Navy UAP briefing cards
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 7
| Date | 24 July 2020 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Beings & bodies (topic), Secrecy & cover-up (topic) |
| People | Joseph Gradisher |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 197 |
| Year | 2020 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 2020 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 4 |
Internal U.S. Defense Department "briefing cards" — talking points for public affairs officers and spokespeople — released to The Black Vault under the Freedom of Information Act in September 2021 show how officials were coached to answer questions about UAP, the UAP Task Force and the Navy's UFO videos. A Navy card of 24 July 2020 told staff to use the term "unidentified aerial phenomena" rather than "UFO".[1][2]
The release
The 28-page release, case 21-F-1458, was published by researcher John Greenewald on 9 September 2021. The cards were used to help public affairs officers, spokespeople and staff of other agencies answer questions on the subjects.[1]
"UAP" not "UFO"
Navy spokesman Joseph Gradisher confirmed the Navy's preference for "UAP", explaining that it was a neutral term meant to encourage pilots to report what they saw without the stigma attached to "UFO". The term has since been adopted across the U.S. government, and in 2023 was expanded to "unidentified anomalous phenomena" to cover objects in space and underwater.[2][3]
Other topics
The cards also covered the UAP Task Force, set up in August 2020, and the three Navy videos, which the Pentagon had formally released in April 2020. A separate request by Greenewald found that the Navy's guidelines for reporting UAP would remain classified.[1][2]
Significance
The cards give a rare look at how the Pentagon managed its public messaging on the subject during the period before the June 2021 intelligence assessment.[1]
People and topics
- U.S. Navy — The U.S. naval service, whose pilots reported the UAP encounters revealed in 2017.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- The Black Vault — John Greenewald's online archive of government documents.
- Freedom of Information Act — The 1966 U.S. law that lets the public request government records.
- Joseph Gradisher — Navy spokesman on UAP matters.
- UAP Task Force — The Navy-led Pentagon task force on UAP set up in 2020.
On the Timeline
- Elizondo's secure-room meetings (2020) (19 July 2020) — Lue Elizondo says he met lawmakers in a secure room about UAP.
- Karson Kammerzell's Tic Tac account (30 November 2020) — A Navy communications operator describes the Tic Tac event from the USS Princeton.
See every 2020 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- "Stack of internal DoD 'briefing cards' on UAPs, UAP Task Force, and Navy UFO videos released", The Black Vault (Sep 2021) · theblackvault.com · archived copy
- "U.S. Navy's UFO/UAP guidelines to remain classified", The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
- All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- theblackvault.com · theblackvault.com · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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