Archive / disclosure

Disclosure: the official record

What governments, legislatures, militaries, space agencies and courts have done about unidentified aerial phenomena, in date order, each entry resting on its document. Every nation that has acted. Newest first.100 entries since 1946.

Country All US 61GB 9CA 6BR 5FR 3JP 3MX 2AR 1BE 1CL 1DK 1ES 1NZ 1PE 1SE 1SU 1UY 1VA 1
Kind All Programme 25Report 19Release 15Law 12Hearing 12Statement 11Other 2FOIA release 2Court 2

2020s

US Programme Department of Defense

The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office is established

On 15 July 2022 the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a memorandum establishing the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) within the Department of Defense. The memorandum amended a direction of 23 November 2021 that had created the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group, in order to meet section 1683 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022. It directed the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security to establish AARO, renamed the oversight council the AARO Executive Council, and directed the Secretary of the Navy to disestablish the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force and transfer its data to AARO. AARO was named the department's authoritative office and focal point for UAP.

1 document·5 points
  • AARO was to carry out the duties that were to be fulfilled by the AOIMSG, established on November 23, 2021 (p. 1)
  • Its mission covers "anomalous, unidentified space, airborne, submerged, and transmedium objects" (p. 1)
  • The AOIMEXEC was renamed the AARO Executive Council (AAROEXEC) to provide oversight and direction to AARO (p. 1)
  • The Secretary of the Navy was directed to disestablish the UAPTF no later than the date AARO is established and transfer its data, analysis and other material (p. 1)
  • AARO is the DoD focal point for all UAP and UAP-related activities and may represent the Department to the interagency, Congress, media and public (p. 2)

Documents

US Programme Department of Defense

The Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group replaces the task force

The briefing cards prepared by the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs record that on 23 November 2021 the Deputy Secretary of Defense signed a memo establishing the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG) as the successor to the UAP Task Force, together with an Executive Council (AOIMEXEC) to oversee it. The cards give the group's mission as detecting, identifying and attributing objects of interest in Special Use Airspace and mitigating threats to safety of flight or national security. They state that the Department lacked data to say whether UAP were a foreign collection programme or an adversary's technology advance, and that implementing guidance was forthcoming.

1 document·5 points
  • On Nov. 23, 2021, DSD signed a memo establishing the AOIMSG as the successor to the UAPTF and the AOIMEXEC to provide oversight of it (p. 1).
  • The AOIMSG would focus on proactively identifying objects in Special Use Airspace, rather than only items observed but not identified (p. 1).
  • The cards state the Department lacked the data to indicate whether UAP were part of a foreign collection program or a major technology advancement by a potential adversary, and that there is not one single explanation for UAP (p. 1).
  • The cards say the June 2021 report confirmed UAP activity expands beyond Navy's purview, so the work is better directed at the OSD level (p. 3).
  • A December 9, 2021 update notes the draft FY22 NDAA approved by the House on Dec. 7 directed DoD and ODNI to establish a UAP office (p. 1).

Documents

2010s

AR Programme Argentine Air Force

The CEFAE is created

The Comisión de Estudio de Fenómenos Aeroespaciales (CEFAe) of the Argentine Air Force published its report for 2018, signed by its director, Com. (R) Rubén Lianza. The document does not record when the commission was created. It analysed 21 sighting reports received during 2018 that met its requirement of testimony plus evidence, and two historical cases, the "Campo de Mayo" case of 2 November 1972 and the "Bariloche" case of 31 July 1995. Using photographic analysis software and astronomical and satellite tracking programs, it attributed every case to a known cause. Biological causes such as birds and insects were the most frequent. It concluded the Bariloche case by attributing the sighting to a searchlight beam reflected on cloud.

1 document·5 points
  • The commission analysed 21 cases received during 2018 that met the requirement of testimony plus evidence; eight others were not analysed for lack of a testimony form or evidence (p. 1).
  • Of 22 cases analysed, all 22 were resolved: 10 had biological causes, 8 optical causes and 2 astronautical causes (p. 80).
  • For the Campo de Mayo case of 2 November 1972, the report states that new elements confirm the hypothesis of a barium cloud released for ionospheric experiments (p. 2).
  • The report concluded the Bariloche case of 31/07/1995, matching the positions of the "OVNI" with the directions of a sky tracer searchlight operated from the Rocket discotheque (p. 75).
  • It asked witnesses who photograph the sky "para ver si aparece algo" to send only images of objects that had caught their attention beforehand (p. 80).

Documents

  • Document Informe CEFAE 2018 Fuerza Aérea Argentina / Gobierno de Argentina· 2018· 81 pp.

