Landmark court settlement requires NASA to release documents on mysterious UFO case

The Coalition for Freedom of Information has secured what it calls a landmark settlement against NASA.

As result of NASA’s refusal to release its records concerning the 1965 Kecksburg, PA UFO incident and subsequent stonewalling, CFi filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit in December, 2003, as part of a broader FOIA campaign supported by SCI FI Channel.

Presiding U.S. District Judge Emmett G. Sulliivan approved a settlement that requires NASA to comb through hundreds of documents in specified locations and provide copies to Leslie Kean, investigative journalist with CFi and plaintiff in the lawsuit, under the watchful eye of the courts. NASA is required to declassify relevant documents, explain any redactions, and to pay Kean’s legal fees as part of the settlement.

Kean has been seeking documents about the crash of an unknown object in Pennsylvania that occurred over forty years ago. Witnesses described seeing a fireball in the evening sky, a controlled landing and a systematic military recovery of a spacecraft-like object. As reported by local radio and newspapers, U.S. military personnel cordoned off the area, investigated the site, and left without ever providing a full report of the incident other than to dismiss it as a meteor.

“Finally, we hope to acquire the relevant documents about Kecksburg that are required by law,” says Kean. “I look forward to working with NASA on the resolution of the terms set out by the court and to providing the public with the information it has been waiting for.”

The full press release can be viewed here (PDF).

A short promotional video for The Coalition for Freedom of Information