FOIA request finally came through - Porton Down file on 'aerial phenomena' (1976-1982)

After fourteen months of waiting (submitted May 2023, got it last week), I finally received a response to my Freedom of Information Act request. I'd asked the Ministry of Defence to release any files relating to 'unidentified aerial phenomena observations' from Porton Down during the late 1970s and early 80s.

Here's the thing: they released 127 pages. But 43 of those pages are redacted. Not lightly redacted - completely blacked out. "National security" reasons, apparently. What I can read is genuinely interesting though. There are incident logs from 1978 describing observations of 'anomalous objects' detected on radar in the Wiltshire area, with notes like "speed inconsistent with known aircraft" and "no identification after three-hour observation period."

The frustrating bit is that the redacted sections seem to be the actual analysis and conclusions. We've got all the 'what happened' but none of the 'what did we think about it.' I'm wondering if anyone here has experience appealing FOIA redactions? Or if anyone's got documents from the same period they could cross-reference with?

This is brilliant work getting it released at all. The redactions are almost worse than nothing because now you're left wondering what they're hiding. Have you tried submitting a freedom of information appeal? You can formally challenge redactions if you think they're overblown. The Information Commissioner's Office handles these.

What I can read is genuinely interesting though. There are incident logs from 1978 describing observations of 'anomalous objects' detected on radar

Porton Down is one of the most sensitive military research facilities in the UK so I'm not surprised they've redacted half of it. They probably redacted anything that looked even vaguely classified. Have you checked the National Archives to see if anything's been declassified there? Sometimes documents get released in batches to the Archives rather than responding to individual FOIAs.

Could you scan the readable parts and share them on the forum? Would be interested to see the dates and locations. I've been compiling UK UAP sightings for years and if Porton Down had observations in that time period it might correlate with civilian reports from the same areas.

This is exactly why we should have had proper disclosure by now. The government knows what these things are and they're not telling us. The redactions are the smoking gun if you ask me.

Or - hear me out - the redactions are just standard security protocol and don't mean anything sinister. Porton Down research tons of things they can't publicly talk about for very good reasons. Doesn't mean UAPs are real, just means the military is secretive, which we already knew.