In a recent FOIA release obtained by The Black Vault, details have emerged about the communication between Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, former head of the AARO office, and Dr. Avi Loeb, a renowned Harvard Scientist and head of the Galileo Project. The release, part of The Black Vault OSD/JS FOIA Case 23-F-0010, sheds light on their interactions and shared scientific pursuits.
The released emails, dated from late 2022, focus on a range of topics including unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) in Ukraine and the discovery of interstellar meteors. Dr. Loeb, in his correspondence, discusses his analysis and papers on these subjects, offering insights into the potential implications of these phenomena for understanding extraterrestrial life and interstellar objects.
One notable aspect of their communication is the arrangement of a meeting on October 3, 2022, to discuss these matters in-depth.
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Despite the detailed exchange about their first meeting and ongoing scientific interests, the FOIA release does not provide additional records of subsequent interactions beyond this initial engagement. This lack of further documentation might suggest that their continued correspondence, especially leading up to their joint scientific paper published in draft form in March 2023, occurred through private channels not subject to FOIA requests.
The paper they co-authored, available at Harvard’s website, delves into “Physical Constraints on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena”, further indicating the depth of their collaborative research efforts.
In addition to these records, the FBI has also recently released records specifically on The Galileo Project. The Galileo Project, known for its scientific pursuit of identifying and understanding UAP and interstellar objects, seems to have captured the FBI’s attention as early as 2021. The FBI file, released to The Black Vault under case 1616197-000 (though credit to writer Jack Brewer who first discovered the file in early January), includes details that highlight the agency’s curiosity or concerns about the project’s research and discoveries.
The release consists of only 4 pages of records, but an additional 23 pages were fully withheld. The content of these documents could shed light on the nature of the FBI’s interest, whether it was purely informational or if there were specific aspects of the project’s research that prompted a more in-depth inquiry, but they remain exempt from release as of the writing of this article.
The timeframe of the FBI’s file predates Dr. Kirkpatrick’s outreach to Dr. Loeb by approximately a year. This indicates that the government’s interest in the Galileo Project and its research on UAP and interstellar objects was not an isolated incident but part of a broader awareness and possibly a concerted effort to understand and potentially collaborate on these scientific frontiers.
The Black Vault has appealed both FOIA cases above. This appeals highlight the need for transparency and public access to information, particularly in areas with significant scientific and public interest.
The results of those appeals will be posted, when available.
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Document Archive
OSD/JS FOIA Release
FOIA Case 23-F-0010 [30 Pages, 8MB]
FBI FOIA Release
FOIA Case 23-F-0010 [9 Pages, 8MB]
