Two weeks after Fox News reported Trump directed agencies to waive UAP nondisclosure agreements, the administration put the mechanism in writing.
On August 1, 2026, Rep. Eric Burlison released a July 31 memorandum signed by Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Aaron Lukas – the first formal implementation guidance for the Trump NDA directive. Burlison’s office said the administration authorized him to make it public.
The strongest line is also the simplest:
“Ensure the workforce is aware that any previous or existing NDAs prohibiting disclosure to the President, or designees like PURSUE, are no longer in force.” – Aaron Lukas memorandum, July 31, 2026 (full text)
What the Memo Orders
The guidance is preliminary, but it is not vague. Within 30 days of receipt, every element of the Intelligence Community must:
- Coordinate with ODNI to establish a PURSUE designee
- Inform their workforce of the President’s order
- Make clear that prior NDAs blocking disclosure to the President or designees no longer bind personnel reporting to AARO or authorized PURSUE representatives
The memo then says detailed reporting procedures will follow inside the same 30-day window, and that DoW and ODNI will issue broader implementation guidance for the PURSUE transparency project.
Who Got It
The distribution list is the intelligence community’s senior table – all 18 top intelligence, law-enforcement and military intelligence officials, including:
- CIA, DIA, NGA, NRO, NSA, FBI directors
- DoW Under Secretary for Intelligence and Security
- DHS and State intelligence chiefs
- Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard intelligence leads
- DEA, Treasury, Department of Energy intelligence offices
This is not a letter to a subcommittee. It is an order to the entire cleared workforce pipeline.
Where It Leaves the Fight
The memo is the legal execution of what Trump told Fox he wanted: a cleared channel where prior secrecy oaths cannot stop someone from briefing the government on UAP. It is not a public declassification order, and it contains no immunity or protection for people who were already punished or threatened for breaking NDAs before this point.
That distinction is the same one whistleblower Matthew Brown pressed in Catch and Kill: permission to speak is not protection from retaliation, and an internal channel is not independent oversight. The Lukas memo answers the NDA excuse. It does not answer the catch-and-kill concern.
It also lands while DIG ex-lead James Erdman is publicly warning the UAP space is full of “grift” – and while Liberation Times reports a presidential disclosure speech is now under consideration for delivery before the November midterms.
What to Watch
- Do the 18 IC components actually name PURSUE designees and notify workforces within 30 days?
- Do the “detailed reporting procedures” promised inside the window include written waiver terms, immunity, and congressional access – or only AARO/PURSUE intake?
- Does anyone who was already retaliated against get relief, or does “no longer in force” apply only going forward?
The administration has now crossed from directive to memorandum. The next test is whether the people holding the craft documents treat Lukas’s signature as a door – or another hallway.
