Navy FOIA Release Reveals 2019 Push to Formalize Unidentified Aircraft Reporting

" The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV N2/N6) searched its local files and identified two responsive records totaling 63 pages. What makes the release notable is not the volume of material but what survived the redaction process. C.

§ 552(b)(5), citing deliberative process privilege, predecisional material, and working versions of documents, and under § 552(b)(6), citing personally identifiable information such as names and email addresses whose release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. The remainder was released. Those surviving pages capture internal Navy correspondence from April 2019, when the service was publicly signaling that it would update and formalize how reports of unauthorized or unidentified aircraft entering military-controlled ranges and designated airspace should be routed to cognizant authorities.

The letter also documents the procedural machinery around the disclosure: a fee waiver granted without precedent for future requests, an appeal path through the Office of…