[Date]
VIA [agency FOIA portal / email]
FOIA Officer [Agency and component] [Address]
Re: Freedom of Information Act request: records concerning public perception of unidentified anomalous phenomena and communications with media and online platforms
Dear FOIA Officer:
Under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. §552, I request the following records created or received from [January 1, 2017] through the date of the search:
Plans, strategies, campaign documents, talking points, communication plans, “response to query” documents, and guidance concerning public messaging about unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), unidentified aerial phenomena, unidentified flying objects, or non-human intelligence, including any document that addresses how to respond to, characterize, or reduce public or media interest in those subjects.
Records of any program, activity, contract, or task order whose purpose included influencing public, media, or congressional perception of the subjects in item 1, including any public relations, information operations, or “narrative” activity, and records reflecting legal review of any such program under the appropriations ban on publicity or propaganda, the Smith-Mundt Act, or Executive Order 12333.
Communications between agency personnel (or contractors acting for the agency) and any journalist, news organization, publisher, film or television producer, or online platform (including [list platforms]) concerning the subjects in item 1, including any request to remove, label, demote, fact-check, or alter content, and any communication characterizing a named witness or researcher.
Records referring to any of the following individuals, in connection with the subjects in item 1: [list names of witnesses or researchers who consent; attach signed consents or proof of death for Privacy Act and Exemption 6/7(C) purposes].
Records of any surveillance, monitoring, or collection of information concerning private UAP research organizations or witnesses, and records of any legal or oversight review of such activity.
Records of any review of public affairs products or activities concerning the subjects in item 1 for compliance with DoD Directive 5122.05 (including the principles of information in §5.1, under which information may not be withheld “to protect the U.S. Government from criticism or embarrassment” and “propaganda has no place in DoD public affairs programs”), the publicity-or-propaganda appropriations rider, or Executive Order 12333 §2.13, and any complaint, inspector general referral, or legal opinion on that subject.
Search. Please search using, at a minimum, the terms “UAP,” “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” “unidentified aerial phenomena,” “UFO,” “unidentified flying object,” “non-human intelligence,” “NHI,” and “AARO,” combined where appropriate with “media,” “press,” “messaging,” “narrative,” “talking points,” “platform,” “influence,” and the names in item 4. Please search email, messaging applications used for official business, shared drives, and records of the public affairs office, [component], and any office responsible for information operations. If you use different terms, please tell me what they are.
Segregability and Glomar. If any record is withheld in part, please release all reasonably segregable portions. If you decline to confirm or deny the existence of records for any item, please state the item and the basis, so that I may evaluate whether the fact of existence has been officially acknowledged.
Fees. I am a [representative of the news media / educational or noncommercial scientific requester / other requester]. I request a fee waiver under 5 U.S.C. §552(a)(4)(A)(iii) because disclosure is in the public interest: it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of whether the government has sought to shape public perception of a subject that Congress has legislated on repeatedly (see 50 U.S.C. §3373; Pub. L. No. 118-31, §§1841-1843), and I have no commercial interest. [Describe ability to disseminate.] If the waiver is denied, I agree to pay fees up to $[__] and ask to be told before fees exceed that amount.
Expedition [if applicable]: I request expedited processing under 5 U.S.C. §552(a)(6)(E) because [I am primarily engaged in disseminating information and there is an urgency to inform the public about actual or alleged federal government activity]. I certify that this statement is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.
Please provide records in electronic form. Contact me at [phone/email] with questions about scope.
Sincerely, [Name, organization, contact]
