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Selected Documents
MoD UFO Files and the National Archives
In September 2007 the MoD made a policy decision to transfer its archive of UFO
files to the National Archives. Nick Pope broke the story in the media in
December 2007 and the process commenced in May 2008. The following MoD documents
were passed to Nick Pope by the MoD and comprise the ministerial submission
recommending the release, together with the approval from the Under Secretary of
State for Defence. See the MoD UFO Files section
of this website for more details on the release of these files.
MoD UFO Project
In November 2009 the MoD made a policy decision to terminate its UFO project,
after over 50 years of research and investigation. Nick Pope broke the story in
the media in December 2009. The following MoD documents were passed to Nick Pope
by the MoD and comprise the ministerial submission recommending the termination
of the project, together with the approval from the Under Secretary of State for
Defence.
Britain's most famous UFO case is the so-called Rendlesham Forest incident. Over a series of nights in December 1980 numerous United States Air Force personnel at the twin bases of Bentwaters and Woodbridge saw UFOs in and around Rendlesham Forest, in Suffolk. In early 2001 Georgina Bruni obtained the Ministry of Defence file on this incident, under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. The papers consisted mainly of public correspondence, but the early documents related to the MOD's investigation into this incident, and included papers from the Defence Intelligence Staff. The key documents are reproduced here. A detailed commentary and analysis of these documents can be found in the Rendlesham Forest - UFO Files article on this site. For a detailed account of the case itself, see Georgina Bruni's book You Can't Tell The People.
The Flying Saucer Working Party was set up in October 1950 by Ministry of Defence Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Henry Tizard, who felt that UFO reports should not be dismissed out of hand without some serious study. He duly authorised the setting up of a small study team to look into the phenomenon. This is the group's final report, which was released to Georgina Bruni and a handful of other researchers in 2001 by the MOD, following requests made under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. A detailed commentary and analysis of this material can be found in the Official History article on this site.
