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

2010s

GB Release The National Archives

The final batch of the Ministry of Defence files is released

On 21 June 2013 The National Archives released the final tranche of Ministry of Defence UFO files: 25 files of 4,400 pages covering the last two years of the MoD's UFO desk, from late 2007 until its closure in November 2009. The press release said the files set out the reasons for the closure, including a 2009 briefing to Defence Minister Bob Ainsworth that no reported sighting in more than 50 years had suggested an extra-terrestrial presence or military threat. The desk received over 600 reports in 2009, treble the previous year, which the files partly attributed to Chinese lanterns. Dr David Clarke said he believed this showed UFOs were a social phenomenon.

1 document·5 points
  • The release comprised 25 files containing 4,400 pages, covering the UFO desk's work from late 2007 until November 2009.
  • The UFO Desk received over 600 sightings and reports in 2009, treble the amount of the previous year.
  • In 2009 Defence Minister Bob Ainsworth was told that in more than 50 years 'no UFO sighting reported to [MoD] has ever revealed anything to suggest an extra-terrestrial presence or military threat to the UK' (DEFE 24/2458/1).
  • The files note the desk 'serves no defence purpose and merely encourages the generation of correspondence', and its closure ended the UFO hotline and dedicated email address.
  • Briefings in the files suggested the surge in reports could be partly a result of the craze for releasing Chinese lanterns.

Documents

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

GB FOIA release Ministry of Defence

The Condign report is released under the Freedom of Information Act

The Ministry of Defence released the report of its Defence Intelligence Staff study of unidentified aerial phenomena under the Freedom of Information Act, an entry the editor dates to 15 May 2006. The text supplied is Volume 2, 'Information on Associated Natural & Man-Made Phenomena', Scientific and Technical Memorandum No. 55/2/00, dated February 2000 and stamped received on 7 December 2000. Its preface describes 25 working papers meant as a reference source for analysing UAP reports, covering ball lightning, radar detection, exotic technologies, black aircraft programmes, plasmas and magnetic field effects on humans. It concludes that ball and bead lightning is connected with a proportion of UK UAP reports, and it compares effects reported near UAP with laboratory magnetic field experiments.

2 documents·4 points·1 story
  • Volume 2 is one of three volumes of a 'Report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) in the UK Air Defence Region'; its preface notes that 'no actual UAP electromagnetic or other field measurements exist'.
  • Working Paper No. 2 concludes that ball and bead lightning 'is certainly connected with a proportion of the UAP reports received from within the UK airspace' (p. 2-12).
  • Working Paper No. 3 lists Lothian, Luce Bay, South Wales, Warminster and the Pennine Hills as locations researchers report as having the greatest incidence of UAP events (p. 3-3).
  • Working Paper No. 25 states that in 20 out of 25 instances the effects reported in magnetic field test chamber experiments tally with effects reported during close proximity to a UAP (p. 25-8).

Documents

In the archive

GB Report Ministry of Defence, Defence Intelligence Staff

Project Condign reports: unidentified aerial phenomena exist but are no defence threat

The Ministry of Defence's Defence Intelligence Staff issued Volume 2 of its three-volume 'Report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) in the UK Air Defence Region' as DIS Scientific and Technical Memorandum 55/2/00, dated February 2000 and stamped received on 7 December 2000. The volume collected 25 working papers on natural and man-made phenomena, from ball lightning and meteorological balloons to ionospheric plasma and black aircraft programmes, intended as a reference source for analysing UAP reports. It stated that most reports could be explained as aircraft, satellites or clouds, noted that no UAP field measurements existed, and suggested that magnetic fields from UAPs might affect the temporal lobes of close witnesses.

2 documents·5 points
  • Volume 2 contains 25 working papers to act as a reference source during UAP report analysis, interpretation and identification.
  • The preface states that the majority of UAP reports can easily be explained as aircraft, satellites, clouds and similar, and that no actual UAP electromagnetic or other field measurements exist.
  • Working Paper No. 25 compares magnetic field experiments by M.A. Persinger and colleagues with witness reports, finding that in 20 out of 25 instances the effects tally with those reported during close proximity to a UAP.
  • The paper suggests that 'alien', 'time lost' and spaceship descriptions only occur when the observer is very close to the UAP, probably within its near-field.
  • Annex D cites a 1977 report from Finland involving 170 troops in which RF equipment was 'jammed'.

Documents

1970s

1950s

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.