Document · 1996
MoD file DEFE 24/1983: UFO Parliamentary questions and correspondence, September 1995 – October 1996
Also known as DEFE 24/1983, MoD UFO PQs 1996, DEFE 24/1983/1
A Ministry of Defence file of the UFO desk's Parliamentary questions and correspondence from September 1995 to October 1996, opened at The National Archives in August 2010. The year was busy: a former desk officer's book was about to appear, and Martin Redmond MP tabled a run of questions on UFOs and on Rendlesham Forest. The file holds the desk's drafts and background notes, which restate the Ministry's position on the Halt memo, with the memo itself attached more than once.
Source: The National Archives, DEFE 24/1983/1; page numbers are those of the Archives' PDF.
Facts and claims
- documented The UFO desk's minute of 29 January 1996 for a reply to David Alton MP sets out the official line on Rendlesham: Halt's report “was examined by the Department at the time and no other evidence of any matter of defence significance was found”, and “all available evidence was examined at the time and we are satisfied that nothing of defence concern occurred in the location on the nights in question. No additional information has come to light over the last 15 years which calls the original judgement into question.” (pp. 229–230) Source: defe-24-1983.pdf
- documented The same minute notes that a former member of the desk, who “came to the view that the available evidence pointed towards an extraterrestrial origin of some sightings”, had written a book on the official reaction to UFOs, cleared for publication subject to changes and expected in June 1996, and that the coverage “has tended to exaggerate the MOD's interest in ‘UFO’ matters” (p. 229). Source: defe-24-1983.pdf
- documented For Martin Redmond MP's questions of July 1996 on who had assessed Halt's report and what interviews were held, the draft answer was: “The report was assessed by the staff in my Department responsible for air defence matters. Since the judgement was that it contained nothing of defence significance no further action was taken.” The background note adds that it would only have been necessary to contact Lt Col Halt “had there been any indication that the sighting was of defence relevance” (pp. 76–78). Source: defe-24-1983.pdf
Connected files
Organizations
- Ministry of Defence (UK) (prepared by) — Papers of the MoD's UFO desk, Secretariat (Air Staff) 2
- The National Archives (UK) (released in) — Opened in August 2010; our copy is the Archives' digital copy, in four parts merged into one file
Incidents
- Rendlesham Forest incident (about) — Pages 76–80, 116–121 and 229–234: the MoD's line on Rendlesham in 1996, for Martin Redmond MP's questions and a letter from David Alton MP, with the Halt memo attached
Documents
Mentioned in this file
- National Archives and Records Administration (Organization)
- Halt memo: Unexplained Lights (Document)
More documents
- MoD file DEFE 24/2042: the Rendlesham papers released on the Parliamentary Ombudsman's recommendation (2002)
- The National Archives: guides to the Ministry of Defence UFO files (2008–2013)
- MoD file DEFE 24/1995: UFO correspondence, July–December 1997
- Ministry of Defence UFO files: release of 21 June 2013 (25 files)
- Ministry of Defence UFO files: release of 11 August 2011 (34 files)
- Ministry of Defence UFO files: release of 17 August 2009 (14 files)