Archive / search
Official reports, hearing transcripts, case files and releases: the paper behind the cases. 2,872 documents, 2,610 mirrored with their text, 53,529 pages indexed, so a search reads inside them and lands on the page.
New in the library The PURSUE files The Department of War's UAP release, mirrored in full: the videos, recordings and images, each beside its case file.Documents2,872 records · page 51
This FBI Freedom of Information release collects Albuquerque field office reports from July 1970 to May 1971 on Silas Mason Newton, the Buckhorn Mining Company and the Magnetic Research Foundation, which were investigated for interstate transportation of stolen property and confidence games. Agents suspected that Newton was running a salted mining swindle near Silver City, New Mexico, since assays found no mercury or silver in the ore. The file also lists his arrest record. The case was closed after a lender said he had not been swindled.
This FBI Freedom of Information release is part of the Bureau's file on Silas M. Newton. It holds 1941 reports from the Kansas City and Los Angeles field offices in an espionage case that began in New York City. Agents looked at Newton's oil businesses, including the Kansas Western Pipeline Company and the Newton Development Company, along with his bank accounts in McCracken and Wichita, his hotel residences and his marital status. Informants described him as an oil promoter and a loyal American. The case was left pending with undeveloped leads.
This Federal Bureau of Investigation FOIPA release, Part 05 of the Silas M. Newton file, collects early 1940s field reports and a letter from Director John Edgar Hoover urging completion of delinquent leads by February 25, 1941. Agents in Denver, New York, Los Angeles and Kansas City examined Newton's reputation, hotel stays, telephone charges and bank dealings. The file quotes a criminal record listing arrests for conspiracy, false stock statements and grand larceny, and notes his oil company roles. Thirty-one pages were withheld.
This FBI Freedom of Information release contains a memorandum dated March 31, 1950, sent from the New Orleans office to the FBI Director under the subject "Flying Discs." It reports a claim that Denver oilman Silas Newton said he leased land in the Mojave Desert, where an intact flying disc had been found with eighteen dead three-foot human-like occupants. The memo notes related articles by Frank Scully in Variety and in True Magazine. It was furnished for informational purposes only, with copies to Denver and Los Angeles.
This is an FBI FOIA release sent to John Greenewald Jr. of The Black Vault on September 16, 2020, under request 1474900-000. It contains 1964 Albuquerque field office teletypes, airtels and memoranda on Officer Lonnie Zamora's report of an oval object with a red insignia that rose with a roar and flame near Socorro, New Mexico, on April 24, 1964. Agent D. Arthur Byrnes Jr. noted four indentations and burned patches. Kirtland AFB officers said they could not explain Zamora's observations, and the FBI did not investigate.
This is a June 7, 2021 FBI response letter to William Ross Puckett of Helena, Montana, answering FOIPA Request No. 1490770-000 on American Airlines Flight 2292. The FBI says it reviewed 4 pages and is releasing all 4. It notes that some material came from other government agencies and has been referred to them or is under consultation. The letter includes the standard FBI FOIPA Addendum and an Explanation of Exemptions.
This is an FBI FOIA response dated July 11, 2018, sent to Emma Best of MuckRock News and signed by David M. Hardy. It answers a request about Fred Lee Crisman. The FBI reviewed six pages and released one. The other five were referred to the Air Force FOIA Office. The released page is a September 1947 memo from SAC San Francisco on reports of flying discs. It forwards Hamilton Field A-2 letters about sightings on Guam and an investigation at Tacoma and Kelso, Washington.
This is a letter the FBI sent Michael Best on May 11, 2017, answering FOIA request 1347908-000 about Fred Lee Crisman. It releases 9 pages after consulting the CIA. The release includes a March 10, 1970 Seattle FBI memo calling Crisman a scoundrel and doubting that he had any CIA tie. It also includes an anonymous file claiming Crisman was a CIA "Disruption Agent" and a March 1970 FBI transmittal passing that material to the CIA.
