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MOD file DEFE 24/2032/1

The Black Vault · 492 pages · text from the file's own layer

This Ministry of Defence file, released through The National Archives and published by The Black Vault, holds the MOD's 2002 handling of Dr David Clarke's requests for UFO documents under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. It includes the MOD's 9 December 2002 reply, which covered reports from 1976, 1980, 1993 and 1996 and charged £260. It also contains internal emails and file requisitions, plus Foreign Office and United Nations papers from 1978 on Grenada's proposal for UFO research.

  • p. 40 …But, unlike with the aircraft reported by the noble Earl, I have never seen one. I…
  • p. 46 …It is not quite enough to explain the earthquakes. It does not mean that the mystery…
  • p. 47 …explain the black holes about which we talk. We are talking of mysteries that we never…
  • p. 53 …I should believe merely that I had seen it---something that I could not explain; and…
  • p. 58 …On the contrary, we welcome something we cannot explain because it is a new phenomenon which…
  • p. 59 …l should lib:1 have never seen ball lightning, but the 1 to go into the…
  • p. 112 ..~ say that in the Air Force, for tne moment, they have never seemed to come directly…
  • p. 161 …anomalies on the r~dars, of the elements which ~fair defence does not manage to explain…
  • p. 177 …informed that 11so far the military have never found anything of an~~gressive nature from the…
  • p. 192 …Let me assure this House that Her Majesty's Government has never been approached by people…
  • p. 214 …Let me assure this Rouse that Her Majesty's Government has never been approached by people…
I
e describing a phenomenon that has reallyjf only 8% of cas~s, observ~rs are
~en observed and J.S unknown.
The variety of characteristics of the phenomenon is such that it is n~t possible
at present to formulate a d~finite scientific theory conce~ning its nature
or origin (physical or otherwise\• it also enables us to state thi.lt this phenomenon
is not th~ result of human technology.
Its tangible effects on human beings are without danger.
Given the present state of our knowledge, it seems difficult to conclud.e
otherwise than by confirming that science is incapable in this area. This
phenomenon cannot, at prese:ct, be analysed by means of known measuring instruments
and, in a word, it is only thanks to the accumulation of observationsdescribing
·not only this phenomenon but also all the physical data regarding the environment
that-researchers may one da~ have the good fortune to discover the parameters
that will enable them to give it a mo1·;,.; satisfactory interpretation. Whi.l:st
maintaining an open mind, we must restrain ourselves from hasty conclusions
regarding the nature and origin of the phenomenon and accept the fact that this
problem. like so many others, remains susJ?ended in space.
Translations of picture captions
(Pictures are numbered in pencil on the ori~ne~)
(1) One of the r~e photographs in the world to retain its mystery: a photograph
taken on January 16th 1968 opposite the island of Trinidad (Atlantic Ocean) in
the presence of geophysical 3pecialists.
{2) A flying saucer around the Eiffel Tower? In fact it is only a successful
piece of faking: the brilliant disk is the reflection of·a lamp in the window
...
through ·which the photograph was taken from a room in the Palais de Chaillot.
(3) Identified UFOs: Centicular clouds.

Cases discussed

About this file

Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 492 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.