Black Vault receives copies of U.S. Department of Defense "Briefing Cards" on UAP related matters

John Greenewald

On 9 September 2021, John Greenewald of the Black Vault, advised that the U.S. Department of Defense, under the FOI Act had released, "Briefing Cards" on "UAPs, UAP Task Force, and Navy UFO Videos."Greenewald wrote that these cards are "...used to assist public affairs officers, spokespeople and those from other agencies dealing with questions on various topics." This follows the earlier release to Greenewald of a single briefing card  dated 17 May 2021. 

The Cards

Given that they are now in the public domain, what was released? I will provide a snapshot of what interests me, and add some comments to these notes.

1. Briefing Card dated 19 September 2019 titled "Navy Confirmation of "UFO" videos. 3pages. 

Under the heading of "Media interest" the card notes that:

"A History Channel program over the summer on government investigations into "UFOs" highlighted several videos from Navy aircraft of Unidentified Aerial phenomena. The program generated significant interest in limited-reach outlets that focus on "UFO" theories and conspiracies."

Comment: This seems to be downplaying the fact that the program carried first hand interviews with Navy personnel, who clearly described "unknown" phenomena. 

Under the questions and answers section, one definition of UAP is given as:

"When an unmanned aerial system (UAS) is not immediately identifiable, we refer to it as UAP."

Comment: This is helpful as many of the objects in question, and especially those in Navy safety reports, which have been released under FOIA, have split the UAP researcher community. Some arguing for "drones" other "genuine UAP."

Later, under Q & A comes one on the New Navy UAP guidelines. After saying that guidelines have been released it adds:

"More formal guidance is in staffing and will be promulgated fleet-wide when completed." 

Comment: This seems to have been a two stage release. Firstly guidelines, then further guidance. I know of no researcher who has been able to obtain copies of either the preliminary guidelines or the later, formal guidance

A Q and A about how the 2004 Nimitz video came to be know. 

"...that the video was widely shared throughout the ship at that time. In 2007, one of those crewmembers posted the video onto the public web. In 2009, the online post of the video came to the attention of Navy officials who, in consultation with Navy law enforcement personnel, decided not to pursue the matter." 

Comment: Simply put, they had no idea who released it to the net. Interesting that the 2007 online post came to light in 2009. 2009 was, of course, during the time of the AWSAP project, and there was a multi page investigation report of the 2004 Nimitz incident prepared by someone, unknown if DOD Navy or AAWSAP. 

2. Briefing card dated 30 April 2020 titled "UAP Videos." 3 pages. 

"As the investigation into UAP reports involves intelligence methods, we will not be providing any further information on these videos."

Comment: This suggests that the DoD had or was carrying out an investigation into the three incidents shown in the videos. I am not aware of any released detailed DoD investigation reports on the three incidents. 

"After a thorough review, the department has determined that the authorized release of these unclassified videos doe not reveal an sensitive capabilities or system..."

Comment: It would be interesting to know who exactly, undertook the analysis of the videos to determine  this, and how lengthy this process was. Did they interview the Navy pilots in this process?

"...special interest media interest in AATIP and the videos has been unceasing."

Comment: I don't think that the New York Times can be described as "special interest media." I guess they are referring to UAP researchers who have been using the FOIA to uncover additional details.

"Investigations could involve multiple DoD and Intelligence Community organizations."

Comment: So, not just the Navy.  We have become aware that the FBI have been involved with some investigations of UAP. 

"One copy of the FLIR video had been erroneously marked classified during the intelligence investigation process."

Comment: It would be nice to see details of this "intelligence investigation process." 

3. Briefing Card dated 6 August 2020 titled "UAP Task Force and Report." 2 pages.

Noting that both National and special interest media were reporting about the formation of a UAPTF, the Card went on to state:

"NYT ran an article in late July on a forthcoming "Pentagon report on UFOs" that many other outlets subsequently reported (all without ever asking for DoD comment); the article included an alleged briefing slide that mentioned alleged "Off-world" vehicles on material that the Pentagon allegedly had found."

