The Black Vault is a website that specializes in providing access to government documents. They offer various resources, including a searchable database of government documents, a forum for discussion, and a blog.
The US Navy has continually rejected requests from Black Vault journalists and UFO enthusiasts to release videos of unidentified flying objects, citing “national security” concerns.
Ameya Paleja writing for interestingengineering.com describes the US Navy as being tight-lipped about the existence of UFOs for years.
You may wonder, why would the military want to keep them a secret if aliens exist? The military may want to keep aliens secret because they could be perceived as a threat. The military may also want to study aliens and their technology to gain an advantage over other countries. These would be quite legitimate reasons, especially as it was suggested recently by a researcher that it was statistically likely that there could be as many four hostile alien races lurking in the Milky Way.
Unidentified aircraft or hiding alien existence?
Some UFO enthusiasts have suggested that the Navy’s refusal to release footage of unidentified flying objects proves that they are extraterrestrial in origin. However, the Navy has denied this claim, insisting that the objects in question are simply unidentified aircraft.
This news will likely disappoint UFO enthusiasts who believe that the government hides evidence of alien life. However, it may also reassure skeptics who think the government cannot handle sensitive information about UFOs.
UFO records exempt from the Freedom of Information Act
Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), a US government office had to respond to a request for information from Black Vault. Last week, the transparency website The Black Vault said that the Navy told that all UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) videos are classified and can’t be released.
The Navy’s response indicates that the government still considers UFO sightings a secret, even after more than fifty years of investigations by scientists and military personnel.
What are the implications of the exemption?
This course of action will significantly impact the public’s understanding of the UFO phenomenon. Most investigations into UFOs will now remain classified, which means that the public cannot access information about these sightings. This will limit the ability of researchers to explore the potential implications of these sightings and to develop theories about what they may represent.
This response also reinforces the idea that UFOs are mysterious and that the government is unwilling to share information about them with the public. This could lead to a reluctance on the part of the public to believe in UFO sightings and to support further investigations into this phenomenon.
Only two months ago, in July this year, it was announced in the news that NASA was forming a special team of researchers to investigate UFOs. Organizations such as the Center for UFO Studies, Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies, and the Galileo Project had hoped that this would mean that there would be a greater collaboration of sharing of information on UFO sightings between government and private researchers.
A change in the way UFOs are named and a shift in government policy
The answer comes very soon after the US The Department of Defense decided to set up a new office to look into UFOs, now called “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” (UAP). This move could have given people interested in the UAP a more direct way to voice their concerns and objections, but it also means that the matter will remain secret.
Some people may view this piece of information favorably because it suggests that the government is taking the matter more seriously; however, it also ensures that the topic will remain shrouded in mystery. This secrecy may be seen as a barrier to the investigation of UAP and may result in a lack of understanding or acceptance of the phenomenon. It is also possible that this will cause people to think that UAP is a hoax or a scam. Both of these outcomes may be detrimental to progress.
It also shows that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests aren’t enough to get to the bottom of all the information the US military is hiding from prying eyes.
In December 2017, two videos of UAP were made public. This got the attention of the media and the general public. After a few months, another UFO video came out, which sparked even more interest, and the demand for the US Navy to tell the truth and give more information.
The release of these videos has led to a renewed interest in UFOs and has given the public a new perspective on the topic. It has also reignited the debate about whether or not the US Navy is hiding information about UFOs.
In response, the Pentagon confirmed that the US Navy took the UFO videos in April 2020. This means that the videos were probably made soon after the pandemic started.
Several conspiracy theories could arise from this course of action by the Pentagon. Some people may think:
- The UFO videos were released to distract from the pandemic.
- The UFO videos were released to create panic and chaos.
- The UFO videos were released to show that the government is hiding something about the pandemic.
- The UFO videos were released to show that the government is hiding something about UFOs.
In summary, some people might think that the government’s earlier UFO videos were clearly released to distract from the fact that they’re hiding something about the pandemic. Obviously, they want to create panic and chaos so that we’re too busy looking at the sky to notice what’s really going on.
The Black Vault tried to get information from the US Navy to find out if there were more UAP-tagged videos like these and sent a FOIA request for their release.
Ameya Paleja covering the story for interestingengineering.com, states that Black Vault is seeking more information about unidentified aerial phenomena. This could mean that they are interested in investigating these phenomena further or that they believe that there are more videos of these phenomena that have not been released. It could also mean that Black Vault is looking for information about unidentified aerial objects in general.
The US Navy’s response
The Black Vault found out that the US Navy wasn’t very helpful and kept turning down their requests for this information. In March of this year, a request was sent to the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), the same office that officially released the three videos. The request was denied because the office did not have any more videos.
This could mean that the US Navy is keeping more videos of the event from the public. It could also mean that the Navy has no more videos of what happened. It’s also possible that the Navy has videos of the event but is not releasing them because they contain classified information.
Even though it is strange that NAVAIR had the same three videos that had been leaked before, The Black Vault kept asking other naval offices for similar information while waiting for NAVAIR to respond.
This suggests that the leak of the videos was not an isolated incident but part of a larger effort. If so, it could indicate that the videos were deliberately leaked to embarrass the Navy.
Which government department is really in charge of classifying UFO information?
In February 2021, a request was sent to the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), which was supposed to be the home of the UAP Task Force. It took 17 months to get a response, which said that any videos of this kind could be found at the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (N2/N6).
This suggests that the UAP Task Force is not actually a part of ONI but is instead under the control of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.
So, in July 2022, The Black Vault sent another FOIA request, which was denied because “the videos contain sensitive information about Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) and are classified and exempt from disclosure in their entirety.”
A response letter sent to Black Vault stated that releasing this information would hurt national security because it could give our enemies useful information about Department of Defense/Navy operations, weaknesses, and/or capabilities. No parts of the videos can be released separately.
The implication is that the Department of Defense does not want the videos released to the public. This could have implications for how the videos are used in court and how the public perceives the Department of Defense.
Distinguishing reasons for previously released UFO/UAP footage
Knowing that this answer would be questioned, the letter goes on to explain what happened when the first three videos were made public. It stated that three UAP videos that had been released in the past were first released through unofficial channels before they were made public. The letter continued to say that those events were discussed extensively in the public domain. Because there was so much information about these encounters in the public domain, the files could be released without hurting national security further.
What will be the consequences for future information about UAPs?
Since the US military won’t talk about what it has seen and recorded, UAP fans will have to rely on public groups like UAPx to learn more about the sightings and where they came from.
This could have a number of implications. First, it could lead to a proliferation of unofficial sources of information about UAP sightings, making it harder for researchers to verify the accuracy of information. Second, it could lead to an increase in UAP sightings and reports, making it harder to determine the true nature and extent of the phenomenon.
Finally, it could lead to more people believing in the existence of UAPs, and more people thinking that the US government is hiding information about them.
So basically, the US military could be creating a bigger problem by not talking about what they know.
