UFO files briefing guide

7
Project Blue Book was closed by USAF following publication of the Condon report in
December 1969. In the UK the MoD used the findings to further reduce their workload on
UFOs. From 1973 members of the public who reported sightings received only a polite
acknowledgement. Unlike the USAF, the MoD decided it should continue to maintain an
interest in the subject so that it could answer questions from MPs and where necessary,
reassure the public that UFOs posed no threat to national defence. This policy rethink,
the first of many, took place between 1970 and 1975 and the papers can be found in AIR
2/19086.
The last time the Government made a full public statement on its policy was in January
1979 when UFOs were the subject of a lengthy debate in the House of Lords. This was
initiated by Lord Clancarty (Brinsley le Poer Trench), the author of several books on
UFOs and related subjects. Clancarty believed the MoD had evidence that UFOs were
of extraterrestrial origin and was convinced they were concealing „the truth‟ from the
public. In the summer of 1978 he tabled a motion that called on the Government to set
up an inquiry and for the Defence Minister to make a televised statement on UFOs. In
the Lords, the Government's response was delivered by a retired Royal Navy officer and
Labour peer, Lord Strabolgi (David Kenworthy). His closing remarks were: „…as for
telling the public the truth about UFOs, the truth is simple. There really are many strange
phenomena in the sky, and these are invariably reported by rational people. But there is
a wide range of natural explanations to account for such phenomena. There is nothing to
suggest to Her Majesty‟s Government that such phenomena are alien spacecraft‟ ( AIR
20/12966). A further copy of these papers was opened in March 2011 under the piece
number DEFE 24/2032/1.
6. Key Documents held at The National Archives
Keyword searches on the Catalogue using „UFO‟ or „U.F.O‟ or „(unidentified NEAR
flying)‟ and „flying saucers‟ will produce a list of most of the relevant files held at The
National Archives. This search can be carried out by clicking here: catalogue search for
UFO files.
Various documents held at The National Archives give a history of the British
Government‟s involvement in the UFO issue and an insight into the politics and
personalities responsible for shaping official policy. The official reporting, analysis and
recording of UFO sightings commenced in the early 1950s, but substantial records at the
National Archives begin in 1962. Until 1967 MoD policy was to destroy UFO files at five
yearly intervals because they were deemed to be of „transitory interest‟; as a result a
large number of records dating from the period before 1962 have been lost. This policy
was rescinded as a direct result of pressure from the MP Sir John Langford-Holt in 1970
(AIR 2/19086 and DEFE 13/1183). Since then most surviving MoD UFO files have been
reviewed for eventual release at The National Archives. A note attached to a file dated
1988 reads: “in accordance with ministerial instructions, all UFO files are to be
permanently preserved, in view of the public interest in this subject‟ (DEFE 24/1928/1).
The surviving records generally consist of four categories of material:
1) UFO policy;
2) Parliamentary business including responses to Parliamentary Questions (PQs)
and Parliamentary Enquiries (PEs);