AC 04.2025
Date: October 10, 2024
Memorandum to Federal Agency Records Officers: Transfer of Publicly Releasable Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) Records
This memo is for federal agencies with UAP records responsive to sections 1841–1843 of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) (Public Law 118-31) (now at 44 U.S.C. 2107 note).
No later than September 30, 2025, federal agencies must transfer to NARA digital copies of all UAP records identified by October 20, 2024, that can be publicly disclosed, including those that were publicly available on December 22, 2023, the date of the enactment of the Act. We request that agencies transfer materials on a rolling basis and as soon as possible rather than waiting until the deadline.
Agencies with publicly releasable UAP records should contact NARA at projects.researchservices@nara.gov as soon as possible to provide information as to their transfer plans and to initiate transfer of publicly releasable UAP records in advance of September 30, 2025. Each publicly releasable UAP record must include metadata according to the guidance to agencies announced in AC 26.2024.
For any publicly releasable records that include redactions, agencies must simultaneously transfer redacted and unredacted copies to NARA. NARA will only accept digital versions of UAP records. UAP records transferred to NARA in accordance with the Act will be part of Record Group 615, Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Records Collection.
Further guidance on the review and transfer procedures for classified or otherwise restricted UAP records using the standards for withholding specified in Section 1843 of the Act will be forthcoming.
WILLIAM FISCHER
Chief Records Officer
for the U.S. Government (Acting)
CHRIS NAYLOR
Executive for Research Services
I always look forward to Marik's articles. They're a great way to catch up on recent events and how they tie into UAP history. And, as always, this article is abundant with citations.
We've already seen one roadblock with what little passed of the UAP Disclosure Act in the last NDAA. The expectation was that government agencies would have to transfer records relating to UAP to the National Archives by Oct. 20th. However, some ambiguity in the text that passed only required agencies to organize in preparation of transferring. The National Archives has now mandated the transfer to take place no later than September 30, 2025. They also recently confirmed that no records have been transferred.
Though there may be a wait, the National Archives already has an abundance of records and have continued uploading more over the last month. There are close to 13,000 records related to UAP, with quite a few not listed in their topic research page and plenty that are remaining to be digitized. I've been in contact with them about the status of these records, slowly getting updates and seeing issues getting addressed on their site. I have a few lingering questions and will hopefully have a more thorough update for the community soon.
In the meantime, checkout the below links for more information on the state of UAP records at the National Archives.
Records Related to Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs) at the National Archives
FAQs