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Who?
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) — Armed Services & Intelligence Committees
LISTEN: Laslo & Rounds
Ask a Pol asks:
How was your recent meeting with the new head of AARO — the Pentagon’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office — Dr. Jon Kosloski?
Key Rounds:
“It was good. I think he’s technically very adept. I was impressed with him. He clearly has had some opportunities made available to him to visit with different people,” Sen. Mike Rounds exclusively tells Ask a Pol.
Do you think he can regain — or gain the trust of whistleblowers?
“Yet to be determined,” Rounds says. “We'll have to wait for someone to come back and tell us that.”
UAPDA in NDAA?
Is your UAPDA with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer gonna make this year’s National Defense Authorization Act — NDAA — or is it gonna end up on the cutting room floor again?
“We met and we haven’t gone that far at this point,” Rounds says. “Meaning, there's [UAP] stuff in the NDAA, but I don't know whether it's what you're concerned with.”
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Caught our ear:
“There’s clearly a phenomenon which is real,” Rounds tells us. “We just don't know who this real phenomenon belongs to.”
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
SCENE: Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo’s walking past a tram underneath the US Capitol when he spots Sen. Rounds and two aides in one of the cars, so he hops on at the last moment.
Mike Rounds: “Hey, you made it!”
Rounds’ Aide: “How you?”
Matt Laslo: “Miserable — but I’m a political reporter, so that’s on me.”
Rounds and aides laugh.
MR: “What do you mean? Target rich environment, ain’t it?”
Rounds laughs.
ML: “Remember, I'm also a professor of government at John Hopkins.”
MR: “I didn't know that.”
Tram doors lunge closed.
ML: “So my heart breaks your daily. I teach in our MA program, where I did my MA.”
MR: “You teach what?”
ML: “History of the media, history of politics, with an eye towards how politicians and the media have — and have not — adapted to new mediums overtime.”
MR: “You mean ‘policymakers'.”
Rounds laughs.
ML: “Yeah.”
MR: “Yeah.”
ML: “No, I call us part of the political whatever — the political industrial complex.”
MR: “Yeah? It may not be pretty, but it's still the best process.”
ICYMI — Lynch complains of “conflicting” UAP info
ML: “Yeah. Fair. Did you — were you just at one of the classified briefings?”
MR: “Yeah.”
ML: “You were at the one with [Director of National Intelligence Avril] Haines?”
MR: “Yeah.”
ML: “On China?”
MR: “Yeah.”
ML: “Because Booker and Warner told me that there was also going to be one on UAPs and the incursions they've been seeing over New Jersey, but also Langley.”
MR: “I wasn’t in that one.”
ML: “Yep? I don't think they were either. How did your meeting recently go with the new head of AARO?”
MR: “It was good.”
ML: “Yeah? What do you think of them?”
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MR: “I think he’s technically very adept.”
ML: “Yeah?”
MR: “I was impressed with him. He clearly has had some opportunities made available to him to visit with different people.”
ML: “Yeah?”
MR: “So, you know, I'm optimistic that we're gonna have the support he needs. I don't know where it goes from here with his office. But look, there's a — I said this before — there’s clearly a phenomenon which is real. We just don't know who this real phenomenon belongs to.”
ML: “Right? Well, at the end of [former AARO Director Sean] Kirkpatrick's tenure, you met with him, [Sen. Kirsten] Gillibrand met with him, [Intel Chair Mark] Warner and [Vice-chair Marco] Rubio met with him and pushed him because whistleblowers didn't trust AARO. Do you think he can regain — or gain the trust of whistleblowers?”
MR: “Yet to be determined.”
ML: “Yeah?”
MR: “We'll have to wait for someone to come back and tell us that.”
ML: “Because it seems that the Senate is very invested in AARO, because it’s kind of — I see it as kind of your child, cause you just birthed it a few years back.”
MR: “Yeah, look, I think it’s a (inaudible). It’s gonna work through the system. My interest in this is to make sure that we have a process in place that allows for discovery of what might be out there without publicly releasing anything that might impact our national security.”
ML: “Yeah? You gotta look up what's happening over New Jersey.”
MR: “Huh?”
ML: “Look up what's happening over Jersey. Booker was saying his constituents are confused. They don't know what's going on.”
ICYMI — Ask a Pol exclusive with Sen. Cory Booker
MR: “I understand.”
ML: “Pentagon's not answering their questions.”
MR: “I understand.”
ML: “But Kaine had the same problem in Langley.”
ICYMI — Ask a Pol exclusive with Sen. Tim Kaine
MR: “I understand.”
ML: “Kelly had the same problem with Luke Air Force Base.“
ICYMI — Ask a Pol exclusive with Sen. Mark Kelly
MR: “I understand, but you gotta start someplace.”
ML: “Where — with NDAA — UAPDA is that gonna be on the floor?”
MR: “We met and we haven’t gone that far at this point.”
ML: “Yeah?”
MR: “Meaning, there's [UAP] stuff in the NDAA, but I don't know whether it's what you're concerned with.”
ML: “Yeah?”
MR: “But it’s really, they’re called: Yours, mine and we don't know where else.”
Rounds and his aides have now entered an elevator in the Senate Hart Office Building.
ML: “Yeah?”
MR: “See ya.”
ML: “Preciate ya.”
Elevator doors close.
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