CIA releases less redacted 1959 Ukraine UFO document via MDR
Following a Mandatory Declassification Review request submitted by The Black Vault in January 2019, the CIA released a significantly less redacted version of a 1959 UFO intelligence report. The original release had nearly all content blacked out.
Background
The Black Vault filed a Mandatory Declassification Review challenge in January 2019 to contest excessive redactions in a previously released CIA document concerning a 1959 Ukrainian UFO case. After eleven months of administrative processing, the Agency declassified and released an updated version in December 2019. The new release contained substantially more readable content compared to the initial version, which had rendered nearly the entire report illegible through heavy blacking. This disclosure illustrates the gradual transparency improvements achievable through persistent FOIA and MDR advocacy regarding historical UAP records.