Form A4-3. Letter to the Department of State Requesting the U.S. Position on Outer Space Treaty Reporting of UAP

When to use. Asking the State Department to explain how it applies the Outer Space Treaty’s reporting articles to UAP and NHI information. Not for: Records requests, which go by FOIA in parallel.

Deadlines. None. Send the companion FOIA request the same day.

The document

2 pages, laid out as in the PDF and Word downloads. Select a page to open the PDF at that page.

[Name, organization, address, email]

[Date]

Office of the Legal Adviser U.S. Department of State 2201 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20520 [Copy: Bureau of Arms Control, Deterrence, and Stability, Office of Space Affairs; confirm current office]

Re: United States position on reporting of unidentified anomalous phenomena under Articles V, VI, and XI of the Outer Space Treaty

Dear [Legal Adviser]:

I write to request the Department’s position on how the United States applies the reporting provisions of the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (1967), to unidentified anomalous phenomena (“UAP”).

Article V, third paragraph, requires States Parties to “immediately inform the other States Parties to the Treaty or the Secretary-General of the United Nations of any phenomena they discover in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, which could constitute a danger to the life or health of astronauts.” Article XI requires States Parties conducting activities in outer space to inform the Secretary-General, the public, and the international scientific community, “to the greatest extent feasible and practicable,” of the nature, conduct, locations, and results of those activities. Article VI makes States Parties internationally responsible for national activities in outer space, including those of nongovernmental entities.

Congress has defined UAP to include objects in space and transmedium objects, 50 U.S.C. §3373(n)(8), and has directed the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office to investigate them. The United States has also participated in United Nations consideration of the subject (General Assembly Decision 33/426 (1978)).

I respectfully ask the Department to state:

whether the United States considers UAP observed in outer space, or encountered by astronauts or crewed or uncrewed spacecraft, to be “phenomena … which could constitute a danger to the life or health of astronauts” within Article V;
whether the United States has ever informed other States Parties or the Secretary-General of any such phenomena under Article V, and if so when;
how the United States applies Article XI to UAP-related space activities, including any activities involving material that the Government assesses to be of unknown or non-human origin;
whether the United States requires U.S. nongovernmental space operators, under Article VI and its licensing regimes, to report UAP encounters; and
the Department’s position on the effect of General Assembly Decision 33/426.

I also request, under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. §552, copies of records reflecting the Department’s analysis of these questions, including memoranda of the Office of the Legal Adviser and communications with the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs concerning UAP, from January 1, 1967 to the present. [Add fee category and fee waiver request; see Form A2-1.]

Thank you for your attention to this request.

Sincerely, [Name]