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Aletheca
GlomarALT-2026-0118NRO · National Reconnaissance Office

NRO collection-tasking records referencing unidentified aerial phenomena, 2021–2024

The agency will neither confirm nor deny that responsive records exist.

Statutory clock

70 business days overdue

Perfected Jan 24, 2026

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 reflecting collection tasking, tasking requests or tasking denials in which unidentified aerial phenomena, unidentified anomalous phenomena, UAP or UFO appear as the subject or justification, 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2024.

Date range: 1 January 2021 – 31 December 2024

Why it was asked

A narrow, well-drafted question that the agency can only answer three ways. Two of the three are informative.

Timeline

  1. Commissioned — $15.00 received

    Money

  2. Letter finalised — 2 pages

    Drafting

  3. Submitted through the NRO request form

    Dispatch

  4. Acknowledged — tracking NRO-2026-00089

    Agency

  5. Fee waiver granted

    Agency

  6. Statutory deadline passed with no determination

    Agency

  7. Follow-up sent — first chase

    Agency

  8. Mail received at the virtual address

    Correspondence

  9. Scanned and OCR'd — 2 pages

    Correspondence

  10. Matched to this request by the ATTN line on the envelope (certain)

    Correspondence

  11. Disposition → Glomar

    Agency

  12. 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

  • ReceivedmailMay 30, 20262 pages

    Final response — NRO-2026-00089

    National Reconnaissance Office, Chantilly VA → Aletheca, ATTN: ALT-2026-0118

    The NRO can neither confirm nor deny the existence or nonexistence of records responsive to your request. The fact of the existence or nonexistence of such records is currently and properly classified…

    Matched by attn line

    The envelope's ATTN line carried the request id, which the scan OCR'd cleanly. This is why every outbound letter prints its own return address with the id in it.

    confidence 100%

Documents released

  • NRO final response — Glomar

    A refusal to confirm or deny, citing Exemptions 1 and 3. Published with the same prominence as a release, because on a question this narrow it is the more informative answer.

    2 pages332 KBOCR complete

    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.