Pentagon's Glomar Response on UAP Denials Raises Transparency Questions

Washington D.C. – The Department of Defense (DoD) has issued a "neither confirm nor deny" (Glomar) response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking "on-the-record" statements from aerospace executives who reportedly denied involvement in recovering extraterrestrial craft. This response comes despite the Pentagon's own All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) report, Volume I, explicitly referencing these denials.

John Greenewald, Jr., founder of The Black Vault, a prominent transparency advocate, filed the FOIA request. Greenewald's inquiry aimed to obtain the very statements cited in AARO's Historical Record Report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) – Volume I, released in March 2024. The report stated that high-ranking officials from named aerospace companies "denied the existence of these programs, and attested to the truthfulness of their statements on the record."

AARO was established in July 2022 with a mission to synchronize efforts across the DoD and other U.S. federal agencies to detect, identify, attribute, and analyze unidentified objects. Its primary goal is to mitigate potential threats to national security and ensure the safety of operations. The office also serves as a central hub for current and former government employees to securely report UAP-related information.

The AARO report concluded that there is "no verifiable evidence that any UAP sighting has represented extraterrestrial activity" or that the U.S. government "has ever had access to extraterrestrial technology." Despite these definitive findings, the DoD's refusal to confirm or deny the existence of the underlying executive statements, as requested by Greenewald, presents a notable contradiction.

The Glomar response, which cites FOIA exemptions (b)(5), (b)(6), (b)(7)(A), (b)(7)(C), and (b)(7)(D), indicates that merely acknowledging whether records exist would reveal classified information. This legal maneuver, while permissible, is often criticized for hindering transparency and potentially eroding public trust, especially when it appears to conflict with the government's own public statements.

The situation underscores ongoing tensions between national security classifications and public demand for transparency regarding UAP. Greenewald's appeal against the DoD's Glomar response will be closely watched, as it may set a precedent for future disclosures concerning UAP investigations and the government's commitment to openness.