MoD opens its files on UFO sightings to public

Written by Administrator

Thursday, 03 May 2007

MoD opens its files on UFO sightings to public

James Randerson Thursday May 3, 2007

The Ministry of Defence plans to open its "X-Files" on UFO sightings to the public for the first time. Officials have not yet decided on a date for the release of the reports, which date back to 1967, but it is hoped to be within weeks.

The move follows the decision by the French national space agency to release its UFO files in March, the first official body in the world to do so.

UFO buffs will be keen to find out what officials knew about some of the UK's most famous sightings and whether any action was taken. One celebrated event - at Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, in 1980 - has been dubbed "Britain's Roswell" after the UFO incident in the US in 1947. At Rendlesham there were several witness reports of a UFO apparently landing. The released files should support or discount claims that radiation was detected at the site after the event.

David Clarke, a lecturer in journalism at Sheffield Hallam University and author of Flying Saucerers: A Social History of UFOlogy, said opening the MoD's files would make it harder to sustain the idea that evidence for the existence of aliens has been suppressed. "The more of this stuff that they put on their website or put in the national archives, the less it will cost the taxpayer, because at the moment people are writing in about individual incidents and they are having respond," said Dr Clarke, referring to requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

The documents due for release are witness reports of apparent UFO sightings, many by civil pilots and military personnel. Most were simply collected and filed by a small, secret unit within defence intelligence called DI55. A few are thought to have been investigated further by the military, but the details have never been made public. There are 24 files due for release, each containing 200-300 reports of sightings, plus internal MoD briefings and correspondence.

UK UFO Files Declassified

I do not over-inflate things when I say that this breaking story from researcher Dave Clarke in England is one of the most significant breakthroughs in British UFO research. Here's the story from Dave himself:

"I'm pleased to announce that the British MoD have decided to release their archive of 7,000 UFO reports made to the Defence Intelligence Staff covering a period of 30 years.

"The decision - announced in a letter I received last month - is a direct result of my attempts, working with colleagues, to persuade the MoD to follow the recent French example and open their entire historical and recent archive to public scrutiny.

"An additional problem in the British case was that 24 files containing UFO reports examined by the DIS branch DI55 from the mid-1970s until 2002, had been permanently closed along with 63,000 other records due to exposure to asbestos during storage in the basement of the Old War Office building in central London.

"Initially it was feared these files may have to be destroyed, but after an 18-month project (at a £3 million cost to the taxpayer) the entire archive has been saved. Work is now ongoing to scan and review selected files for release a) to the National Archives and b) onto the MoD's Freedom of Information Act website. The DI55 UFO archive has been selected as an immediate priority for release due to its public interest value.

"In their letter to me dated 26 March the MoD say: "it has recently been decided that 24 files from the DI55 UFO archive are to be retrieved from the contaminated archives and scanned onto disk. At this point, each of the files [redacted if necessary] will be placed on the MoD Publication Scheme.

"Following this work, the files will then be accessible by the general public via the MOD FOI website. It will be a few weeks before we will be in a position to give an estimate as to when the files will be posted on the Publication Scheme.

"Further details of the announcement can be found on my website's news page and on page 4 of the the current issue of Fortean Times (no 223, June 2007).

"As the 24 files earmarked for release contain some 7,000 reports plus analysis and correspondence I suspect it will take some time for the entire archive to appear online, but having had a sneek preview of one year's contents (1979) I can assure you the wait will be worthwhile.

"It should be noted that the material due for release contains a number of reports from service sources - including pilots and aircrew - that were never seen by the public 'UFO desk' or Sec(AS). The archive also contains all 3,000 UFO reports received by MoD between 1987 and 1997 that were used to draw up the database used by the author of the Condign report that was commissioned by DI55 in 1997. The database itself was destroyed shortly after the report was circulated in 2000 (for details, see this link).

"The decision to release these files to the public is a major breakthrough and a landmark both for British Ufology and in the wider campaign for Freedom of Information in the UK.

"It also marks the end of my personal campaign, which began almost a decade ago before FOI arrived in 2005, to persuade the MoD to release all their UFO records. My first success was in 2001 firstly with the Rendlesham file and the report by the Flying Saucer Working Party. Success after success has followed, partly through persistence and partly through the support and assistance of fellow researchers - in particular Gary Anthony, Joe McGonagle, Chris Fowler, Andy Roberts and friends in the media, particularly James Randerson, science correspondent of The Guardian.

"Thanks to everyone who has supported us. As soon as I hear more about the MoD's planned release I will update this message. With best wishes, Dave Clarke ."

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UK UFO Files Declassified