2000s

GB Programme Ministry of Defence

The Ministry of Defence closes its UFO desk and hotline

The Ministry of Defence closed its UFO desk in November 2009, according to a press release from The National Archives accompanying the release of 25 files of over 6,700 pages. The files included a job description for the UFO Desk Officer post, written by the incumbent before being transferred to another post when the desk was closed. The Desk Officer wrote that the idea of secret teams of scientists was "total fiction" and that many investigations involved searching the internet. The release notes stated that from 2000 UFO reports were no longer copied to DI55. The text does not mention a hotline.

1 document·5 points
  • The UFO desk was closed in November 2009 and its Desk Officer was transferred to another post.
  • The released files numbered 25 and contained over 6,700 pages.
  • The Desk Officer described daily duties including briefings, UFO investigations, handling hundreds of FOI requests, and managing UFOlogists and press enquiries.
  • The Desk Officer wrote that the notion of "Top Secret teams of specialist scientists" was "total fiction".
  • In 2000 the Air Staff Secretariat was replaced by DAS (Directorate Air Space), and from 2000 UFO reports were no longer copied to DI55.

Documents

US Programme Defense Intelligence Agency

The Defense Intelligence Agency awards the AAWSAP contract (HHM402-08-C-0072); AATIP follows

On 22 September 2008 the United States government awarded contract HHM402-08-C-0072 to Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies, LLC of Las Vegas, Nevada, under solicitation HHM402-08-R-0211, issued on 1 September 2008. The Virginia Contracting Activity administered it, and payment was to come through the NSA Finance and Accounting Office. The Standard Form 1449 records a total award amount of $21,948,810.00 on a firm fixed price basis. It sets a base year from 22 September 2008 to 29 September 2009 and an option year to 21 September 2010. Deliverables included monthly status reports, project management plans and research reports for Tasks 3.a.1 to 3.a.12, and a Comprehensive Integrated Threat Assessment. The document does not use the names AAWSAP or AATIP.

3 documents·5 points
  • Contract HHM402-08-C-0072 was awarded to Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies, LLC with an award/effective date of 22 September 2008, under solicitation HHM402-08-R-0211 issued 1 September 2008 (p. 1)
  • The total award amount is given as $21,948,810.00; the contract was administered by the Virginia Contracting Activity, ATTN: DIAC, with payment by the NSA Finance and Accounting Office (p. 1)
  • The contract type is firm fixed price, and the BAASS proposal dated 9/3/2008 is incorporated by reference
  • Line items cover monthly status reports, project management plans and research reports for Tasks 3.a.1 to 3.a.12, a Comprehensive Integrated Threat Assessment, travel and other direct costs
  • The base year runs from 22 September 2008 to 29 September 2009, with an option year from 22 September 2009 to 21 September 2010 (p. 3)

Documents

1990s

CL Programme Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil

The CEFAA is created

The entry's paragraph is not written yet; the record below stands.

1970s

BR Programme Brazilian Air Force, First Regional Air Command

Operação Prato: the Air Force investigates the Colares reports

The Ministry of Aeronautics' First Regional Air Command (I COMAR), through the second section of its staff, kept a confidential register of reports of unidentified flying objects (OVNI) in the state of Pará, catalogued under Arquivo Nacional reference ARX.0.0.184. The surviving entries record sightings from 2 September 1977 onward around Santo Antônio do Tauá, Colares, Vigia and Mosqueiro, each giving place, time, colour, shape, movement, estimated altitude and distance, and the observer. Several witnesses described luminous bodies; some reported physical effects, including one man who said he was paralysed after trying to shoot at an object. One entry, dated 22 October 1977, records a sighting by the A2/I COMAR team itself.

2 documents·5 points·1 story
  • The register is headed Ministério da Aeronáutica, I Comando Aéreo Regional, 2ª Seção do Estado Maior, and is marked confidential.
  • Record no. 001 describes a luminous body shaped like an inverted plate seen on the PA-17 road, Santo Antônio do Tauá, on 2 Sep 77 at 22:00.
  • Record no. 003 notes that Manoel Matos de Souza tried to shoot at the object and was struck by a red beam of light, leaving him paralysed and bedridden for two weeks.
  • Record no. 008, from Colares on 16 Oct 77, gives Dra Wellaide Cecim Carvalho as observer of a grey, metallic, cylindrical object with no sound.
  • Record no. 011 lists the observer as the A2/I COMAR team, which saw a body at supersonic speed with no noise or sonic wave on 22 Oct 77.