This is a FOIA response letter the FBI sent to Michael Best on November 21, 2016, signed by David M. Hardy, about request 1347908-000 on Fred Lee Crisman. The FBI reviewed 53 pages and released 37, with redactions under exemptions (b)(6), (b)(7)(C) and (b)(7)(D). Some material was referred to the Air Force. Other records were transferred to the National Archives, and one record was destroyed in 1977. The letter also explains how to appeal.
This MuckRock release pairs a 29 March 2017 CIA FOIA response letter to Michael Best with a 10 April 1970 CIA memorandum to the FBI Director about Fred Lee Crisman, an author from Tacoma, Washington. The FBI had found the memo and referred it to the CIA, which released it in full. In the memo, CIA Director of Security Howard J. Osborn says a check of Agency records turned up no connection between Crisman and the CIA or its predecessors. He adds that the only reference to Crisman was in Joachim Joesten's 1968 "Truth Letter."
This Central Intelligence Agency compilation of Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) material collects Israeli radio and press coverage of the Middle East peace talks from September 1978. It includes Prime Minister Begin's address to the nation before the Camp David summit and his airport statement on departure. It also contains opposition and Peace Now reactions, an interview with Moshe Arens and Hayyim Bar-Lev, parts of the Knesset debate on the Camp David accords, and remarks on Yamit settlers. The document makes no mention of UFOs.
This is a Central Intelligence Agency release of Foreign Broadcast Information Service coverage of the Middle East peace talks from December 1977. It collects British, Israeli and Soviet press and radio items on President as-Sadat's initiative and the planned Cairo conference. It also covers Prime Minister Begin's visit to London, Secretary of State Vance's regional tour and the Knesset debate on the peace plan. It contains no material on unidentified aerial phenomena.
This CIA file, released in 2001, gathers 1952 memoranda from H. Marshall Chadwell, Assistant Director of the Office of Scientific Intelligence, to the Director of Central Intelligence, along with draft letters to the Secretary of Defense and the NSC and a briefing on the Air Force position. It concludes that flying saucers carry national security implications, namely mass panic and air defense vulnerability. It recommends expanded scientific research, a public information policy and study of Soviet interest, noting that about 20 percent of roughly 1500 Air Force reports remained unexplained.
This FOIA release from DoD Washington Headquarters Services collects 2017 memoranda by Garry Reid, Director for Defense Intelligence in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. The memoranda concern the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) and former employee Luis Elizondo. According to Reid, Elizondo had no AATIP job responsibilities and inflated his role, and the program ended in 2012. The release also includes both of Elizondo's resignation letters and notes that AFOSI opened an inquiry into whether he mishandled classified information.
This FBI FOIA release, obtained via MuckRock, contains a July 11, 2018 FBI referral letter to the Air Force about Emma Best's request for records on Fred Lee Crisman. The referred material is a 1947 Army Air Forces A-2 intelligence investigative report on a flying disc incident reported at Tacoma, Washington. The agent inspected Dahl's boat and found no trace of damage. The file also holds a July 22, 1947 Venture Press letter asking a pilot to investigate the Maury Island story.
The National Security Agency sent this FOIA response on 6 September 2019 in case 105997, answering John Greenewald's request of 21 December 2018 for Intellipedia entries on Moscovium, Element 115 and Bob Lazar. NSA released three versions of the Intellipedia page on ununpentium, with some material withheld under FOIA exemptions (b)(3) and (b)(6). The pages cover the synthesis, properties and isotopes of element 115. They say Bob Lazar's account of the element is considered pseudoscience and that no openly available empirical evidence supports his claims.
This Department of Defense Freedom of Information Division case file, released to John Greenewald of The Black Vault, covers FOIA requests for DD Form 1910 prepublication review records tied to Luis Elizondo and AATIP. It includes the final response letters, internal memos and request information sheets, along with Elizondo's August 2017 emails to the Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review. The file also contains the DD 1910 for the GoFast, Gimbal and FLIR videos, stamped cleared for open publication on August 24, 2017.
