MITRE is one of the deep-state technical plumbing organizations: a nonprofit operator of federally funded R&D centers that advises DoD, intelligence, FAA, DHS, NIST, CMS, etc. Burlison is going after MITRE because FFRDCs may hold UAP records outside normal agency channels: reports, videos, technical analyses, retrieval-program references, sensor data, contractor studies, or archival material.
MITRE operates six FFRDCs and says these centers provide technical expertise and continuity to government sponsors. Its National Security Engineering Center works across defense and intelligence systems, including air, space, DoD, and intelligence work.
Burlison sent MITRE legislative interrogatories and document-production requests seeking UAP-related records and compliance information. His angle is accountability: FFRDCs are taxpayer-funded but sit in a semi-private zone where sensitive technical work can be parked with less public visibility than inside agencies.
Why MITRE specifically matters: it has long-term access to defense/intelligence data, airspace systems, sensors, command-and-control, aerospace analysis, cybersecurity, and classified-adjacent technical infrastructure. That makes it a plausible archive point for UAP material even if it was not “the UFO office.”
The real target is not just MITRE. Burlison has named MIT Lincoln Laboratory, RAND, MITRE, and other FFRDCs as places his team is pursuing.
Takeaway: this is a smart move. If legacy UAP programs exist, the records may not be sitting neatly inside AARO or the Pentagon. They may be scattered across contractor/FFRDC technical archives. MITRE is exactly the kind of institution you would subpoena if you suspected the government outsourced the paper trail.
https://defensescoop.com/2026/05/27/rep-eric-burlison-request-for-uap-records-mitre/