UFO Desk Closure Correspondence — DEFE 24/2453 (final tranche, June 2013)

Brief

DEFE 24/2453 documents the administrative wind-down of the Ministry of Defence's UFO reporting function after more than 50 years of operation. The file includes a MOD Form 262F disposal record showing the file was formally closed in January 2010 and a ministerial letter signed by Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Kevan Jones MP confirming that MoD sighting records date to 1992 and Defence Intelligence Staff files date to the mid-1980s. At the time of the correspondence, 27 of approximately 160 planned files had already been transferred electronically to The National Archives for public access.

Metadata

Agency

UK Ministry of Defence / Sec(AS)

Release

2013-06-21

Type

PDF • .pdf

Length

18 pages

Classification

UNCLASSIFIED

Programs

MoD UFO Desk, National Archives Transfer Programme

Tags

MoD UFO desk closure, UK, 2009-2010, National Archives transfer, DEFE 24/2453, ministerial correspondence

Key points

• The MoD held UFO sighting records dating to 1992; the Defence Intelligence Staff maintained a separate, smaller archive dating to the mid-1980s.p.10
• A programme was underway to transfer approximately 160 MoD UFO files to The National Archives for public viewing over the internet.p.10
• As of the ministerial response, 27 files had already been transferred electronically and were publicly accessible online.p.7
• The file was formally closed on approximately 14 January 2010, per MOD Form 262F.p.4
• The ministerial response was personally signed by Kevan Jones MP.p.7
• The file jacket (MOD Form 329D) carries an UNCLASSIFIED protective marking.p.3
• The disposal form includes a branch review retention option specifying the file be kept until end of year 2010.p.4

Verbatim

• Additionally, the MOD has records of alleged UFO sightings dating back to 1992 whilst the Defence Intelligence Staff has a smaller number of files dating back to the mid 1980s.

  p.10

• The MOD has begun a programme to transfer some 160 of these files to The National Archives where they will be available to view by the general public over the internet.

  p.10

• To date some 27 files have been transferred electronically and are available for public viewing.

  p.7

• Details of how to access these records and The National Archives on line catalogue can be found on their website at httpll:www.nationalarchives.gov.uk.

  p.10

• [ORIGINAL SIGNED] KEVAN JONES MP

  p.7

Most interesting

• The MoD UFO reporting function ran for over 50 years before closure — one of the longer-running formal UAP offices in Western government history.
• The Defence Intelligence Staff held a distinct, smaller archive dating to the mid-1980s, separate from broader MoD holdings, suggesting a two-tier institutional memory of UAP cases.
• The ministerial sign-off came from Kevan Jones MP, then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Defence and Veterans, giving the closure explicit political-level endorsement rather than purely civil-service sign-off.
• The disposal form indicates the desk's paper records were retained through end of 2010, meaning the administrative file outlived the operational reporting function it documented.
• The near-identical passage about the 27 transferred files appears on both page 7 and page 10, consistent with the standard MoD practice of retaining a file copy alongside the signed outgoing original.