Who?
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) — lead sponsor, UAP Disclosure Act
LISTEN: Laslo & Rounds
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Ask a Pol asks:
Any timeline — or blueprint for passage — for your UAP Disclosure Act with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer this year?
Key Rounds:
“Well, we’re going to introduce it. Put it as an amendment on the NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act]. Hopefully, the Senate will agree with us to do so. And if that’s the case, then the next step is going with the House and seeing if they would agree to some format of it,” Sen. Mike Rounds exclusively tells Ask a Pol UAP. “I presume they’ll have concerns like they did last time.”
“Yeah?”
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to allay some of those concerns or work through those concerns,” Rounds says.
“So you’re convinced the concerns are with the House?” Ask a Pol founder Matt Laslo pushes. “I still haven’t been able to find the voice of opposition.”
“Well, this is one way to find out — offer it again and then find out who will object to it,” Rounds says. “And it’ll be interesting to see whether or not the House has any provisions along the same line as our proposal, and if there is, then we’ll have a stronger case for putting it in the final version.”
Special Access Programs I
Have you all still been looking for or found where these SAPs — Special Access Programs — are that whistleblower David Grusch alleges are hidden from Congress?
“It’s not so much that it’s hidden, it’s just a matter of the silos do exist,” Rounds says. “You may have the folks who are members of the armed services who might not know what the IC — the intelligence community — is actually doing.”
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Special Access Programs II
We’ve been seeing the Pentagon release formerly classified UFO files but nothing from the Department of Energy or contractors, does the White House even know where to look?
“I can’t tell you why. Just that is the executive branch. And we’re getting more than we ever did before,” Rounds says. “So, step in the right direction. And maybe as they gain more confidence that the American public really want to see it, maybe we’ll see more of it in the future.”
Caught our ear:
“It kind of represents the curiosity that’s natural for Americans. When we see something and we’ve got a curiosity, we want to get it satisfied. And that’s neat,” Rounds tells us of the growing interest in UFOs both inside and outside of Congress.
Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), slightly edited for clarity.
TRANSCRIPT: Sen. Mike Rounds (6-25-2026)
SCENE: After Sen. Mike Rounds addressed this week’s UAP disclosure forum at the US Capitol, he poses for some selfies and does an interview in the hall outside the event with NewsNation’s Ross Coulthart.
As always, Ask a Pol founder Matt Laslo waited in the wings before proceeding to catch an elevator for the Senator and two of his aides before escorting them back to the Senator’s office.
Matt Laslo: “Did you reveal all the secrets in there?”
Sen. Mike Rounds: “Everything I knew, which is not much.”
Laslo: “What do you make of it?”
Rounds: “What?”
Laslo: “The issue — and now it’s growing and it’s an item of interest.”
Rounds: “Yeah. And I mean, it kind of represents the curiosity that’s natural for Americans. When we see something and we’ve got a curiosity, we want to get it satisfied. And that’s neat.”
Laslo: “And when your airspace is shut down over New Jersey and — [laughter] — Langley [AFB] and stuff like that.”
Rounds: “There’s lots of new technologies out there, as you are aware.”
Laslo: “Are we going to see the UAP Disclosure Act — your bill with [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer — this year?”
Rounds: “Well, we’re going to introduce it. Put it as an amendment on the NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act]. Hopefully, the Senate will agree with us to do so. And if that’s the case, then the next step is going with the House and seeing if they would agree to some format of it. I presume they’ll have concerns like they did last time.”
Laslo: “Yeah?”
Rounds: “Hopefully, we’ll be able to alleviate some of those concerns or work through those concerns.”
Laslo: “So you’re convinced the concerns are with the House? I still haven’t been able to find the voice of opposition.”
Rounds: “Well, this is one way to find out — offer it again and then find out who will object to it. And it’ll be interesting to see whether or not the House has any provisions along the same line as our proposal, and if there is, then we’ll have a stronger case for putting it in the final version.”
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Laslo: “Now, has your office heard from new whistleblowers? Or has the Intel [Committee] heard from any more whistleblowers — since we’ve had “disclosure” from the Pentagon?”
Rounds: “Not really whistleblowers. We’ve simply — when we have people who have direct firsthand knowledge, a personal experience and who have a professional background with either a contractor or a former federal government — then I’ll take the time to sit down and visit with them and learn as much as I can.”
Laslo: “Are those voices more important now that we’re getting this release from the Pentagon or…?”
Rounds: “The voices have been there and they’ve talked to us, but we don’t really talk about who they are because we want them to be able to trust us — that we’re not going to disclose who they are. Most of them still work for either contractors or for the federal government, as they have for years. And we’ll do our best to protect them, so I really don’t want to get into specifics.”*
*we don’t want their identities! We were just asking if any new ones have come forward…
Laslo: “Do you think your Disclosure Act would help them?”
Rounds: “Yeah, because I think the information that they have — or that is in the possession or of the government — would become a permanent official record outside of the existing agency structure.”
Laslo: “Have you guys still been looking, like, have you found where these SAPs are that are supposedly hidden from Congress — these Special Access Programs?”
Rounds: “It’s not so much that it’s hidden, it’s just a matter of the silos do exist. You may have the folks who are members of the armed services who might not know what the IC — the intelligence community — is actually doing.”
Laslo: “Yeah?”
Rounds: “And so — or you may have items that the armed services are doing that the Intel community may not be aware of. And so these silos are part of the challenge, because if something is observed and they’re a professional and they don’t know what it is, they’ll talk about the fact — in privacy or in a secure environment — about something that’s been observed that they might not be aware of. They also recognize that it may be something they’re not privy to. And so they’re very careful about talking about it.”
Laslo: “Yeah? Because right now we’ve been seeing the Pentagon release stuff, but nothing from the Department of Energy or other spots. Do you think…?”
Rounds: “I can’t tell you why. Just that is the executive branch. And we’re getting more than we ever did before.”
Laslo: “Yeah.”
Rounds: “So, step in the right direction. And maybe as they gain more confidence that the American public really want to see it, maybe we’ll see more of it in the future.”
What should we ask Congress next?
Ask a Pol AI Disclosure:
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