craft of unknown origin

Dear Mr Addison,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request
of 8 January 2009 asking for any information on "space-craft" of unknown
origin investigated by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). By unknown origin, I
assume that you mean extra-terrestrial. If this is not the case, please
let me know.

The MoD does not have any expertise or role in respect of `UFO/flying
saucer' matters or the question of the existence or otherwise of
extra-terrestrial life forms, about which it remains totally open-minded.
I should add that to date, the MoD knows of no evidence which
substantiates the existence of extra-terrestrial space-craft and therefore
has not investigated any.

That having been said, the MoD receives a considerable number of reports
each year concerning UFOs. Details of these reports for the period
1997-2007 can be found on our website [1]www.mod.uk by searching under
"UFO Reports". Details of sightings for 2008 will be added shortly.

Additionally, the MoD has already released a great many of its files about
UFOs which are now available for public viewing. MoD files were routinely
destroyed after five years until 1967 when they were generally preserved
for The National Archives. A few have survived before 1967 and these,
together with files up to 1992, are now available for public viewing. The
National Archives can be contacted at Ruskin Avenue, Richmond, Kew, Surrey
TW9 4DU or telephone, 020 8876 3444. The National Archives also have a
website giving information about the records they hold and how to access
them. This can be found on the internet at:
[2]www.nationalarchives.gov.uk.

If you are unhappy with this response or you wish to complain about any
aspect of the handling of this request, then you should contact me in the
first instance. If informal resolution is not possible and you are still
dissatisfied then you may apply for an independent internal review by
contacting the Director of Information Exploitation, 6^th Floor, MOD Main
Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail [3][email address]). Please note that
any request for an internal review must be made within 40 days of the date
on which the attempt to reach informal resolution has come to an end.

If you remain unhappy following an internal review, you may wish to take
your complaint to the Information Commissioner under the provisions of
Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act. Please note that the
Information Commissioner will not investigate your case until the internal
review process has been completed. Further details of the role and powers
of the Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner's
website,

[4]http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.

I hope this is helpful.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Webb

RAF Bus Sec 13

Room 2E03

Spitfire Block

HQ Air Command

RAF High Wycombe

HP14 4UE

Tel: 01494 49 6254

[5][email address]

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References

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