Navy IG FOIA Response Reveals One UFO Complaint, No Investig

Navy IG FOIA Response Reveals One UFO Complaint, No Investigation

A FOIA response from the Naval Inspector General to The Black Vault reveals that a search for UFO/UAP records yielded one complaint, but the complaint was deemed not actionable due to lack of specific wrongdoing.

Published

September 14, 2026

Declassified

Date not listed

Source agency

The Black Vault (FOIA archive)

navyfoiaufoonecomplaintinvestigation

Navy IG Releases One UFO Complaint Under FOIA

The August Act request DON-NAVY-2021-006817, submitted May 19, 2021, seeking "a copy of records (which includes videos/photos), electronic or otherwise, pertaining to Unidentified Flying Objects, or UFOs," including "ALL investigations, videos, photos, reports, letters, memos, e-mails, directives, and procedures" on the subject. The requester's own framing acknowledged that the Navy more commonly refers to such phenomena as "unidentified aerial phenomenon" or "unidentified aerial phenomena" or UAPs. What the search actually produced is the crux of the release.

The letter states that a search of Office of the Naval Inspector General records yielded one complaint responsive to the request. That single responsive item is an input record — a submission routed into the IG's complaint-handling process — not a Navy finding, not an investigative report, and not a UAP case file. The distinction is not semantic.

A complaint is a document the office receives; a finding is a conclusion the office…

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Based on the official release at https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/naval-inspector-general-complaint-about-ufos-uaps-aliens-and-much-more-january-2020/

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