Last Updated on 2 hours ago by TodayWhy Editorial
On June 25, 2026, the U.S. Capitol hosted the most institutionally serious public event on UAP transparency to date: the Disclosure Forum 2026. Held in the Kennedy Caucus Room — the same Senate room where the Watergate and Army–McCarthy hearings once played out — the forum brought sitting members of Congress, scientists, and former national security officials together on the record to discuss what comes after two years of rolling Pentagon UAP file releases. Here’s why this particular event matters more than another UFO headline.
- Why the Pentagon UFO Files Tranche 3 Changed the Conversation: Every Document, Video, and Revelation
What was the Disclosure Forum 2026?
The Disclosure Forum 2026, themed “Humanity at the Edge of Discovery,” was organized by the Disclosure Foundation, a nonpartisan nonprofit that has spent the past two years pushing UAP transparency through litigation, congressional testimony, and public education. The event ran from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Kennedy Caucus Room of the Russell Senate Office Building, with doors opening at 8:30 a.m. on a first-come, first-served basis. Admission was free, and the Disclosure Foundation streamed the full program live on its YouTube channel.
Unlike fan conventions or paid summits that have proliferated around the UAP topic in recent years, this forum was explicitly framed as an institutional, on-the-record event — convened in a Senate building, not a hotel ballroom.
Why hold this forum now?
The timing is not incidental. Since May 2026, the Department of War has released two tranches of declassified UAP files under the PURSUE program, and the NSA separately released over 300 pages of formerly Top Secret Umbra records following a Disclosure Foundation FOIA appeal. For the full history of what’s been released, see TodayWhy’s complete Pentagon UAP disclosure guide.
Those releases generated enormous public attention — the PURSUE portal has logged over a billion visits — but they also raised a harder question: what happens after the files are out? The Disclosure Forum was designed to move that conversation from document dumps toward policy, oversight, and scientific process.
Who spoke at the forum
The confirmed lineup included sitting lawmakers from both parties, several of whom have been the most vocal congressional advocates for UAP transparency over the past three years:
- Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
- Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL)
- Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO)
- Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA)
- Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN)
Outside Congress, the program featured Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, who in 2026 was appointed to lead the newly created White House UAP Science Advisory Council; former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Christopher Mellon; retired Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet; and former NASA Associate Administrator Mike Gold, who now serves on the Disclosure Foundation’s board.
Speakers like Mellon and Gold have spent years arguing that UAP needs to be treated as a national security and scientific question rather than a tabloid curiosity, and the panel topics reflected that framing — congressional oversight, national security implications, and the broader societal and even religious dimensions of disclosure.
Video: UAP forum on disclosure to bring lawmakers, whistleblowers together
Why bipartisan support matters here
One detail organizers repeatedly highlighted ahead of the event: a Disclosure Foundation poll found that 89% of Republicans and 88% of Democrats want the government to release more information about UAP. In a political environment where almost nothing polls that consistently across party lines, that number is the closest thing the UAP transparency movement has to a mandate.
Disclosure Foundation board member Mike Gold made this point directly in a NewsNation interview ahead of the forum, arguing that UAP is “not just a science issue” but a national security issue serious enough to warrant treating it without stigma. The lineup of Republican and Democratic lawmakers sharing a stage was meant to visibly demonstrate that consensus rather than just cite a poll number.
What the forum could not settle
None of this amounts to confirmation of extraterrestrial technology, and organizers did not frame it that way. As AARO, the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, has noted of the broader file releases, most UAP cases resolve to conventional explanations — drones, balloons, sensor artifacts. What the forum addressed instead was process: how Congress oversees a historically over-classified topic, what legal protections whistleblowers have, and how a serious scientific body like Loeb’s advisory council should evaluate the unresolved cases that remain.
Because the event was still underway as this article was published, the substance of specific panel discussions, any new disclosures made on stage, and reactions from skeptics had not yet been fully reported. TodayWhy will update this piece as confirmed details become available.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was the Disclosure Forum 2026?
It took place June 25, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Kennedy Caucus Room (Room 325) of the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C.
Who organized the Disclosure Forum?
The Disclosure Foundation, a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on UAP policy, legal transparency, and public education.
Was the Disclosure Forum free to attend?
Yes. It was free and open to the public, though seating was limited and offered on a first-come, first-served basis. The Disclosure Foundation also livestreamed the event on YouTube.
Did any lawmakers attend?
Yes. Confirmed congressional speakers included Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, Rep. Eric Burlison, Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, and Rep. Tim Burchett.
Is this the same as the Pentagon’s UAP file releases?
No. The Pentagon’s PURSUE program and the NSA’s FOIA release are separate declassification efforts. The Disclosure Forum is a public policy event organized by an independent nonprofit, though it discusses and builds on those releases.
Does the forum prove UAP are extraterrestrial?
No. Speakers and organizers were explicit that the event was about policy, oversight, and scientific process — not a claim of proof. AARO has stated most UAP cases resolve to conventional explanations.