Unidentified Aerial Phenomena – scientific analysis: CSIRO might have 22,500 related paperwork to an FOIA request re UAP – #ufo #unusual
Introduction
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Analysis Organisation (CSIRO) is “Australia’s nationwide science company.” Between 1952 and 1989 the CSIRO maintained information on the subject of UAP; e.g. Nationwide Archives of Australia (NAA) file sequence A9778 management image M1/F/31 (date vary 1952-1957) and NAA file sequence A8520 management image HM1/30 (date vary 1959-1989.)
Freedom of Data request
On 29 August 2022, I submitted an FOIA request to the CSIRO, as follows:
“I search all emails, despatched to/from or cc’d, CSIRO workers, together with any attachments, for the interval 1 June 2021 to 29 August 2022; which include key phrases “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena;” and/or “UAP” and/or “UAPs” and/or “Unidentified Flying Object” and/or “UFO.”
A response letter, dated 20 September 2022, FOI 2022/46, included the next reply:
“CSIRO’s FOI staff has carried out inner enquiries to establish what number of probably related paperwork CSIRO would possibly maintain that relate to your request and the work required to seek for, determine and collate these paperwork, previous to reviewing them and getting ready a choice in response to your request.
Given the quantity of labor we estimate that may be required, I’ve determined that I must ship you this discover of an intention to refuse entry to the paperwork you’ve requested…
The outcomes of our searches todate point out that CSIRO is prone to maintain at the very least roughly 22,500 objects together with emails and attachments, which may be related to your request…
I estimate that we would wish to evaluate at the very least 22,000 paperwork earlier than a willpower may very well be made concerning related paperwork that fall inside the present scope of your request. I estimate that this is able to imply CSIRO would wish to dedicate at the very least 80 hours to course of your request…
In accordance with s24AB(6) of the FOI Act, you’ve 14 days from the date you obtain this discover to both:
a) withdraw your request
b) make a revised request (amend the scope of your request), or
c) point out you don’t want to revise your request…”
My resolution
That is the primary time, in my years of utilizing the Australian FOIA, that I’ve obtained an FOIA request response which seemed to refuse entry to paperwork based mostly on the truth that my request would “considerably and unreasonably” divert the useful resource of an Australian authorities division or company, from its different operations.
Given the character of my request, I used to be completely stunned that in a 14 month interval, the CSIRO might need 22,500 objects related to a request about UAP. I am unable to think about how one authorities company, which overtly has nothing to do with UAP, might accumulate such a lot of objects. Nonetheless, the FOI response, briefly, was that I used to be not going to have the ability to view any such paperwork.
So, on 20 September 2022, I made a decision to cut back the scope of my request, to a a lot less complicated one, specifically:
“Copies of any internally generated CSIRO analysis/dialogue papers, on the sighting of, and/or nature of; and/or origin of, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena between 1 June 2021 and 29 August 2022.”
In a response letter dated 28 September 2022, CSIRO suggested that “Searches have been carried out by related CSIRO workers in House and Astronomy in addition to workers inside CSIRO’s Data Division and Library, and it was confirmed that CSIRO doesn’t maintain any paperwork related to the scope of your request.”