Documents

In the archive

1960s

US Programme US Air Force

The Air Force announces the end of Project Blue Book

On 17 December 1969 the US Air Force issued a press release in which Secretary of the Air Force Robert C. Seamans, Jr. announced the termination of Project Blue Book, its programme for investigating unidentified flying objects. In a memorandum to Chief of Staff General John D. Ryan, Seamans stated that continuing the project could not be justified on grounds of national security or science. The release said the decision rested on the University of Colorado study directed by Dr. Edward U. Condon, its review by the National Academy of Sciences, past UFO studies and two decades of Air Force experience. It stated that Blue Book records would be retired to the USAF Archives at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.

1 document·5 points
  • Seamans wrote that "the continuation of Project Blue Book cannot be justified either on the ground of national security or in the interest of science" (p. 1)
  • The University of Colorado's 18-month contracted study, released in January 1969, concluded further extensive study of UFO sightings was not justified in the expectation that science would be advanced (p. 1)
  • A National Academy of Sciences panel concluded that "the least likely explanation of UFOs is the hypothesis of extraterrestrial visitations by intelligent beings" (p. 2)
  • Blue Book's stated conclusions: no UFO evaluated gave any indication of threat to national security, and no evidence showed "unidentified" sightings were technology beyond present knowledge or extraterrestrial vehicles (p. 2)
  • Records were to go to the USAF Archives, Maxwell Air Force Base, with enquiries handled by the Secretary of the Air Force, Office of Information (SAFOI) (p. 2)

Documents

1950s

US Programme Joint Chiefs of Staff

JANAP 146 makes the reporting of vital intelligence sightings a duty for military and civil crews

JANAP 146, issued under the Joint Chiefs of Staff and entered on file under December 1953, set uniform instructions for reporting vital intelligence sightings to military authorities. The document applies to US and Canadian civil, commercial, government and military aircraft, merchant and fishing vessels, and military installations. It lists unidentified flying objects among the sightings to be reported, alongside aircraft, missiles and unidentified submarines. Reports from airborne and land-based sources were to be headed CIRVIS and sent with urgency precedence to CINCONAD or the RCAF Air Defense Command. The text states that unauthorised disclosure of a report could bring prosecution under Title 18 of the US Code or the Canadian Official Secrets Act. The text available here does not show an issue date.

1 document·5 points
  • Applies to US and Canadian civil and commercial aircrew, government and military aircraft, merchant, government and fishing vessels, and military installations (p. 1-1).
  • Reports from airborne and land-based sources are identified by CIRVIS as the first word; waterborne reports by MERINT (p. 1-2).
  • "Unidentified flying objects" are listed among the sightings to be reported, alongside missiles and unidentified submarines (p. 2-1).
  • Unauthorised transmission or disclosure of a report may be prosecuted under Title 18 of the US Code, Chapter 37, or the Canadian Official Secrets Act of 1939.
  • Evaluations are to rate each sighting as Positive, Probable, Possible, Improbable or No Threat to the security of the United States or Canada.

Documents

  • FOIA release JANAP 146 National Security Agency· 13 pp.

1940s

US Programme US Air Force

Project Sign ordered; the first Air Force study of the reports begins in January 1948

The US Air Force's Air Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base sent the Director of Intelligence an initial report on Project "SIGN" in 1948. It was prepared under a Headquarters USAF letter dated 30 December 1947 and signed by General L. C. Craigie. The report said Project HT-304 was activated on 26 January 1948 and that Technical Instruction 2185 followed on 11 February 1948. It tabulated reports received up to 1 February 1948 and noted recurring features such as hovering, high climb rates and disc shapes. It recorded that Dr Irving Langmuir of General Electric judged the data insufficient for a positive identification. The command added its own view that a low aspect ratio aircraft could reproduce many of the reported characteristics.

2 documents·5 points
  • The study was directed by a Headquarters USAF letter dated 30 December 1947, signed by General L. C. Craigie; quarterly reports were to begin on 1 July 1948.
  • Project HT-304 was activated on 26 January 1948, and Technical Instruction 2185 was dated 11 February 1948.
  • Objects were described as oval, disc or saucer shaped; reported sizes ranged from a 25-cent piece to 250 feet in diameter.
  • Schedules of lighted night-flying advertising blimps were cross-checked as a possible source of reports.
  • Dr Irving Langmuir was "reluctant to consider the so-called 'flying discs' as a reality"; the Headquarters held that boundary layer control could make a similar low aspect ratio aircraft possible.

Documents

The register here is the record's: what a body did, when, with the document. The archive's stories carry the longer reads, and the Latest feed carries this week's official news before it is entered here. Entries from the United Kingdom rest on material under the Open Government Licence v3.