censored
It's been nearly 27 years since I submitted my first Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, request on UFOs. I was 15 years old at the time. That request unearthed a four-page Defense Intelligence Agency document detailing a 1976 event in which multiple UFOs shut off the communications and instrumentation panels of two separate Iranian F-4 Phantom jets. The advanced capabilities of these UFOs sparked my interest, and through the FOIA, I quickly discovered the incident was not an isolated one. I learned that there was much more to discover within official files.

My website, The Black Vault, showcases thousands of UFO files I've received from the government. The documents, overall, hint at a mysterious phenomenon the U.S. military and government have struggled to identify adequately for decades. Indeed, they appear to have often kept the public in the dark using various tactics to block legally or at least severely prohibit accessing some of these records that date back to the 1940s.

Fast forward to December 2017, and that secrecy seemed to be lifting. A former government intelligence officer, Luis Elizondo, came out of the shadows to talk about his work running a secret Pentagon UFO study. Politicians became interested, and legislation was passed mandating UFO research offices and congressional hearings. The intent was to get the public some answers.

Anyone with interest in the mystery was overjoyed that the government was taking it seriously, the military was taking action, and they were going to share their findings. At least, we thought they were going to share their findings.

Unfortunately, the transparency appears to have been a facade. Behind the scenes, something has been brewing for years. Even though politicians talked openly about what is now called Unidentified Aerial Phenomena/Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, or UAP, and the media seemed to take it more seriously, the government was working hard to lock down UAP-related information.

In April 2020, the Department of the Navy's "Security Classification Guide" formalized the secrecy around UAP. It deemed the facts about pilots' UAP sightings and the Navy's ongoing UAP investigations as "unclassified," but most UAP details were then defined as classified by the guide. Those facts remain entirely unknown to the public due to heavy redactions in the SCG, and it's this type of secrecy that contradicts government attempts to dismiss UAP as primarily drones or airborne clutter.

The result of the UAP SCG being approved was that it locked down UAP information and made it incredibly difficult to obtain through legal channels. In one case I filed, the Navy denied every single video they had that they tagged as a UAP. The DOD claimed it didn't want to reveal the capabilities of sensitive sensor systems, yet time and time again, it would release video taken by the same or similar video imaging systems in instances not dealing with UAP. In other words, it was UAP they were going to great lengths to hide, not the sensitive systems that took the imagery.

In other examples, the U.S. Navy denied releasing UAP briefing videos, and the NRO heavily redacted a PowerPoint presentation about a 2021 UAP sighting of a "tic-tac," all thanks to the secrecy the UAP SCG mandated.

Recently, the secrecy efforts took a turn that may be even more detrimental for those seeking transparency.

The Department of Defense recently denied several UAP and AARO (the DOD's newest UAP research effort) related FOIA requests from The Black Vault, citing exemption (b)(7), the "law enforcement" exemption. This essentially coalesces all of AARO's efforts under a "law enforcement" umbrella, and specific to my cases, the DOD claims the release of the UAP/AARO information I requested would "interfere with enforcement proceedings" and could "disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions."

I've repeatedly contacted the Pentagon for clarification. Despite acknowledging my questions, it has yet to provide answers.

Which begs the ultimate question.

Why is the secrecy surrounding the UAP matter, which has lasted for decades, now strengthening to the point that it may become impenetrable?

If this were about shielding the public from sensitive system capabilities or even covering up sensitive U.S. technology, none of this would be unfolding as it has. There are much easier and more effective ways to hide that from the general public.

So what is it that has UAP as a closely guarded secret, and one the military is going to great lengths to hide? Although I may not be able to answer that for you today, the battle to push for answers is far from over.
John Greenewald is the founder of The Black Vault, an online resource boasting an extensive collection of over 3.2 million pages of declassified government documents on all things government secrets.