Form F6-1. United Kingdom Freedom of Information Act 2000 Request to the Ministry of Defence for UAP Records Involving U.S. Forces or Shared Data

Use. Issue F6 suggests foreign archives as a route to records about events involving U.S. personnel that U.S. agencies withhold. The U.K. Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“FOIA 2000”) gives “any person,” of any nationality, a right to be told whether a public authority holds requested information and to have it communicated (s. 1(1)). A request must be in writing, state the requester’s name and an address for correspondence, and describe the information (s. 8(1)); email qualifies. The authority must respond promptly and no later than the twentieth working day after receipt (s. 10(1)). Exemptions likely to be cited are s. 23 (information supplied by or relating to security bodies), s. 24 (national security), s. 26 (defence), and s. 27 (international relations, which covers information received in confidence from another state). The Ministry of Defence’s UFO desk closed in 2009, and its files through 2009 are at The National Archives (TNA); this request targets records outside those releases.

When to use. A UK freedom of information request to the Ministry of Defence for UAP records involving U.S. forces. Not for: Requests to U.S. agencies (Form B1-1).

Deadlines. Response within 20 working days (Freedom of Information Act 2000 s. 10).

The document

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

[Date]

By email to: [MoD FOI address; confirm on the Ministry of Defence’s “Freedom of Information requests” page before sending]

Ministry of Defence [Freedom of Information Team / Information Rights] [Address]

Freedom of Information Act 2000 request: records concerning unidentified aerial or anomalous phenomena involving United States forces or shared with the United States

Dear Sir or Madam,

I request the following information under section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, for the period [1 January 2010] to the date of this request:

Any report, signal, log, assessment, or briefing concerning unidentified aerial phenomena, unidentified anomalous phenomena, or unidentified flying objects observed at or near [RAF Lakenheath / RAF Mildenhall / RAF Fairford / RAF Croughton / other station], including any report received from United States visiting forces at those stations.
Any memorandum of understanding, agreement, arrangement, or guidance under which the Ministry of Defence or the Royal Air Force shares information about such phenomena with the United States Department of War (formerly Department of Defense) or its All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or receives such information from them. I ask for the text of any such instrument; if it is withheld, I ask you to confirm whether it exists.
Any record of correspondence between the Ministry of Defence and the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office concerning the handling of reports of such phenomena by U.K. personnel.
Any record created after November 2009 that sets out the Ministry of Defence’s policy for receiving, recording, or investigating reports of such phenomena from the public or from service personnel.

Records already released. I am not requesting the Ministry of Defence UFO files previously transferred to The National Archives (series DEFE 24, DEFE 31, AIR 2, and related series), except to the extent that any record listed above was withheld from those releases.

Cost limit. If complying with the whole request would exceed the appropriate limit under section 12, please tell me which parts can be answered within the limit and advise me how to narrow the remainder, as section 16 requires. I would prioritise items [2 and 4].

Exemptions. If you rely on any exemption, please identify it by section, explain why it applies to each category of information, and, for qualified exemptions, explain how the public interest test was applied. Where you neither confirm nor deny that information is held, please state the provision relied on. Please disclose any part of a record that is not exempt.

Format. I would like the information in electronic form by email.

Yours faithfully,

[Name] [Address for correspondence, email]

Drafting notes

Timing and review. If the response is late or refuses information, ask for an internal review (expected within 20 working days, extendable to 40 in complex cases under the s. 45 Code of Practice), then complain to the Information Commissioner under s. 50. Appeals from the Commissioner go to the First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights).
Section 23 is absolute. Information supplied by or relating to the bodies listed in s. 23(3) is exempt without a public interest test. The list includes the Security Service, the Secret Intelligence Service, GCHQ, and the special forces.
Section 27(2)-(3). “[C]onfidential information obtained from a State other than the United Kingdom” is exempt, and information is confidential while the terms or circumstances of its receipt require, or make it reasonable to expect, that it be held in confidence. The exemption is qualified, so the public interest test still applies.
Station names. RAF Lakenheath, Mildenhall, and Fairford host U.S. Air Force units. Choose stations tied to a specific reported event, and give dates where possible; a focused request is harder to refuse on cost grounds.
Other countries. France’s GEIPAN publishes its case files online; Brazil’s Air Force records are at the Arquivo Nacional; Canada’s federal Access to Information Act allows requests by any person present in Canada or any Canadian citizen or resident (check current eligibility). See Issue F6.
The request relies on sections 1, 8, 10, 23, and 27 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The MoD accepts requests through its online FOI form and by email; use the address on the MoD’s current FOI page.
Related: Issue F6, B1; Forms B1-1, A4-3.