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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. 43 …the United States of America which has never been made known to the public and even…
  • p. 45 …will be, Yes, and yet they have never seen one. We are asking you to believe…
  • p. 46 …selfish- ness and tendency to panic as never before since the days of the Crusades. The…
  • p. 47 …I never reached that standard of mathematics. However I know that Einstein believed that ele~tro…
  • p. 51 …The difficulty about such an explanation is that they never seem to come into actual contact…
  • p. 53 …some of the things he told us. Never- theless, I feel that it is of immense…
  • p. 58 …What sort of an interpretation would somebody who had H.L.8 Q never read about…
  • p. 59 …l should lib:1 have never seen ball lightning, but the 1 to go into the…
  • p. 60 …She said "I don't \Vant to, because it will spoil it all." They said " Never…
  • p. 62 …Of ;orts of sightings ~never it has been n·estigation they tttral phenomena pet to say…
  • p. 67 …1308 fro,m h;m ag~;n ~n many other occ";?"'· ' Why have they never tded…
  • p. 112 ..~ say that in the Air Force, for tne moment, they have never seemed to come directly…
  • p. 131 …informed that 11so far the military have never fonnd an-ything of D.nt1tjgressive nature fro…
  • p. 161 …Air Force, for tile moment, they have never seemed to come directly under air defence. ' . I…
  • p. 177 …informed that 11so far the military have never found anything of an~~gressive nature from the…
  • p. 187 …But it would be a brave man who said there could never, ever,be manned inter…
  • p. 190 …a cloud descended and picked up ~he regiment and it was never heard of again ••••••• (checking…
  • p. 192 …Let me assure this House that Her Majesty's Government has never been approached by people…
  • p. 209 …But it would be a brave man who said there could never, ever,be manned inter…
  • p. 212 …a cl6ud descended and picked up :the regiment and it was never heard of again ••••••• (checking…
  • p. 214 …Let me assure this Rouse that Her Majesty's Government has never been approached by people…
  • p. 300 …despite agreeing to complete a report form, this has never been returned - I wonder why? (13)
  • p. 320 …Mrllllllll stated that he had been a Met Officer for 8 years and had never~nything…
  • p. 368 …despite agreeing to complete a report form, this has never been returned - I wonder why? (13)
  • p. 399 …Significantly, the plot was never present on radar displays from the NATS sensors at Cromer and…
  • p. 417 …RAF Northwood was never involved in this event. confusion has arisen because Gt Yarmouth coastguard, referred…
  • p. 432 …Significantly, the plot was never present on radar displays from the NATS sensors at Cromer and…
BACKGROUND NOTE
MOD interests in UFO investigation is solely to establish
whether report have any bearing on defence. Investigations of
individual reports over a number of years have produced no
evidence that UFOs represent a threat to defence. As might be
expected, simple explanations have been found for most UFO
reports, the most common su1gle source of sightings being air-
craft or the ligh~or aircraft seen under unusual meteorological
conditions. There is nothing to justify the expenditure of Defence
funds on setting up a section to investigate the reports.
2. We sometimes take the line: 'The MOD does not dismiss the
possibility that intelligent life could exist in outer space, but
reports that have reached the Department to date contain no
~vidence to support the view that these alleged phenomena are of
an extra-terrestrial origin'. However, that response is more likely
toilritate the dedicated enthusiasts than to convince them, so it is
customary to p1ay a dead bat.
3. During 1976, the statement said to have been made by the French
l•li.nister of Defence in 1974 lias brought to the Department's notic-e
in correspondence from the public. Attempts by DPR(~~) to verify
the statement through the French Embassy were unsuccessful, since
it was virtually impossible to check back on a radio proeramme
broadcast tvTC years earlier. Neither was the British Air Attache's
staff in Paris able to produce information on the broadcast. It is
understood, ho"'trever, that the French Defence Ninistry also stud;y-
the ~lilitary implications and consider any scientific aspect that
may have a bearing on military affajrs. The reports are also con-
sidered by French scientists at a Government organisation knmm as
the Centre Nationale D'Etude 'spatial. The British Air Attache in

Cases discussed

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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.