Document · July 2002
MoD file DEFE 24/2042: the Rendlesham papers released on the Parliamentary Ombudsman's recommendation (2002)
Also known as DEFE 24/2042, Rendlesham Ombudsman file, DEFE 24/2042/1
A Ministry of Defence file opened at The National Archives in August 2010. Its heart is a 2002 case before the Parliamentary Ombudsman: an applicant for the MoD's Rendlesham Forest file, backed by his MP, complained that three documents had been withheld as internal advice. The Ombudsman agreed they were advice but recommended their release, the MoD accepted, and the file holds both the submission that weighed the decision and the documents themselves: the Ministry's 1983 briefing on the Halt memo, a 1985 ministerial letter, and a former MoD official's argument that the case could hardly be without defence significance.
The rest of the file is later correspondence of the UFO desk, including the same correspondent's 2003 sighting reports.
Source: The National Archives, DEFE 24/2042/1; page numbers are those of the Archives' PDF.
Facts and claims
- documented In 2001 the Directorate of Air Staff gave an applicant “over 170 pages from the Rendlesham File” but withheld three documents as internal advice; after the Parliamentary Ombudsman's investigation the MoD accepted his recommendation and sent them in July 2002, “anonymised in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998” (pp. 18, 48). Source: defe-24-2042.pdf
- documented The withheld documents were two draft Parliamentary answers of October 1983 with their background note, and a 1985 minute with a draft reply to David Alton MP, who had forwarded a letter from a former MoD Under Secretary criticising the Ministry's handling of the case (pp. 19–31, 48). Source: defe-24-2042.pdf
- documented The MoD's July 2002 submission notes that the Ombudsman found the Ministry had acted “in full accordance with the requirements of the Code, and for this I commend them”, but judged that, the information being over twenty years old and its substance public, “no harm would arise from disclosure at this stage” (p. 49). Source: defe-24-2042.pdf
- documented The “rejected policy option” in the 1983 background note was a decision to publish quarterly compilations of UFO reports, which, the submission says, was over-ruled by the then Minister for the Armed Forces, Sir John Stanley; officials worried that releasing the note could prompt questions about why the compilations never appeared (pp. 16–17 of the submission, file pp. 50–51). Source: defe-24-2042.pdf
Connected files
Organizations
- Ministry of Defence (UK) (prepared by) — Papers of the Directorate of Air Staff and the MoD's information-access staff
- The National Archives (UK) (released in) — Opened in August 2010; our copy is the Archives' digital copy
Incidents
- Rendlesham Forest incident (about) — Pages 18–31 and 46–53: the three 1983–85 documents the MoD withheld from the Rendlesham file and released in 2002, and the Ombudsman case that forced them out
Documents
Mentioned in this file
- National Archives and Records Administration (Organization)
- Halt memo: Unexplained Lights (Document)
More documents
- The National Archives: guides to the Ministry of Defence UFO files (2008–2013)
- 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)
- The National Archives (UK): UFO files release, highlights guide (August 2009)
- Ministry of Defence UFO files: release of 20 October 2008 (19 files)