UFOs: Parliamentary Questions and Enquiries

This document is a comprehensive collection of Ministry of Defence (MoD) files, specifically a registered file (D/Sec(AS)64/4) containing parliamentary questions, correspondence, and internal minutes regarding Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) or 'UFOs' from 1996 to 1998. The file documents the persistent efforts of Admiral of the Fleet Lord Hill-Norton to challenge the MoD's policy on UFO reporting. Lord Hill-Norton frequently questioned the MoD's decision to install an answering machine for public UFO reports, arguing it was a deliberate attempt to reduce the number of sightings reported. The MoD consistently maintained that its interest in UFOs was strictly limited to ensuring the integrity of UK airspace against potential hostile or unauthorised foreign military activity. The documents reveal that the MoD's policy, reviewed in April 1997, clarified that there was no requirement for airports, police stations, or RAF bases to forward UFO reports to the MoD unless they were of defence significance, such as those involving credible witnesses, corroborated sightings, or timely phenomena capable of detection by air defence assets. The file also includes correspondence with other Members of Parliament, such as Ieuan Wyn Jones, Andrew Love, and Paddy Ashdown, who raised constituent concerns about UFOs and the use of Defence Advisory (DA) Notices. The MoD consistently denied that DA Notices were used to suppress information about extraterrestrial phenomena. The file provides insight into the internal administrative processes of the MoD, including the drafting of parliamentary answers, the use of temporary enclosure jackets, and the coordination between different branches of the Ministry. It highlights the tension between public interest in UFOs and the MoD's operational focus on national security and resource management.