AC 04.2025
www.archives.gov
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).

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

  • HM05@lemmy.worldOPMEnglish
    5·
    1 month ago

    I’ve been on a wild goose chase asking around the National Archives for clarification on the UAP records transfers. I had some emails in limbo for months with no responses and just started getting traction of being referred to various emails. I mainly wanted to confirm the date agencies are expected to comply and I was requesting copies of the metadata spreadsheets that will be provided by each agency. Perhaps coincidentally, NARA just released a new memorandum today confirming September 30, 2025 as the date agencies are expected to transfer records. Keep in mind that NARA would have 30 days after receipt to make records publicly accessible on-site and 180 days to upload to their site.

    The memorandum touches on the metadata I’ve been asking about, but still no word on making the full metadata spreadsheets publicly available. The metadata spreadsheets would make it clear what each agency is transferring and help better track compliance. I reached out to projects.researchservices@nara.gov earlier this week, though I’m still awaiting a response.

    In the meantime, I’ve been tagging UAP records on their site. I’ve found quite a few records that haven’t been added to their main UAP page. However, I’ve also seemed to reach a limit with their search page. Searching for user tags on their site is buggy, but NARA confirmed their tech team is working on optimizing this search feature. There is also a 10,000 record cap on searches and user tag results aren’t properly displaying total records. This also put a snag in my tagging, since I was going to export all result IDs to match up against search terms to see what records are left to tag. Hopefully their upcoming fix will help with that.

    So, a bit of a wait for agencies to comply. Though, some could start trickling in from now until that date. There’s ample that NARA already had online that’s well worth checking until then.