CIA final response to FOIA request F-2003-00606 (Roswell, Majestic 12, Area 51)

“With respect to that portion of your request pertaining to Roswell, please be advised that this agency has no information on the so-called ‘Roswell incident.’ Further, on the general subject of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), there is no organized CIA effort to do research in connection with UFO phenomena, nor has there been an organized effort to collect intelligence on UFOs since the 1950s.”

SEE THE STANDARD-FORM CAUTION. This is the agency's stated position and it is also a script; the internal newsletter quotes the same wording being given to student requesters.

“The CIA's role was in connection with a Scientific Advisory Panel, established to investigate and evaluate reports of UFOs. The panel was concerned only with any aspect of UFO phenomena which might prove to present a potential threat to the United States national security. The panel later issued a report of its findings, the Report of the Scientific Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects dated 17 January 1953, also known as the Robertson Report.”

The agency's own account of what its UFO role was, naming the Robertson Report and dating it. The Robertson Panel and H.P. Robertson are already entities on this map.

“Also, as a result of former Director Woolsey's 14 December 1993 radio interview, a recent further release of 1,757 pages has been made bringing the total amount of pages to 2,748.”

A Director's radio interview named by the agency as the cause of a 1,757-page release. R. James Woolsey is already an entity on this map.

“With respect to Majestic (MJ-12), our records show that we conducted a search on behalf of a previous requester for records pertaining to Majestic 12. Our search was thorough and diligent, but no records were located. That earlier requester appealed our findings, and we conducted a second search. Again, no records were located.”

An absence the agency reached twice, the second time under appeal. Stronger than a single "no records located" and weaker than a statement that no such records exist anywhere.

“Further, with respect to that portion of your request concerning Area 51, the CIA may neither confirm nor deny the existence or nonexistence of records responsive to your request. ... Therefore, this portion of your request is denied under FOIA exemptions (b)(1) and (b)(3) ... By this action we are neither confirming nor denying the existence or nonexistence of such records.”

A GLOMAR RESPONSE, and the only one in this corpus. Three parts of one request drew three different answers: a statement of no holdings on Roswell, a twice-searched absence on Majestic 12, and here a refusal to say. The ellipses stand where the letter cites Executive Order 12958, the National Security Act of 1947 and the CIA Act of 1949 as the basis.