Marion Michael "Mike" Rounds is a Republican senator from South Dakota who entered the Senate on January 6, 2015, after serving as governor of South Dakota.1 His official biography lists service on Appropriations, Armed Services, Banking, Indian Affairs, and the Select Committee on Intelligence, placing him across the defense, intelligence, and funding lanes that govern UAP oversight.2
Senate and Armed Services role
Rounds's office lists him on the Armed Services Subcommittees on Cybersecurity, Emerging Threats and Capabilities, and Strategic Forces.3 Those assignments connected him to UAP legislation aimed at Defense Department programs, intelligence equities, special access restrictions, and records systems.34
Schumer-Rounds UAP Disclosure Act
On July 13, 2023, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer submitted S.Amdt.797 to S.2226 for himself, Rounds, Marco Rubio, Kirsten Gillibrand, Todd Young, and Martin Heinrich.4 The amendment named itself the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act of 2023 and proposed a National Archives UAP Records Collection with public access, a records index, and a presumption that UAP records should eventually be disclosed.4 The proposal also included an independent UAP Records Review Board, a controlled disclosure campaign plan, and federal eminent domain over recovered technologies of unknown origin or biological evidence of non-human intelligence controlled by private persons or entities.4
Final 2024 NDAA law
The FY 2024 National Defense Authorization Act became Public Law 118-31 on December 22, 2023, and its UAP archive language appears in Subtitle C, sections 1841 through 1843.5 The enacted law directs the Archivist to establish an Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Records Collection at the National Archives and to include government, government-provided, or government-funded records relating to UAP, technologies of unknown origin, and non-human intelligence.5 It requires government offices to review, identify, and organize UAP records for public disclosure and transfer to the Archivist, while allowing postponement under specified national security, intelligence, law enforcement, foreign relations, privacy, and confidentiality grounds.5 The National Archives implemented those provisions through Record Group 615 and instructed agencies to identify UAP records in any format, make digital copies, prepare metadata, and transfer publicly releasable records for online access.67
The final law was narrower than the Schumer-Rounds amendment that passed the Senate.8 The conference report said the agreement included requirements to establish a government-wide UAP records collection, transfer records, and review disclosure decisions, but did not include an independent Review Board, Review Board staff, eminent domain authority, or a controlled disclosure process.8 The final NDAA separately added funding limits for UAP activities protected by special access or restricted access rules unless the relevant details were provided to appropriate congressional committees and congressional leadership.5
Continued oversight
Rounds and Schumer returned in 2024 with S.Amdt.2610 to the FY 2025 NDAA, a new Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act of 2024 sponsored by Rounds and cosponsored by Schumer, Gillibrand, and Heinrich.9 That proposal repeated the records-preservation findings, the presumption of immediate disclosure, and the argument that existing declassification and FOIA pathways had been inadequate for UAP records.9 Rounds also used his Senate Intelligence Committee role to back FY 2025 intelligence authorization language that he said would require further reporting of UAP activity protected under special or restricted access to appropriate congressional committees.10
Why this matters
Rounds's role matters because he helped move UAP disclosure from a hearings-and-whistleblowers debate into records law, archival custody, and appropriations oversight.458 The National Archives structure gives researchers a public catalog and finding-aid pathway, while the NDAA funding limits make undisclosed special-access UAP activity a congressional compliance problem as well as a classification question.567 Related Disclosdex entries track the broader UAP Disclosure Act of 2024 and the enacted 2024 NDAA UAP Records Collection.59