Short Note / Jun 23, 2026
Burlison's FFRDC target list grows as first UAP records deadline passes
As the 30-day compliance window for MIT Lincoln Laboratory’s 1952 UAP recording expires, Rep. Eric Burlison has expanded his inquiries to RAND and Aerospace Corporation.
The 30-day window MIT Lincoln Laboratory's attorneys agreed to has closed. No recording has been transferred. No statement has been issued.
That was the first deadline. There will be more.
Since his May 7 request to MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Representative Eric Burlison has sent formal inquiries to three additional Federally Funded Research and Development Centers: The MITRE Corporation, the RAND Corporation, and The Aerospace Corporation. The original request asked the laboratory to locate and transmit a 1952 reel-to-reel recording — catalogued as AF-ATIC-FILM, 03/52, labeled "flying saucer talk" — to the National Archives. MITRE is currently inside a 45-day window following a May 22 inquiry. Neither RAND nor Aerospace Corporation has publicly acknowledged receiving a request.
MIT Lincoln Laboratory did not respond to a request for comment.
FFRDCs are an odd target for a records investigation. They are privately operated, which keeps them outside standard FOIA reach. They hold security clearances and work on federally funded research, which Burlison argues means federal records law still applies. That argument has never been tested. What happens if one of them simply waits it out remains unanswered.
Burlison's answer to that problem is Amendment 1044, submitted June 18 to the pending NDAA. It would create a UAP Records Review Board with actual subpoena power — modeled on the JFK Records Act — that could compel both agencies and private contractors to produce files. Last year's version didn't make it.
On June 25, Burlison speaks at Disclosure Forum 2026 in the Kennedy Caucus Room, alongside Senators Mike Rounds and Kirsten Gillibrand. MITRE's deadline falls in mid-July.
The 1952 recording has not surfaced. Six weeks after the attorneys said they would comply, it still hasn't.
Related UAP Logbook notes
- Burlison asks MIT Lincoln Laboratory to find a 1952 'flying saucer' recording
- Burlison says MIT Lincoln is cooperating on the 1952 UAP video
- Burlison asked MITRE what it knows. MITRE says it is searching.
- Burlison's UAP records board has entered the NDAA stack
- UAP disclosure gets the Kennedy Caucus Room
Sources
- Rep. Eric Burlison: Burlison Requests Review of Identified 1952 UAP Recording, May 8, 2026.
- Rep. Eric Burlison: Burlison Presses MITRE for Answers on UAP Records, May 26, 2026.
- House Rules Committee: Burlison NDAA Amendment 1044 PDF, offered June 18, 2026.
- DefenseScoop: MITRE moves to comply with lawmaker's request for UAP records, May 27, 2026.
- Disclosure Forum 2026: Official Event Schedule and Speakers, accessed June 23, 2026.