This FOIA release from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office contains a Joint Staff J3 GENADMIN message from the J36 Homeland Defense Division, dated 19 May 2023. It tells the combatant commands and the military services to report every UAP incident, incursion and engagement to AARO on standardized templates within set deadlines, and to notify counterintelligence within 24 hours. UAP data and recovered objects or material must be transferred to AARO within 30 days. The message also defines UAP categories and related terms.
This FOIA release from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office contains redacted May 2023 emails to AARO Director Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick about planning the inaugural Five Eyes (FVEY) UAP Caucus. The meeting was held at the Pentagon on 24 May 2023. The agenda lists updates from AARO, ODNI, FAA, NASA, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. It also covers a way-ahead plan for FVEY UAP collaboration, including report-sharing networks, shared databases, collection planning and the schedule for future meetings.
This AARO FOIA release (case 330UAP000032) is a memorandum for record dated January 8, 2024. It sets out AARO's repeated attempts from June 2023 to January 2024 to interview David Grusch for its Historical Record Report. The release also includes text messages with Chris Mellon, email threads with Grusch and congressional staff, and DoD and ODNI memos stating that AARO may receive classified information. It concludes that Grusch had no intention of giving AARO information on his claims.
This AARO FOIA release, reviewed for release on 27 March 2025, is built around a 8 January 2024 memorandum for record. The memo describes AARO's repeated efforts from June 2023 to January 2024 to interview David Grusch for its Historical Record Report. It says Grusch agreed to an interview on 14 November 2023 but did not appear, citing security concerns. The release also includes supporting emails and text messages, including exchanges with Chris Mellon, plus DoD and ODNI memos authorizing disclosures to AARO.
This FOIA release 24-F-0448 from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) contains an organization chart of the office, dated August 2024. The chart lists Director Jon Kosloski and Deputy Director Tim Phillips of ODNI. It also shows divisions for analysis, operations, science and technology, and strategic communications. The positions listed include radar analysts, all-source analysts, a science advisor and liaison officers from NASA, the Army and the Navy. The names of most staff are withheld under exemption (b)(6).
This FOIA release from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office contains a March 5, 2024 email from Sue Gough of Defense Press Operations, OSD(PA), to reporters at several outlets. It invites them to an embargoed, off-camera roundtable in the Pentagon Briefing Room on March 6 with Tim Phillips, AARO's acting director, about AARO's Historical Record Report Volume 1. Reporters who agreed to the embargo would get an advance copy, and the embargo would hold until DOD announced the report's public release on March 8.
This FOIA release, 24-F-1138, is filed under the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office. It contains the standard verbal legal advisement read to people giving an oral history interview to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security. The advisement confirms that participation is voluntary and explains how the Privacy Act applies. It also states that nondisclosure agreements are waived only inside the SCIF, that false statements can be punished under 18 U.S.C. 1001, and that transcripts may be shared with Congress.
This All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office FOIA release, 24-F-1426, contains May 2023 emails to AARO Director Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick about the inaugural Five Eyes (FVEY) UAP Caucus Working Group meeting. The meeting was set for 24 May 2023 in a TS/SCI room at the Pentagon. The agenda lists updates from AARO, ODNI, the FAA and NASA, then partner briefings from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. It closes with discussion of a collaboration plan covering shared reporting networks, shared databases, collection planning and future meetings.
This FOIA release from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) contains a consolidated organization chart for AARO within OUSD (I&S), dated as of August 2024. The chart lists AARO's leadership, including Director Jon Kosloski, along with its chief of staff, budget, IT and records functions and its analysis, operations, science and technology, and strategic communications divisions. Most personnel names are redacted under exemption (b)(6). The chart covers staffing and structure only and does not discuss any specific cases.
