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Released in partALT-2026-0061FBI · Federal Bureau of Investigation

FBI records concerning the retention and transfer of Project Blue Book material after 1970

Records released with material withheld, each withholding tied to its cited exemption.

Statutory clock

145 business days overdue

Perfected Nov 28, 2025

20 business days allowed · 5 U.S.C. § 552

Clock stopped — closed

20 business days from perfection to determination; 10-day extension for unusual circumstances. Expedited processing determination within 10 calendar days.

The records sought

Records concerning the retention, transfer, destruction or referral of Project Blue Book material held by the Bureau after 17 December 1969, including correspondence with the Air Force and with the National Archives.

Date range: 17 December 1969 – 31 December 1985

Why it was asked

The Air Force says it transferred everything. The Archives' accession record does not match. One of the two is wrong and the correspondence will say which.

Timeline

  1. Quorum reached — $1,500 from 118 backers

    Docket

  2. Submitted through eFOIPA

    Dispatch

  3. Acknowledged — tracking 1612884-000

    Agency

  4. Statutory deadline passed with no determination

    Agency

  5. Follow-up sent — first chase

    Agency

  6. Follow-up sent — second chase

    Agency

  7. 312 pages received

    Documents

  8. Disposition → Released in part

    Agency

  9. OCR complete — 312 pages, 96,118 words indexed

    Documents

  10. Published to the Reading Room

    Documents

Every row is public. Contributors receive the same lines as notifications; nothing is written to a private status page that is not written here.

Correspondence

  • ReceivedportalJul 18, 20264 pages

    Release letter — 1612884-000

    FBI Record/Information Dissemination Section → eFOIPA portal

    Enclosed are 312 pages, of which 268 are released in part. Material has been withheld pursuant to Exemptions (b)(1), (b)(3), (b)(6), (b)(7)(C) and (b)(7)(E). A Vaughn index is enclosed…

    Matched by tracking number

    Portal download carrying case number 1612884-000, already bound to this request at acknowledgement.

    confidence 99%

Documents released

  • Bureau correspondence concerning Blue Book material, 1970–1985

    Internal correspondence and transfer memoranda. Heavily redacted, but the accession dates in the unredacted portions do not match the Archives' record, which was the question asked.

    268 pages27.6 MBOCR complete214 of 268 pages redactedVaughn index

    Exemptions claimed

    • b(1)National security — Properly classified in the interest of national defense or foreign policy.
    • b(3)Withheld by statute — Specifically exempted from disclosure by another statute, which must be cited.
    • b(6)Personal privacy — Personnel, medical and similar files whose disclosure would be a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy.
    • b(7)(C)Enforcement privacy — Law enforcement records whose release could constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.
    • b(7)(E)Techniques and procedures — Techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions.

  • Vaughn index

    The agency's own itemisation of what was withheld and why, document by document.

    44 pages2.0 MBOCR complete