{"id":20890,"date":"2025-09-29T18:22:49","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T18:22:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theblackvault.com\/documentarchive\/?p=20890"},"modified":"2025-09-29T18:22:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T18:22:49","slug":"all-analysis-and-records-withheld-on-dods-own-released-uap-footage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theblackvault.com\/documentarchive\/all-analysis-and-records-withheld-on-dods-own-released-uap-footage\/","title":{"rendered":"All Analysis and Records Withheld on DoD\u2019s Own Released UAP Footage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Department of Defense (DoD) has denied a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking records connected to the review, redaction, and release of a UAP video published by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p>The request, filed May 19, 2025, sought internal communications, review logs, classification guidance, legal opinions, and technical documentation tied to the public posting of the video titled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvidshub.net\/video\/962722\/unresolved-uap-report-middle-east-2024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cMiddle East 2024.\u201d<\/a> The video, showing more than six minutes of infrared footage from a U.S. military platform, was released in May 2025 and remains unresolved by AARO.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 640px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-20890-1\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/documents3.theblackvault.com\/documents\/dod\/DOD_110999231.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/documents3.theblackvault.com\/documents\/dod\/DOD_110999231.mp4\">https:\/\/documents3.theblackvault.com\/documents\/dod\/DOD_110999231.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div><p>The DoD confirmed that responsive documents exist, but a September 19, 2025, final response stated that all records are being withheld in full.<\/p>\n<p>The denial cited multiple FOIA exemptions, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Exemption (b)(5): covering deliberative inter- and intra-agency material.<\/li>\n<li>Exemptions (b)(7)(A), (B), (C), and (E): law enforcement provisions shielding records that could interfere with enforcement proceedings, risk an unfair trial, invade personal privacy, or reveal law enforcement techniques.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>AARO described the video as depicting \u201can apparent thermal contrast within the sensor\u2019s field of view\u201d that may be consistent with a physical object, but noted that without corroborating data, \u201cthe available data does not support a conclusive analytic evaluation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Pentagon\u2019s decision continues a recurring pattern in UAP transparency efforts: footage may be released for public viewing, but records explaining the deliberations and analysis behind such releases remain withheld.<\/p>\n<p>As The Black Vault has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theblackvault.com\/documentarchive\/dod-redacts-nearly-all-records-explaining-aaros-use-of-law-enforcement-exemption-for-uap-files\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">previously reported<\/a>, the DoD has increasingly invoked FOIA\u2019s law enforcement exemption, commonly used to protect criminal investigations, in connection with AARO and UAP-related records. This practice has drawn criticism for applying investigative secrecy provisions to matters that are presented to the public as unresolved anomalies.<\/p>\n<p>The Black Vault has appealed the decision, and the result will be posted, when available.<\/p>\n<p>###<\/p>\n<h3>Document Archive<\/h3>\n<div class=\"ead-preview\"><div class=\"ead-document\" style=\"position: relative;padding-top: 90%;\"><div class=\"ead-iframe-wrapper\"><iframe src=\"\/\/docs.google.com\/viewer?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theblackvault.com%2Fdocumentarchive%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F25-F-3260-Final-Response.pdf&amp;embedded=true&amp;hl=en\" title=\"Embedded Document\" class=\"ead-iframe\" style=\"width: 100%;height: 100%;border: none;position: absolute;left: 0;top: 0;visibility: hidden;\"><\/iframe><\/div>\t\t\t<div class=\"ead-document-loading\" style=\"width:100%;height:100%;position:absolute;left:0;top:0;z-index:10;\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ead-loading-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ead-loading-main\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ead-loading\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theblackvault.com\/documentarchive\/wp-content\/plugins\/embed-any-document\/images\/loading.svg\" width=\"55\" height=\"55\" alt=\"Loader\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Loading...<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ead-loading-foot\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ead-loading-foot-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theblackvault.com\/documentarchive\/wp-content\/plugins\/embed-any-document\/images\/EAD-logo.svg\" alt=\"EAD Logo\" width=\"36\" height=\"23\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Taking too long?<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ead-document-btn ead-reload-btn\" role=\"button\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theblackvault.com\/documentarchive\/wp-content\/plugins\/embed-any-document\/images\/reload.svg\" alt=\"Reload\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\"\/> Reload document\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>|<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theblackvault.com\/documentarchive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/25-F-3260-Final-Response.pdf\" class=\"ead-document-btn\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theblackvault.com\/documentarchive\/wp-content\/plugins\/embed-any-document\/images\/open.svg\" alt=\"Open\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\"\/> Open in new tab\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><p class=\"embed_download\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theblackvault.com\/documentarchive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/25-F-3260-Final-Response.pdf\" download>Download [283.28 KB] <\/a><\/p><\/div><p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Department of Defense (DoD) has denied a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking records connected to the review, redaction, and release of a UAP video published by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) earlier this year. The request, filed May 19, 2025, sought internal communications, review logs, classification guidance, legal opinions, and technical<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20892,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","transcript_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,32],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20890","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-fringe","8":"category-ufo-phenomena"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.theblackvault.com\/documentarchive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/middleast2024.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theblackvault.com\/documentarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theblackvault.com\/documentarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theblackvault.com\/documentarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theblackvault.com\/documentarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theblackvault.com\/documentarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20890"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theblackvault.com\/documentarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20893,"href":"https:\/\/www.theblackvault.com\/documentarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20890\/revisions\/20893"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theblackvault.com\/documentarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theblackvault.com\/documentarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theblackvault.com\/documentarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theblackvault.com\/documentarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}