"[On the slide NYT published:] That slide was not used in by DoD in any briefing on this subject and does not represent the department's position. "Off-world" is not an official term or designation in DoD." 

Comment: 

“Mr.  Davis, who now works for Aerospace Corporation, a defense contractor, said he gave a classified briefing to a Defense Department agency as  recently as March about retrievals from “off-world vehicles not made on  this earth.”Mr. Davis said he also  gave classified briefings on retrievals of unexplained objects to staff  members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Oct. 21, 2019, and to  members of the Senate Intelligence Committee two days later.” (New York Times, 23 July 2020.)

4. Briefing Card dated 18 August 2021 titled "UAP Task Force." 3 pages. 

The Q and A section featured a question "is there someone we can speak to/interview/will there be a press briefing on the UAPTF" The short answer was "No." The longer answer was:

"No. To maintain operations security, which includes not discussing information publicly that may be useful to our adversaries, DOD does not discuss publicly the details of either the observations or the examination of report incursions ..."

Comment: The repetitive response is that we do not talk about specific instances; nor our analyses, and don't ask.

Another question was: "Are we aware of similar program being run by other foreign powers?" The response was: 

"We routinely discuss a variety of military matters with our allies and foreign partners. DOD does not comment on activities that other nations may or may not have."

5. Briefing Card dated 19 August 2020 titled "UAP Task Force." 4 pages.

Very similar in content with Card number 4. One new question of interest, "Will the UAPTF provide new reporting rules that would be adopted by the USAF, Army and Navy, in particular for their pilots?"
The response was:

"As previously reported, the Navy revised their reporting guidelines and procedures in 2019. Navy has shared these procedures with the other military services to encourage standardization of input/responses."

6. Briefing Card dated 25 January 2021, titled "UAP Report to Congress." 1 page.

Nothing new to me here.

7. Briefing Card dated 8 February 2021 titled "UAP Report to Congress."  2 pages.

Here a very specific question related to ET. "Has the Department found any evidence of extraterrestrial technology?" The response was:

"The examination into incursions by UAPs are still ongoing; the department does not comment on intelligence matters."

Comment: Why not simply say no? Their response allows some UAP researchers to quite rightly point out that the DoD has not said it has found no evidence. 

8. Briefing Card dated 23 March 2021, titled "UAP Report to Congress." 2 pages.

Specifically put out in relation to the recent comments by former DNI John Ratcliffe on Fox News. The short answer is ask the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

9. Briefing Card dated 17 May 2021 titled "UAP Report to Congress." 2 pages.

Appears to be in response to the airing on CBS "60 minutes" segment which was generating questions to the DoD. Talk to ODNI if you have questions re their report to Congress.

"We need data (from increased reporting by aviators, technical means etc.) to analyze in order to understand and draw the appropriate conclusions and to make the appropriate recommendations to leadership. As we collect additional data, we expect to close the gap between identified and unidentified and avoid strategic surprise regarding adversarial technology"

Comment: The U.S. government has been collecting data for many, many years, e.g. Project Bluebook had some 700 officially recognized unknowns. It would appear that the DoD is stalling, by insisting on collecting more current data. 

10. Briefing Card dated 4 June 2021 titled "UAP Report to Congress." 2 pages.

Noting that "Public and News media interest in Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) remains high," and "NYT ran a story on June 3 citing unnamed sources as saying the upcoming UAP report to Congress would say there's no evidence that any of the sightings are alien spacecraft."

Basically repeats previous Card details.

11. Briefing card dated 25 June 2021, titled "UAP Report to Congress." 2 pages.

Advising that the ODNI report to Congress had been published on the ODNI website. 

"Our approach has been - and will continue to be - driven by science and data."

"We currently lack the data to indicate whether UAP are part of a foreign collection program or indicative  of a major technology advancement by a potential adversary."