MITRE moves to comply with lawmaker’s request for UAP records and assets dating back to 1930

The MITRE Corporation confirmed that insiders are reviewing its archives to comply with a recent production request from Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., who pressed the not-for-profit organization for dozens of assets that would reveal whether it currently has or previously possessed information on unidentified anomalous phenomena and associated unexplained technologies.

Dated May 22 and obtained by DefenseScoop Wednesday, the 10-page correspondence reflects concerns raised by whistleblowers alleging that the Pentagon and defense contractors are deliberately concealing sensitive UAP materials in private networks to bypass congressional and public oversight.

“If any relevant material is found, we will coordinate with the federal agencies responsible for the work to determine how to best provide any assets,” a MITRE spokesperson told DefenseScoop.

Federal agencies, the U.S. military and their contractors have a long, complicated legacy handling information about tech and craft that personnel have reported functioning in ways that seem to transcend modern capabilities.

Burlison is a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets. He has also been involved in a yearslong campaign to force the disclosure of government-held UAP data. 

Congress members have warned that some UAP could be high-tech drones or other platforms deployed by adversarial nations to harm the U.S. 

Government officials have maintained that they have not uncovered evidence that verifies any UAP cases involving extraterrestrial activity or technology to date. 

“The purpose of this request is straightforward: to determine whether MITRE, any MITRE-operated federally funded research and development center (FFRDC), or any MITRE subcontractor has created, received, maintained, analyzed, transferred, destroyed, withheld, or otherwise controlled records, data, materials, contract deliverables, or program information relating to [UAP], unidentified aerospace or undersea phenomena, transmedium events, technologies of unknown origin, anomalous recovered materials, foreign material acquisition or exploitation activities, or any program known, alleged, or described as a legacy crash-retrieval or reverse-engineering effort,” Burlison wrote in the letter to executives. 

Compelled by Congress, the Defense Department, National Archives and Records Administration, Federal Aviation Administration and other agencies have made strides in UAP disclosure over recent years. And this month, the administration began posting troves of interagency, declassified UAP files as part of what President Donald Trump recently billed as a renewed commitment to transparency on the historically taboo topic.

“We’re releasing a lot of information having to do with [extraterrestrial] things — and people are totally fascinated by it. It’s amazing. I wasn’t sure they would enjoy it. It’s literally trending number one, can you believe it?” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting Wednesday.

Burlison’s letter to MITRE’s top officials suggests that its role as an FFRDC operator and federal contractor may place the organization “in custody or control of government-funded records, contractor-held federal records, technical datasets, working papers, contract deliverables, metadata, or program records that bear directly on that statutory framework.”

FFRDCs are known to work on classified programs. But because of how they operate, the hubs are largely protected from public disclosure by Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) exemptions. Some officials have cautioned that this allows FFRDCs to potentially hide government information that the public has a right to know.

A member of Burlison’s team told DefenseScoop that the letter was informed by “advice from many whistleblowers, disclosure advocacy organizations, and those working at FFRDCs.”

In it, the lawmaker instructs MITRE to designate a senior official to coordinate responses, issue a preservation hold, provide a records-location index, produce unclassified responsive records, identify classified or sponsor-controlled materials, and coordinate a classified briefing for cleared committee staff.  

All unclassified responsive records are to be delivered in native electronic format — and include complete metadata — within 45 days. Directions for classified, controlled unclassified, proprietary, export-controlled, or otherwise restricted materials are also included.

“This inquiry does not require MITRE to accept any particular conclusion about the origin or nature of UAP,” Burlison wrote. “It requires MITRE to tell Congress what it knows, what it holds, what it has held, what it has transferred, what it has destroyed or was directed to destroy, and which federal sponsors or classification authorities control any responsive records.”

The letter’s enclosure lists a series of more than 40 specific requests about MITRE’s records collections and transfers, contracts, task orders, classified access and special programs, analysis and identification activities, AI models, technology exploitation, health and safety data, secure facilities and other elements connected to projects on UAP.

For example, Burlison asked the officials to “identify all MITRE work involving the detection, tracking, correlation, characterization, datafusion, anomaly detection, or attribution of UAP-related signatures across air, space, maritime, undersea, cyber, electromagnetic, acoustic, radar, optical, infrared, nuclear, biological, chemical, or multi-intelligence domains.”

He also called for information about “any UAP-related work involving Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon/RRTX, Boeing, General Dynamics, SAIC, Leidos, Battelle, The Aerospace Corporation, Booz Allen Hamilton, BAE Systems, Bigelow Aerospace or its successors/affiliates, or any other aerospace, defense, intelligence, science, engineering, biomedical, or materials-analysis entity.”

The lawmaker wants MITRE to supply records dating back to 1930.

“If no responsive records exist, provide a certification describing the search methodology, repositories searched, custodians contacted, search terms used, date ranges, and the responsible MITRE official who supervised the search,” Burlison wrote.