SOURCE: BlackVault — theblackvault.com (Tier 2)
CATEGORY: BUREAUCRACY
CREDIBILITY SCORE: 78/100 | EVIDENCE SCORE: 30/100
LIKELY EXPLANATION: reputable lead — review and contextualize
TAGS: dod, pentagon, congressional, aatip, foia, archive
Source Excerpt
Two separate Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the Department of the Navy, both filed nearly a year apart and scoped differently, have yielded the same single responsive record: a chain of emails detailing a March 2022 briefing on the Advance Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) and the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG). The outcome raises questions not only about the scope of the Navy’s search, but also about the content and context of the briefing itself. The names of the individuals who participated in the briefings are fully redacted from the released records. The first request, assigned case number DON-NAVY-2021-007791, sought: “A copy of all emails, sent to and/or from and/or cc’d and/or bcc’d Brennan P Mckernan (CIV USN DCNO N2N6), which contain the following keywords/phrases: ELIZONDO.” The second request, DON-NAVY-2022-007539, broadened the scope. It requested: “A copy of all emails, sent to and/or from and/or cc’d and/or bcc’d Brennan P Mckernan (CIV USN DCNO N2N6) and Luis Elizondo (as a private citizen)…” (Note: Luis Elizondo’s personal emails addresses have been redacted by The Black Vault to protect his privacy. Although listed in the FOIA, The Black Vault is not publishing them in this article, and has redacted them in red in the FOIA response letter below.) Both requests instructed the Navy to search across classified and unclassified systems, including SIPRNET,
Documents
- https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/navy/DON-NAVY-2021-007791.pdf
- https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/navy/DON-NAVY-2021-007791.pdf
- https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/navy/DON-NAVY-2022-007539.pdf
- https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/navy/DON-NAVY-2022-007539.pdf
Images
- https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/2026-03-04_13-01-39.jpg
- https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/2026-03-04_13-03-59.jpg
- https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/2026-03-04_13-08-48.jpg
- https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/2026-03-04_13-09-44.jpg
- https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/2026-03-04_13-47-06-300×295.jpg
Editor Checklist (delete before publishing)
- Verify the source URL still works and the content matches.
- Rewrite the excerpt above in your own words. Do not publish raw scrape.
- Add "Why It Matters" — concrete editorial framing.
- Cross-reference with at least one independent source if possible.
- Add Featured Image. Confirm category is correct (currently: BUREAUCRACY).
- If credibility score is below 70, add explicit caveats to readers.