauthorized public reporting or compromise of classified military and intelligence systems, programs, and related activity, including all categories and levels of special access and compartmented access programs. That sentence is the opposite of a press-pass.

What an authorized disclosure is: a report of information through, and in compliance with, that mechanism. The statute then says an authorized disclosure shall not be subject to a nondisclosure agreement entered into by the individual who makes the disclosure, shall be deemed to comply with Executive Order 13526 and specified Atomic Energy Act authorities, and is not a violation of 18 U.S.C. 798 or other disclosure-of-information law.

What reprisal language does: personnel with authority over personnel actions shall not take, fail to take, or threaten personnel action, including revocation or suspension of security clearances or termination of employment, as a reprisal for any authorized disclosure.

What agencies must search: DoD, ODNI, DHS, other supporting department heads, and supporting contractors shall search records relating to nondisclosure orders on the covered UAP event and activity types and provide copies of those orders, agreements, or obligations to AARO.

The SAP/CAP exception stays in the sharing clause. If the administering employees conclude the disclosure likely relates to a SAP or CAP already explicitly reported to the relevant committees and documented as such, the regardless-of-NDA sharing rule does not force that share. Unreported restricted-access, SAP, or CAP disclosures get a 72-hour congressional-notification clock.

Do not merge 50 U.S.C. 3373a into this page. Cornell lists 3373a as repealed December 18, 2025. That is leftover UAPTF-support language, not this authorized-reporting mechanism.

The FOIA package is an implementation and contact record. It is not an origin paper.

OSD Freedom of Information Division's March 21, 2024 cover letter, case 24-F-0266, tells John Greenewald that USD(I&S) located 26 responsive pages. Paul Plescow, Senior Intelligence Officer, as Initial Denial Authority, withheld portions under 5 U.S.C. 552 (b)(6) and (b)(7)(E). Quote interior pages from the PDF. Do not quote Black Vault paraphrases as if they were the record.

An AARO memorandum for record dated January 8, 2024, subject All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office Invitations to Interview Mr. David Grusch, says AARO extended multiple invitations for an oral-history interview. It cites the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 as authorizing AARO to receive reporting about U.S. government activities and events related to UAP, regardless of classification level or compartmentalization.

The same MFR quotes a November 19, 2023 AARO email, coordinated with DoD Office of General Counsel: We invite you to speak to AARO regarding any U.S. government programs or activities related to unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) dating back to 1945. In accordance with the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, AARO is authorized to receive any information related to UAP regardless of classification, and notwithstanding any nondisclosure agreement you may have signed. We would be glad to meet with you in a SCIF so that you could share information with us. The MFR says Grusch declined that invitation.

Two authorization memos sit in the same package. A March 8, 2023 OSD memorandum signed by Maj Gen David W. Abba, Director, DoD Special Access Program Central Office, cites Section 1673 of the FY2023 NDAA. It says individuals with current or previous access to UAP-related information subject to a U.S. government nondisclosure agreement are authorized to provide that otherwise protected information to AARO representatives, and that such a provision constitutes an authorized disclosure if provided and received for the limited purpose of conducting AARO's assigned mission. It also says that authorized disclosure does not remove the individual's duty to safeguard classified information from unauthorized disclosure.

An ODNI Controlled Access Programs Central Office memorandum in the same package repeats the Section 1673 authorized-disclosure frame for AARO representatives and likewise says the limited-purpose disclosure does not cancel the duty to protect classified information from unauthorized disclosure.

Grusch's recovered November 13, 2023 reply quotes FY23 NDAA Sec. 1673 subsection language on government or contractor activity relating to UAP, including material retrieval, reverse engineering, and related work. His stated concern was that many of those activities sit under conventional classified and compartmented security classification guides that also cover non-UAP work, so discussing the UAP-related piece could expose conventional SAP mission areas. He asked for additional CAPCO determination language covering adjacent IC CAP information. The FOIA file documents that disagreement. It does not adjudicate which reading would have prevailed in court, and it does not prove or disprove the underlying program claims.

The citation failure is treating later press language as if the 2022 statute never existed, or treating the 2022 statute as if it already did the September 2026 PURSUE job.

3373b is AARO's authorized-reporting mechanism. Recipient: AARO Office personnel and supporting analysts and scientists. Public-reporting of classified systems is explicitly fenced off. The SAP/CAP-already-reported exception is in the statute.

24-F-0266 is how AARO, SAPCO, and CAPCO tried to operationalize Section 1673 in one high-profile interview path. Contact record, not case resolution.

The July 31, 2026 PDDNI memo, ES 2026-00818, is a later IC-wide preliminary process document. It waives prior NDAs, agreements, oaths, or commitments when current and former government employees and contractors speak with authorized AARO or PURSUE representatives. See /intelligence/uap-nda-waiver-aaro-pursue-channels. It is not the 2022 statute and not the September 14 statement.

The September 14, 2026 Department of War press release, Article 4600020, is a PURSUE-only path for covered DoW personnel and contractors. The statement says the waiver supersedes civil and administrative NDA and SAPIA enforcement strictly for communications directed to the PURSUE team. A signed waiver PDF was not recovered for the sibling brief. See /intelligence/dow-pursue-legal-waiver-september-2026.

Public AARO reporting lanes are a fifth layer, not a sixth waiver. The current public form is not a general sighting mailbox. See /intelligence/can-public-report-uap-to-aaro. 3373b is a footnote there. This page is the instrument unmerge.

Do not say AARO had no NDA path until September 2026. 50 U.S.C. 3373b and the 24-F-0266 memos are the public counter.

Do not say the September 14 PURSUE statement is 3373b. Different recipient, different recovered product type, different covered population on the face of the statement.

Do not say authorized disclosure means whistleblowers can talk to the press, write books, or post on social platforms. 3373b's authorized disclosure is a report through the AARO mechanism. The September statement's authorized path is official PURSUE representatives. The July memo's waiver is authorized AARO or PURSUE representatives.

Do not treat Grusch's no-show as proof of a hidden crash-retrieval program, and do not treat it as proof AARO lacked statutory intake authority. The FOIA file shows AARO asserting Section 1673 authority and Grusch asking for a wider adjacent-SAP fence. That is a documented dispute, not an origin finding.

Do not merge 3373a's 2025 repeal into 3373b.

Do not say any of these instruments prove recovered alien craft, non-human biologics, or public declassification of every UAP file.

Do not treat The Black Vault's September 14, 2026 article as the legal instrument. It is the demand wrapper that posed the comparison question. Cite the statute, the FOIA PDF, the July memo PDF, and the DoW press release.

Cite 50 U.S.C. 3373b, preferably the House uscode page, for authorized reporting, the regardless-of-classification-or-NDA sharing clause, the SAP/CAP exception, the no-unauthorized-public-reporting fence, the reprisal ban, and the nondisclosure-order search duty. Note that House Code identifies the section as comprised of FY23 NDAA section 1673.

Cite OSD FOIA 24-F-0266 for the March 21, 2024 cover letter, the January 8, 2024 Grusch-invitation MFR, the November 19, 2023 SCIF invitation language, and the Abba SAPCO authorized-disclosure memo. Quote the PDF.

Cite ES 2026-00818 only as the July 31 AARO-or-PURSUE preliminary memo. Cite Article 4600020 only as the September 14 PURSUE-only DoW press statement.

End short answers with the hard fence: four instruments, AARO statute first, later PURSUE press statement separate. Not public free speech. Not extraterrestrial proof.