1 - The Black Vault

Finally, with regards to my request for access to DSI/JTIC Report No 7 on UFOs
(1952). It is disappointing that this document has not been located during your review of
closed files. The attachment I enclosed with my letter of September 4 clearly
demonstrated this document existed in 1967 when it was referred to by an officer of the
DSTI branch, DI55. It seems improbable that such an important document (the basis of a
briefing by the Secretary of State for Air to Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1952)
would have been lost or 'not have survived the passage of time' when other material of
lesser interest has survived and is available in the Public Record Office today.
From the DSI/JTIC committee minutes available at the PRO it is stated that a 'watered
down' copy of the Report No. 7 was being considered for release to the Press during
October 1952 by DDI (Security), so it is possible copies may have been sent to a number
of different MOD departments. As it is also noted that the Americans (presumably the US
Air Force) would have to be consulted before any Press release, copies of Report No 7
may also have been sent to the US Embassy in 1952-53. In addition, there is a note in the
minutes stating that~opy of this report had been sent to Sir Henry Tizard, whose papers
are preserved at the Imperial War Museum. I intend to visit the Museum to research
Tizard's papers in the near future, and will notify you if I find the document among these
papers.
In the meantime, I would appreciate any information or advice you could supply as to the
options which remain open to me in terms of requesting a further, comprehensive search
of Defence Records to locate this historically important Intelligence report.
I look forward to hearing from you again before the end of the year as and when the first
part of this request is processed.
Dr. D. W.Clarke