Research centre
Communication and Computing Research Centre

Date
2008-Present

Highlights from the collections of UFO files released by The National Archives in the UK

By Dr David Clarke

In 2000 I launched a campaign to persuade the Ministry of Defence to release the remaining UFO files retained in their archives (mostly post-1984).  I quickly became their most "persistent correspondent", using firstly the Code of Practice for Access to Government Information and, from 2005, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to apply for the release of UFO-related policy documents and other papers.

During 2001 my requests led to the release of the MoD's file on the famous Rendlesham Forest UFO incident and the 1951 report by the oddly named 'Flying Saucer Working Party', set up by the MoD to investigate reports of strange objects in the sky. This report was used to brief PM Winston Churchill during the following year when a UFO flap in Washington made headlines across the world. MoD had long maintained the report had been destroyed, but my inquiries discovered the last surviving copy and this was released to me - and to the world - in 2001.

The later stages of my campaign for UFO document disclosure coincided with the introduction of the UK's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in 2005. In the first year, the subject of UFOs became the third most popular subject for requests made to the MoD. And it was during 2005/6 that I used the FOIA to secure the release of a hefty four volume study of UFOs (or UAPs, as MoD preferred to call them), known as 'the Condign report'. Originally classified as 'Secret - UK Eyes Only' the report was commissioned by the Defence Intelligence Staff in 1996. Its release in 2006, made headlines across the world.

My work to secure full release of all surviving UFO data held by MoD continued and in 2007 the Ministry announced that it planned to transfer its remaining papers to The National Archives, in a phased programme that began in May 2008 and is still continuing.
Since that time I have been working with The National Archives (TNA) as external consultant for the UFO files release programme. The consultancy involved work to prepare each tranche of files for public release and the production of highlights guides, podcasts and public relations activity to coincide with the public opening of the papers on the TNA website. As of summer 2012 nine tranches of documents have been released consisting of 184 files and 50,000 pages of information. The release of the 7th tranche of files (in March 2011) resulted in a record breaking 8.5 million visitors to TNA's UFO website.

I doubt the release of these files will satisfy those who believe there is a deeper conspiracy to hide evidence of alien visitations, but it does reveal in forensic detail how the issue has been dealt with by the British Government during the past six decades. Nevertheless, it remains the case that full disclosure of what little the government knows about this subject is underway in the UK at least, a fact that will be welcomed by most rational observers as a landmark in open government."

My most recent book, The UFO Files, a historical survey based upon the contents entire run of British Government files relating to aerial phenomena, was originally published by TNA in September 2009. A second edition of the book was published by Bloomsbury in September 2012.

The National Archives UFO page

Researchers involved

Dr David Clarke - Course Leader - Journalism

Related projects

Contemporary Legend Research - By Dr David Clarke

Wartime Rumours and Legends - By Dr David Clarke