UFO files briefing guide

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In 2008 MoD announced their intention to transfer all their remaining records on UFOs to
The National Archives. This transfer began with 27 UFO files dating from 1979 to 1991
opened to the public via The National Archives UFO website during 2008. Further files
have been added, the most recent in July 2012.
One of the first UFO files to be released by the Ministry of Defence under the Code of
Practice for Access to Government Information, the precursor of the FOIA, in 2001 was
that containing papers on the famous Rendlesham Forest incident, often called
'Britain's Roswell'. Papers relating to the release of this file can be found in DEFE
24/2030/1 and DEFE 24/2031/1 (UFOs: Persistent Correspondence, Dr David Clarke,
2000-2001). The sightings took place over two nights late in December 1980 at RAF
Woodbridge, Suffolk, an airbase loaned to the USAF. Mysterious lights were seen to
land in the forest beyond the perimeter of the base and a group of airmen went to
investigate. They reported seeing lights they were unable to identify moving through the
trees. The next day marks were allegedly found on the ground and on trees in the forest
where the men claimed the UFO had landed. Two nights later UFOs were again sighted
from the base and the deputy base commander, Lt Col Charles Halt, took a team of
handpicked men into the woods to investigate. During the expedition Halt saw several
unidentified lights and made a live tape recording of the incident.
Early in January 1981 Halt produced an official report on the incidents, titled
'Unexplained Lights' that was sent to Defence Secretariat 8 (DS8) at Whitehall. Halt's
original typewritten report and the follow-up inquiries made by MoD can be seen at
reference DEFE 24/1512.
A file dedicated to the Rendlesham incident was opened by the MoD several years after
these events. This file was opened at The National Archives in August 2009 (DEFE
24/1948/1). This contains Halt's memo and briefings prepared for a Parliamentary
question tabled by Major Patrick Wall MP in 1983 when the News of the World published
the story. The remainder of the file covers internal discussion of the case and
correspondence from the public between 1983 and 1995.
Another file transferred to The National Archives in August 2010 contains details of the
2002 judgement by the Parliamentary Ombudsman that led to the release of further MoD
papers on the incident which were not part of the original 2001 release (DEFE
24/2042/1). The Ombudsman‟s judgement can be found in DEFE 24/2028/1, released in
March 2011. Another file opened to the public in August 2010 (DEFE 24/1995/1)
contains the transcripts of interviews with two of the key US Air Force witnesses, Jim
Penniston and Charles Halt, while DEFE 24/1983 contains the MoD‟s position statement
on the incident. Two files of parliamentary correspondence on UFOs, DEFE 24/2033/1
and DEFE 24/2034/1 contain responses to a series of questions on the Rendlesham
incident tabled by Lord Hill-Norton in the House of Lords between 1998-2001.
Four files containing correspondence between Dr David Clarke and MoD on UFO issues
and copies of papers released under the Code of Practice and Freedom of Information
Act between 2003-2008 can be found at DEFE 24/2032/1, DEFE 24/2043/1, DEFE
24/2061/1 and DEFE 24/2090/1, opened in July 2012.
A tabulated list of UFO sightings reported to MoD's Directorate of Air Staff (DAS),
between 1997 and 2007, is available via the Publication Scheme here: