The US government has declared it will no longer share information regarding UFOs with the public, citing “national security” as a chief concern.
On July 11, the Black Vault, a privately-owned online archive of declassified government documents, reached out to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (designated N2/N6), requesting all documentation labeled “Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon,” or “UAP,” the term US intelligence representatives use when speaking publicly about UFOs. In September, the Black Vault received a response.
“The release of this information will harm national security as it may provide adversaries valuable information regarding Department of Defense/Navy operations, vulnerabilities, and/or capabilities,” Gary Cason, Deputy Director of the Navy’s Freedom of Information Office, said in the response letter. “No portions of the videos can be segregated for release.”
The specific date of the response has not been specified by the Black Vault.
The request was spurred on by two UFO footage videos released in Dec. 2017, supposedly having been leaked from the Navy’s archives, with a third video following in Mar. 2018 under similar circumstances.
At the time of the videos’ release dates, Navy representatives said the videos were classified and not cleared for release. However, copies of the videos would be declassified and released to the public in Apr. 2020.
The leaked videos, and the Navy’s response to the leaks, spurred the Black Vault to seek further UFO documentation.
“It seemed plausible if there were three, there were more at NAVAIR,” Black Vault writer John Greenewald recalled in a Sept. 8 article addressing the denial.
The July request is not the first filed by the Black Vault, following an initial Apr. 2020 request sent directly to Naval Air Systems Command, as well as a Feb. 2021 to the Office of Naval Intelligence’s UAP Task Force. These requests would be denied in Mar. and Jul. 2022, respectively, with the latter referring the Black Vault’s researchers to the N2/N6 office for UAP-related requests.
On May 16, Congress held an investigative panel addressing military sightings of UFOs, including video footage. However, the panel focused on previously compiled sightings and reports, alluding to government-employed methods of identifying UFOs without explicitly making specific identifications.
“We do not want potential adversaries to know exactly what we are able to see or understand or how we come to a conclusion,” Scott Bray, deputy director of US naval intelligence, explained at the panel. “Our goal is to strike that delicate balance, one that enables us to maintain the public’s trust while preserving those capabilities that are vital to the support of our service personnel.”
The Black Vault has filed a follow-up request regarding the denied footage.