Agencies have until the end of the current fiscal year to “review, identify, and organize each UAP record in its custody for disclosure to the public and transmission to the National Archives,” according to a memo sent Tuesday afternoon from Laurence Brewer, chief records officer for the U.S. Government, and Chris Naylor, NARA’s executive for research services, to federal agency records managers.
Curious how this will shape up and what the true timeline will be for documents to become public. Even if the National Archive receives documents this year, they may not necessarily be digitized or uploaded immediately to their site. I’d also expect a fight over classification for sensitive documents. But, we should at least start getting some new details this year and breadcrumbs leading to various events and programs.
The National Archives has now published their memo online.
AC 13.2024
Date: February 6, 2024
Memorandum to Federal Records Management Contacts: Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Records
This AC memo is to inform agency records managers about the recent law on federal records related to unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP).
Sections 1841-1843 of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (Public Law 118-31) require NARA to establish the ‘‘Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Records Collection." The law also requires that by October 2024, each federal agency review, identify, and organize each UAP record in its custody for disclosure to the public and transmission to the National Archives.
As one of the first steps, NARA will provide agencies with guidance on what information will be needed to create and manage this collection. The law directs NARA to create a standard form or finding aid for agency use in identifying and reviewing records in the new UAP collection.
NARA will provide this guidance as soon as possible. A preview of the type of metadata or information NARA will need is agency name, file identifiers, document title, date, originator, from, to, location, classification level, restrictions, and number of pages. We will need to know what records can be publicly disclosed and what records must be protected, in whole or in part.
To expedite the collection process, agencies should begin identifying all unidentified anomalous phenomena records as required by the law. Agencies should begin planning on how to create metadata and review these records.
NARA will provide further guidance and communications as we develop processes to identify records responsive to the Act as well as instructions for how to transfer responsive records to the National Archives.
LAURENCE BREWER
Chief Records Officer for the U.S. GovernmentCHRIS NAYLOR
Executive for Research Services