Documents / Official release
This file, released by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library under FOIA request 2006-0476-F, holds White House correspondence records for case 243544. In a July 8, 1997 letter to President Clinton, Kent Jeffrey of the International Roswell Initiative submitted more than 20,000 signed copies of the Roswell Declaration, which asks for an Executive Order declassifying UFO information. On December 9, 1997 the Air Force replied that such an order was unnecessary because declassification under E.O. 12958 was already underway.
DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE WASHINGTON, DC Office of the Secretary 9 December 1997 SAFILLI 1160 Air Force Pentagon Washington DC 20330-1160 Mr. Kent Jeffrey P.O. Box 5125 Larkspur, CA 94977 Dear Mr. Jeffrey On behalf of President Clinton, thank you for your letter regarding an Executive Order to declassify information regarding the existence of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) and extraterrestrial intelligence. Due to the large number of requests for personal intervention received by the President each week, he has asked the departments and agencies of the Federal Government to reply on his behalf in those instances where they have special knowledge or authority under the law. For this reason, your correspondence came to the Department of the Air Force for response. Executive Order (E.O.) 12958, Classified National Security In/ormation, signed by President Clinton on April 17,1995, directs that all government records of historical value and twenty-five years old or older be reviewed and declassified, unless meeting one of nine narrowly-defined exemptions. These records must be reviewed, or exempted from declassification)by April 2000. The Air Force has identified approximately seventy-five million pages of material for review under E.O. 12958. As of December 1, we have reviewed approximately 26.5 million pages of material. The Air Force expects to fulfill all the requirements of the Executive Order prior to the April 2000 deadline. Therefore, since the declassification process for government records is already underway, an E.O. for specific categories is urmecessary. We trust you will find this information helpful. Sincerely S2GNED PATRICIA M. FORNES, Lt Col, USAF Congressional Inquiry Division Office of Legislative Liaison ROSWELL DECLARATION 96288 SAFILLIIRossi/sec17373119Dec97 OSDWH 05111 SAF/GCM (Patricia Aronsson)
Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 47 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.