On December 12, 2020, Ramstein Air Base had a missile alert which sounded an alarm. “Aerial attack, aerial attack, seek cover, seek cover,” a voice over a loudspeaker said. The threat was not real, though the alert was not deemed an exercise. It was triggered by Russia test-launching four dummy ICBMs from the western Pacific region. The Black Vault filed a FOIA request on December 14, 2020, for all records relating to this incident from Ramstein. They were released in January of 2021, and added to The Black Vault below on August 11, 2021. Document Archive Ramstein Air Base False…
Author: John Greenewald
Background Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta was an Egyptian hijacker and Islamic terrorist and one of the ringleaders of the September 11 attacks who served as the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, crashing the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks. Below, you will find various files on Atta, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. Document Archive U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Regarding Atta, Requested October 2014 [2 Pages, 0.2MB] – More than 13 years after the attacks – the U.S.…
Background According to the NRO, here is some background on the agency: Develop. Acquire. Launch. Operate. When the United States needs eyes and ears in critical places where no human can reach – be it over the most rugged terrain or through the most hostile territory – it turns to the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The NRO is the U.S. Government agency in charge of designing, building, launching, and maintaining America’s intelligence satellites. Whether creating the latest innovations in satellite technology, contracting with the most cost-efficient industrial supplier, conducting rigorous launch schedules, or providing the highest-quality products to our customers,…
“The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence passed the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 (IAA) today on a bipartisan 16-0 vote,” Senator Mark Warner’s July 28, 2021, press release stated. “The bill authorizes funding, provides legal authorities, and enhances congressional oversight for the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC).” However, the last line of his release, which is one of the background bullet point objectives for the bill, will likely be the most exciting for the general public: “Supporting the IC’s efforts to assess unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), following up on the work of the UAP Task Force.” When reading the…
This document is referenced in the 1996 Joint Inspection of the National Reconnaissance Office, Inspection Report No. 96-014, 23 July 1996. On April 27, 2018, The Black Vault filed a Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) request to have it reviewed for possible release. On July 20, 2021, the NRO released the document, in full. According to the record: “This document is a chronological listing of the more important events in the evolution of the management of the National Reconnaissance Program, to include the internal structure of the National Reconnaissance Office as well as changes in the external environment which have affected…