This FOIA release from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office contains records of a Department of Defense prepublication security review completed on November 21, 2023. It includes emails, a DD Form 1910 clearance request signed by AARO Deputy Director Timothy Phillips, and a review worksheet for case 24-T-0401, which cleared a one-page "UAP Reporting Trends" graphic for publication on aaro.mil. The graphic summarizes reported UAP characteristics: mostly round objects 1 to 4 meters in size, white, silver or translucent, at 10,000 to 30,000 feet.
This FOIA release from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office contains a December 2023 prepublication review package for AARO's "UAP Self Reporting Mechanism User Guide." It includes the emails and the DD Form 1910 signed by Acting Director Timothy Phillips, and it records that the Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review cleared the guide for open publication on December 11, 2023. The 20-page guide explains how current or former government personnel with firsthand knowledge of UAP programs since 1945 can report to AARO.
This FOIA release from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office contains a Department of Defense prepublication clearance package from November 2023. It includes a DD Form 1910 request, a DOPSR case sheet (24-P-0136), and related emails. The Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review cleared a one-page biography of Timothy A. Phillips for open publication on aaro.mil on November 17, 2023. The biography states that Phillips became AARO Deputy Director in October 2023 and is a retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued this preliminary assessment on unidentified aerial phenomena, dated 25 June 2021 and released on 24 March 2022 under FOIA case DF-2021-00275. Prepared for congressional committees with the UAP Task Force, it reviews mostly US government reports from November 2004 to March 2021. It finds that limited high-quality data prevents firm conclusions, that UAP clearly pose a flight safety issue, and it proposes five explanatory categories and better standardized reporting.
This Defense Intelligence Agency release is a packet prepared for the Deputy Secretary of Defense before a November 17, 2009 meeting with Senator Harry Reid. It contains a memo from Under Secretary James R. Clapper Jr., talking points, and Reid's June 24, 2009 letter asking for restricted Special Access Program protection for the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Application Program, which Reid called AATIP. It also includes DIA reviews of 26 Bigelow Aerospace technical reports. DIA and Clapper found no justification for a Special Access Program.
This FAA record of interview documents a session held January 5, 1987, at the Federal Building in Anchorage, Alaska. Inspector Peter E. Beckner of AAL-207 questioned JAL First Officer Takanori Tamefuji, with interpreter Sayoko Mimoto, about the November 17, 1986 sighting. Tamefuji said he saw very bright, multicolored lights resembling head-on traffic for about five to ten minutes, along with a large green echo on the airborne radar. His seat position kept him from seeing it after that. He rejected reflection and weather explanations and said he was certain he saw something.
This FAA interview transcript, released through the National Archives and The Black Vault, records Pete Beckner of the FAA questioning JAL flight engineer Yoshie Tsukuba on January 15, 1987, with Sayoko Mimoto interpreting. The subject is the UFO that Captain Terauchi reported on November 17, 1986. Tsukuba says he saw clusters of white or amber lights ahead of the aircraft for about ten minutes, plus a fainter second light and a return on the weather radar. He adds that he was still unsure whether it was a UFO.
This undated chart, released through The Black Vault, is a radar flight path chart prepared at the FAA's Anchorage Air Route Traffic Control Center. The surviving text is its legend. The legend defines radar return categories: beacon with merged primary, beacon with offset primary, split primary returns and split beacon returns. It lists the chart's preparers as cartographer Phil Shutt, automation specialist Manfred F. Keller and quality assurance specialist Anthony M. Wylie. The text reaches no conclusions and does not name any incident.
This is a CIA Information from Foreign Documents or Radio Broadcasts item, report number 00-W-23682, marked as unevaluated information and dated 9 July 1952, with Greek listed as the source language. It relays the sworn testimony that Oscar Linke, a former mayor of Gleimershausen, and his 11-year-old daughter Gabriella gave to a judge. They described two men in shiny metallic clothing beside a frying-pan-shaped object about 15 meters across, which took off from a forest clearing near Hasselbach in the Soviet Zone.
