1 - The Black Vault

From:
DAS 4a(Sec)
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
Room 8240, Main Building, Whitehall, LondonJ SW1A 2HB
...
Telephone (Direct dial} 020 721 8 21 40
(Switchboard}
(Fax}
Dr David Clarke
You•· Reference
Our Reference
- "";? DAS(Sec )164 J
Date
06 (kto h~r 2000
Dear Dr Clarke,
· [ am· writing fitrther lo m~ 4 letter of 29 September in which lindicatcdthat l 'hoped to be·. able to rep!~.· tc- -
you in greater detail during the course of the first week in October.
Tmvards the end of your own letter of 4 September you summarised your request for access to information
under the Code of Practice on Access to Government lnfonnation, asking six main questions_ I shall now
address these questions in the order they were asked but before doing so it might be helpful if I explain the
usc of the term "sanitisc" in the paragraphs below. This simply means that all personal details (names.
addresses) are obscured as documents that have not been released to the PRO are copied for supply to
indiYidual enquirers.
l) DSIJJTIC Report No 7 'Unidentified Flying Objects' (1952) and related intelligence reports on
'VFOs' 1951-52 -I can confirm that a review of closed files has taken place but none were found to
contain the report you seck. As a consequence of this, and earlier searches which failed to locate the
report. we conclude it has not survived the passage of time. However, this latest rcvie\v identified a
number of 'UFO' related documents, six on DEFE 31/19 and one page on DEFE 44/1 \Yhich might be
photocopied and supplied to you, as I shall explain belo\v in greater detail. I am informed that these
documents represent the full extent of'UFO' material contained in closed intelligence records.
2) BJ 5/311 Records of the Meteorological Office, 'Unidentified Flying Objects': meteorological
aspects, 1968-79- The file contains some 360 enclosures, mostly letters to and from members ofthc
public. and is due for release to the Public Records Office in January 200 I. Sanitising and
photocopying the contents of the file might be done marginally in advance of that date (see below).
3) AIR 2/18564 Air Ministry/MOD, 'UFO' Report West Freugh 1957-1971- This file is for release in
January 2002. In the meantime it "·ould be possible to sanitisc the dozen or so pages that contain
personal details and photocopy them and the remainder of the file (around 40 documents), supplying
you with those copies (see beiO\v).
4) AF/3459/75 'UFOs': Policy and policy statements 1970- The file includes policy documents.
published articles and pamphlets, and some six pages require sanitising. It "ould be possible to
photocopy the contents of the file and provide you with copies (see below). ·
5) Additional policy files 1968-81 -Our researches have identified a substantial number of files,
although many appear to contain correspondence from members of the public. We are now \\Orking
on locating those that may include policy documents and shall write to you as soon as we have
completed that research.