Ministry of Defence File: Public Correspondence and Requests for Information regarding UFOs

This document is a compilation of correspondence and administrative records from the Ministry of Defence (MOD) Directorate of Air Staff, covering the period from 1999 to 2001. The file, referenced as D/DAS/64/3, documents the MOD's responses to various public inquiries regarding Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) or 'UFOs'. The correspondence reveals a consistent policy: the MOD does not investigate UFO sightings for their own sake, but only to determine if they represent a threat to UK airspace security from hostile or unauthorized foreign military activity. The file contains numerous letters from members of the public, researchers, and organizations such as 'Strange Phenomena Investigations' and 'UK Skywatch', requesting information on specific historical incidents, including the 1980 Rendlesham Forest incident, the 1993 sightings, and the 1995 Manchester air miss. The MOD consistently directs inquirers to the Public Record Office for declassified files and maintains that it has no expertise in extraterrestrial life. Several letters involve the 'Disclosure Project' and requests for the government to hold open hearings on extraterrestrial phenomena. The file also includes internal administrative discussions regarding the cost of searching for and sanitizing archived files for public release under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. The document also contains a copy of a 'Majestic-12' manual, which is treated by the MOD as a document of unknown origin, possibly an internet-sourced hoax. The file concludes with various reports of sightings from the year 2000, demonstrating the volume of public interest and the MOD's standardized response procedures.