This Gerald R. Ford Library folder of Ford Congressional Papers holds material from Ford's broadcasts in 1965 and 1966. It contains correspondence with WJR station manager James H. Quello and drafts of Ford's June 1965 "Your Government" radio report on congressional imbalance, Vietnam and Cuba, along with budget remarks. It also includes Ford's March 25, 1966 on-air statement calling for a congressional investigation of UFO sightings near Ann Arbor, Michigan, a Great Society documentary script and a Meet the Press transcript with Indira Gandhi.
This file from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library holds press releases and statements that House Republican Leader Gerald R. Ford issued between January and April 1966. Most cover Vietnam policy, the war on poverty, inflation, foreign aid, the federal budget and changes in his press staff. An April 21, 1966 statement says the Air Force told Ford it would contract a university with no close Air Force ties to have scientists study unexplained UFO sightings and make the report public. According to Ford, his call for congressional hearings led to this study.
This Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library file holds 1966 press releases and letters on UFOs from House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford. In March 1966 Ford asked the House Armed Services or Science and Astronautics Committee to hold hearings. He called the Air Force's swamp gas explanation for the Michigan sightings flippant. Later statements say the Air Force had agreed to fund an independent scientific study. An October 7, 1966 release announces that the University of Colorado, under Dr. Edward U. Condon, had been chosen to do it.
This Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library file holds 1966 press releases on UFOs from House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford. In a March 28, 1966 letter, Ford asks the House Armed Services and Science and Astronautics Committees to hold hearings, calling the Air Force's swamp gas explanation of the Michigan sightings flippant. In April statements, Ford says the Air Force has agreed to a university study. The file also contains the October 7, 1966 Air Force announcement choosing the University of Colorado, with Dr. Edward U. Condon as director.
This file from the Ford Congressional Papers at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library logs Gerald R. Ford's 1966 speeches and press releases. Each entry gives the date, who spoke, the subject and the filing category. Most of the topics are the budget, inflation, Vietnam, campaign dinners and legislation. Several entries go in a "UFO" file: a UFO Investigation item on March 25, a UFO Investigation Request on March 28, UFO hearings with Rep. Joseph E. Karth on April 3 and a UFO Study on April 21.
This file from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, digitized by the Internet Archive, holds Congressman Gerald R. Ford's Fifth District weekly radio scripts from January to June 1966, plus several National Republican Congressional Committee scripts. They deal with President Johnson's budget, inflation, four-year House terms, electoral college reform, foreign aid, the Vietnam War, rent subsidies and Memorial Day. The extracted text does not discuss UFOs.
This is a Truth in Testimony Disclosure Form for the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. Witness David Fravor, CDR USN (Ret), completed it for a hearing on 26 July 2023 about government transparency and accountability of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) programs. He answered no to the question of whether he is a fiduciary of any organization with an interest in the hearing's subject. The form also restates the House rules for witness disclosures and warns that knowingly giving false statements is a crime. It is signed and dated 22 July 2023.
This undated biography of David Fravor comes from the U.S. House Committee Repository. It describes him as a retired naval pilot and former Commander of VFA-41, "The Black Aces," and as one of the primary witnesses in the 2004 USS Nimitz UFO incident. His military career lasted 24 years, 18 of them as a Navy pilot, and included five tours to the Persian Gulf. He commanded a squadron of 12 airplanes and 330 people and retired in 2006.
This is a written statement by retired U.S. Navy Commander David Fravor to the House Oversight Committee. Fravor describes his November 2004 encounter, while commanding VFA-41 aboard the USS Nimitz, with a white Tic Tac shaped object that outmaneuvered his F/A-18F and reappeared 60 miles away in under a minute. He says the incident was never investigated. He also calls for congressional oversight of any government programs that may possess such craft.