Why did the Met suddenly close the Rendlesham Forest file access?

This might be connecting dots that shouldn't be connected, but I noticed something odd last week. The National Archives had the Rendlesham Forest incident files available for public viewing - standard declassified stuff from the 1980 sighting. Now if you try to access them through their official channels, you get redirected to a 'file temporarily unavailable' page.

I checked the Wayback Machine and the files were definitely there in April. They've been pulled sometime in the last few months. Why would they suddenly restrict access to documents that were already in the public domain? The official line is always that Rendlesham was misidentified aircraft and atmospheric phenomena, so if that's true, why the sudden concern about people reading the files?

Has anyone else noticed this happening with other UFO-related declassifications? Wondering if there's a coordinated effort happening to control the narrative before the Pentagon's annual UFO report drops. Thoughts?

Honestly this could be something mundane - National Archives does maintenance on their database systems regularly and files temporarily become unavailable. I'd try contacting them directly to ask why. You might just get a 'routine technical update' as the answer. The Met doesn't control the National Archives anyway - that's under the Cabinet Office.

This is exactly what I've been saying would happen. Since the US got serious about UFO transparency (the Pentagon reports, the Congressional hearings), the UK government's getting nervous about their own documented sightings. Rendlesham is their 'Roswell' - they can't suppress it entirely now that it's too famous, but they can control access and manage the narrative. Classic strategy.

Why would they suddenly restrict access to documents that were already in the public domain?

Could be a data protection review? Sometimes old files get temporarily pulled when they're doing a retrospective check on personal information within the documents. Happens more than you'd think with anything involving defence personnel.

Have you tried the actual Freedom of Information Act request route? Even if the files are temporarily unavailable online, you can still request copies directly from the National Archives or the relevant ministry. That might give you more insight into what's happening. They have to respond to FoIA requests within 20 working days by law.