Department of War Waives NDA Penalties for UAP Disclosures to PURSUE

Summary:

The United States Department of War on 14 September 2026 issued a targeted legal waiver that authorises current and former department personnel to disclose Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) information to official representatives of the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE). The notice covers service members, civilians and contractors who hold, or once held, access to UAP-related National Defense Information.

The waiver lifts civil and administrative enforcement in Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) and Special Access Program Indoctrination Agreements (SAPIAs) executed in the United States, but only for communications sent to the PURSUE team. The department said the paper creates a route for review, security evaluation and possible release of historical and current UAP data.

The instrument implements a July presidential mandate and follows this year’s multi-tranche release of declassified UAP files from the same department.

Detailed Report

1. Department of War Authorises Disclosures to PURSUE 

The Department of War published the waiver on 14 September and tied it to President Donald Trump’s mandate for comprehensive transparency on UAP. Covered people are current and former department service members, civilian personnel and contractors who hold or previously held access to UAP-related National Defense Information. Those people may now give that protected information directly to official PURSUE representatives.

The department described the paper as an authorised and legally protected disclosure mechanism. “The waiver supersedes civil and administrative enforcement provisions contained within Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) and Special Access Program Indoctrination Agreements (SAPIAs) previously executed within the United States, strictly for communications directed to the PURSUE team,” the notice said.

The same text said people with direct knowledge of UAP-related programs had cited legal liability, loss of clearances or administrative prosecution under ordinary NDA and special-access terms. “This waiver removes those barriers by explicitly authorizing covered disclosures to PURSUE representatives without triggering breach-of-agreement penalties or standard NDA violations,” the department said.

The relief is narrower than a general unsealing. It applies to communications aimed at the PURSUE team. It addresses civil and administrative enforcement in named secrecy agreements. It does not state that criminal statutes are waived, and it does not authorise covered people to speak to the press, to Congress at large, or to the public. The department said the channel is a pipeline for systematic review, security evaluation and potential declassification.

2. Waiver Implements the July Transparency Mandate

The September paper is the department’s own instrument under a directive first set out in July. President Trump in late July directed the Department of War and the intelligence community to waive prior nondisclosure agreements so former government employees and contractors holding relevant UAP information could meet cleared officials at AARO or PURSUE. Officials then stressed that the order was not itself a declassification directive and that material received through the meetings would still pass ordinary review before any public release.

Sean Parnell, Assistant to the Secretary of War for Public Affairs, said at the time that the department supported the president’s direction to waive nondisclosure agreements for former employees and contractors with relevant UAP information. He said that step would let them come forward through official channels such as AARO and PURSUE.

The 14 September notice puts that mandate on department paper and changes the channel. It adds current personnel to the former employees and contractors named in July, names SAPIAs as well as NDAs, and routes the protected conversation to PURSUE rather than to the two offices listed in the original instruction. AARO remains the Pentagon’s operational UAP investigation office and is not the receiving channel named in this waiver. The notice does not repeal the existing AARO reporting path.

3. Background: PURSUE

PURSUE is the administration vehicle for identifying, reviewing and releasing UAP records, run through the Department of War. Public drops began on 8 May 2026 and have continued on a rolling basis. The latest tranche was published on 7 August. The department has said further files will be released the same way, with the next tranche expected soon.

The disclosure run so far is:

- 8 May 2026 — Release 01

- 22 May 2026 — Release 02  

- 12 June 2026 — Release 03

- 10 July 2026 — Release 04

- 7 August 2026 — Release 05

Conclusion

The Department of War has now put a written waiver under the July mandate and opened a protected path from its own workforce to PURSUE. Current and former service members, civilians and contractors with UAP-related National Defense Information may use that path without the civil and administrative NDA and SAPIA penalties the department named.

Whether anyone walks the path, what they bring, and what survives security review for a later public drop remain the open facts. The waiver authorises the conversation. It does not publish the files.