Documents / Document
This MoD file, titled UFOs - Persistent Correspondence - Dr David Clarke, holds Dr David Clarke's Freedom of Information requests and emails to the Directorate of Air Staff from 2005 to 2008. Clarke asked for the DI55 report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in the UK Air Defence Region and for Rendlesham papers. He also sought records about Nick Pope. Other items include an internal review that released redacted passages on plasmas, the MoD's statement that it had no report of the 2008 South Wales police helicopter sighting, and a 2009 disposal form.
“RAF”42 pages
example, in an interview published by the International UFO Reporter (fall 1996, pg 18) Mr Pope states: "There was a faction [in the MoD] that certainly didn't want the book to appear. I submitted the text to the [PCB]...to my utter amazement - and for the first time to my knowledge - the manuscript was returned with a short letter...It said a number of things, but the quote which stunned me most said that my manuscript was 'completely unacceptable to MoD and quite beyond any suitable amendment.'" At the moment all we have is Mr Pope's version of this story. It must be in the public interest to release the relevant documents relating to the context of this statement. I am conscious of the £600 limit for central Government for the processing of a complex request of this nature. Therefore I have carefully constructed my specific request as follows in order to assist you in locating relevant material for release. My request, therefore, is for copies of MoD papers, records or other information relating to any or all internal discussion, policy and/or briefings in response to 1) public statements made to the media and 2) via the release of Open Skies Closed Minds by Mr Nicholas Pope during the period 1995-96. I wish you to include specific public interest material within the coverage of this request as follows: a) Any internal discussion relating to Mr Pope's public statements in the Mail on Sunday, 2 July 1995, The Independent 3 June 1996 and other press articles during 1995-96 b) Any specific discussion relating to Mr Pope's published statements that contradicted the department's officially stated policy on the subject of UFOs/UAPs, for example on the ET nature of UFOs and their supposed defence threat. c) Any papers, generated by MoD or its PCB branch, that relate to Mr Pope's public allegation that "...there was a faction [in the MoD] that certainly didn't want the book to appear." Specifically I request a copy of "the short letter" referred to in Mr Pope's interview with IUR which allegedly said his manuscript was "completely unacceptable to MoD and quite beyond any suitable amendment." and any related discussion which resolved this issue. As Mr Pope has spoken of this matter openly and in public it cannot be seriously argued that this material falls within the auspices of the DPA. All three of these specific requests, within the umbrella of my main request, are - I submit - very much in the public interest and I believe the Information Commissioner would take the same viewpoint. I look forward to receiving your response to this request and thank you for your attention to my letter.
Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. The text was read from the page images by an OCR model; expect the odd misread word. 160 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.