USA: CIA confirms permanent loss of 1978 Soviet UFO files
The CIA confirmed in March 2024 that original documents containing translations of Soviet UFO articles from 1978 have been permanently lost. The agency could not fulfill a declassification review request because the unredacted originals no longer exist. This case adds to a growing list of misplaced or destroyed UFO-related intelligence records.
Background
In response to a Mandatory Declassification Review filed in January 2019, the Central Intelligence Agency admitted on March 7, 2024, that it cannot provide the unredacted version of document DOC_0000015452. The file contains translations of two Soviet-era newspaper articles discussing unidentified flying objects, originally written by Novosti journalists V. Rubanov and V. Chernobrov. The agency first released a redacted version in 1978, but has since lost the original unredacted document. White-out redactions were applied to the 1978 copy, permanently obscuring CIA commentary and analysis regarding Soviet perspectives on the phenomenon. This incident represents another example of the agency's documented difficulties in preserving UFO-related historical records, following similar admissions in 2019, 2020, and 2023. The loss prevents researchers from understanding Cold War-era intelligence assessments of Soviet UFO narratives.