CIA Releases FOIA Documents from UFO Researcher Larry W. Bryant's Decades-Long Records Dispute
The agency has released 170 pages of correspondence and administrative records documenting Bryant's Freedom of Information Act requests concerning UFO investigations, alleged intelligence operations, and government accountability.
What happened
The CIA released a collection of materials (F-2021-02420) documenting the FOIA correspondence between researcher Larry W. Bryant and the agency spanning multiple decades. Bryant pursued federal records on UFO phenomena, intelligence activities, and government accountability, contributing to UFO Magazine and challenging the CIA's disclosure decisions. Key disputes included requests for records related to the November 1986 Japan Airlines UFO encounter over Alaska and a 1987 FAA headquarters meeting, as well as records concerning John Joseph McCarthy Jr. and Project CHERRY. In a September 30, 2008 response, the CIA stated it had conducted "no organized CIA effort to do research in connection with UFO phenomena" and had not maintained an organized UFO intelligence collection effort since the 1950s. The collection includes Bryant's appeals, litigation records, and a 2009 reopening of his request, after which the CIA recognized his news media fee status.
Context
The release provides a historical record of tensions between a government transparency advocate and a federal intelligence agency over information access and classification decisions. Bryant's sustained efforts to obtain records on UFO matters and alleged covert operations reflect broader questions about what records the CIA has maintained on these subjects and what disclosure obligations apply. The agency's invocation of FOIA exemptions for classified information and intelligence sources and methods, combined with its determinations that certain records do not exist or cannot be confirmed, illustrates the limits and complexities of obtaining intelligence agency records through the FOIA process.