Working under Byrd (the committee's longtime chairman and Democratic ranking member), he coordinated and managed the annual appropriations bills and other legislation on policy and funding of U.S. international operations and programs, including trade, defense and the full range of foreign activities of the U.S. government.

In this role, D'Amato allegedly investigated the funding structure of a purported "black budget" (and potentially extra-governmental) Unacknowledged Special Access Program tasked with studying UFO phenomena, possibly encompassing "crash retrieval" artifacts stemming from the Roswell incident and analogous events.

"[3] While serving as chief counsel to the Appropriations Committee, D'Amato also played an integral role in funding the Stargate Project, the Defense Intelligence Agency's remote viewing research program, until its dissolution in 1995.

[4] According to Paul Smith, D'Amato was in a romantic relationship with "Robin," a remote viewer and former DIA Freedom of Information Office administrative assistant employed by the program, although it is unclear if their involvement prompted his support.

Smith has postulated that "Robin" (who objected to military oversight of the research) enjoined D'Amato to "[grease] the wheels" in facilitating its transfer to the Central Intelligence Agency, which soon elected to terminate the program.

He worked on a wide array of issues affecting U.S. international economic and political interests, such as World Trade Organization review legislation and burden-sharing agreements during the Gulf War.