The Black Vault

Last updated
The Black Vault
The Black Vault.jpg
Type of site
Document archive
Available in English
Owner John Greenewald Jr.
URL theblackvault.com
Launched1996;29 years ago (1996)
Current statusActive

The Black Vault is an American online archive of declassified government documents founded in 1996 by ufologist and researcher John Greenewald Jr. Created when Greenewald was a teenager, the site began as a personal project to collect and digitize records released through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The site is a civilian repository of federal records and contains millions of files spanning subjects from CIA programs such as MKUltra to Project Blue Book and other investigations of UFOs. The archive has been cited by major media outlets including The Washington Post , USA Today , and has been described by the Post as a "massive civilian repository of government documents." Beyond its document collections, the Black Vault operates a podcast and has served as a source of information for journalists, researchers, and the public seeking insight into the workings of the U.S. government.

Contents

Background

Greenewald credits his interest in FOIA to early experiences on America Online (AOL). [1] While online in the early internet, Greenewald found the Computer UFO Network (CUFON) and read about a reported UFO incident involving Iran in 1976. [1] Greenewald filed a FOIA for the same documents he read online over AOL, and to his surprise received the exact same document two weeks later from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). [1] As a result, Greenewald began filing more FOIA requests and building a collection of his findings. [1] One of Greenewald's first FOIA requests as a child was for MKUltra documents. [2] His research has been described by Greenewald as apolitical, focusing only on government transparency. [1]

Greenewald created the Black Vault when he was fifteen years old. [3]

The Black Vault

The Washington Post identified the Black Vault as a "massive civilian repository of government documents" in 2019. [4] Over 5,000 FOIA requests have been filed under the Black Vault project. [3] The Black Vault's scope of coverage extends from Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) programs like MKUltra, the 2012 Benghazi attack in Libya to UFOs. [3] All Federal government of the United States content on the site was obtained via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). [1] The Columbia Journalism Review in 2020 noted that the site had been in operation for twenty-four years under Greenewald's control. [1] The site's original name was "John's World". [1] The site became the "Black Vault" one year later. [1]

Due to technical limitations early in the project related to web hosting and the internet, Greenewald was forced to hand-type retrieved declassified documents into early versions of the Black Vault's web pages, rather than digitally scanning and uploading them. [1] Over time, the Black Vault developed a system of documenting coding schemes and databases to track and facilitate the growing collections of documents. [1] An anonymous user was reported to have purchased Greenewald a $400 digital scanner to speed his work. [1] In 2015, ABC News said that the Black Vault reported hosting 1,322,017 declassified government documents since the 1996 launch of the site. [5] By 2020, Columbia Journalism Review reported the Black Vault archives contained over two million files. [1] Greenewald told Vice that the Black Vault's visits increased after his release of the Project Blue Book materials from approximately 5,000 per day in 2015 to "hundreds of thousands". [3] By 2018, the site was reportedly receiving 14,000 to 18,000 visitors per day. [2] By 2020, the Columbia Journalism Review reported that the Black Vault drew 300,000 unique monthly visitors who download 10 terabytes of declassified government documents per month. [1]

For his Black Vault work, Greenewald has worked with and relied on assistance from the public and internet users, such as when he engaged in a years-long FOIA struggle with the CIA; his work there included support from Reddit users. [2] Greenewald developed his own customized search engine database, and then supplemental custom databases, to support his research. [3] Vice reported Greenewald stated his Black Vault works do not receive a journalism or public-interest waiver for his U.S. government FOIA requests, and has to pay money for them. [2] The Black Vault in the past has relied on GoFundMe and crowdfunding programs to help support his research due to the costs. [2] Greenewald has referred to the Black Vault as a "hobby", saying "there's no money to be made by giving out information for free." [1]

In 2020, the Columbia Journalism Review reported that Black Vault work and materials had been cited by the Washington Post , USA Today , Newsweek , Popular Mechanics , Wired , The Intercept , and Vice Media . [1]

The Black Vault operates a podcast named either Inside the Black Vault or The Black Vault Radio depending on hosting platform. [1]

CIA robot dragonfly program

In the 1970s, the United States CIA's research and development office created the Insectothopter, a miniature unmanned aerial vehicle. [6] A prototype went on display at the CIA Museum in 2003. [7] In 2013, the Black Vault filed a FOIA request for records on the program, and in 2020 the CIA released the files in response. [7]

Commander (Joe Biden's dog)

In 2024, the Black Vault published Secret Service documents detailing biting incidents involving Commander, President Joe Biden's German shepherd at the White House. [8] The records were released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Greenewald. [8]

Pentagon UFO videos

The Pentagon UFO videos are forward-looking infrared (FLIR) recordings taken from United States Navy (USN) fighter jets aboard the USS Nimitz and USS Theodore Roosevelt in 2004, 2014, and 2015, with further footage captured by USN personnel in 2019. The USN formally declassified the videos in 2020. The following day, the Black Vault filed FOIA requests seeking "any and all other videos related to UAP." [9] In 2022, the U.S. government confirmed to the Black Vault the existence of additional UAP-related videos but withheld them on national security grounds. [9]

Project Blue Book collection

Project Blue Book was the code name for the systematic study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by the United States Air Force (USAF) from March 1952 to its termination on December 17, 1969. The project, headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, was initially directed by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt and followed projects of a similar nature such as Project Sign established in 1947, and Project Grudge in 1949. In 2015, the Black Vault was credited by ABC News, CNET and Vice magazine with uploading 129,491 declassified documents from the three projects. [3] [10] [5] The Black Vault's Blue Book collection covers over 10,000 cases formally investigated by the USAF. [5] The organized Blue Book collection includes declassified federal government UFO data from Project Blue Book, Project Sign and Project Grudge, spanning U.S government research from 1947 to 1969. [5] Greenwald personally digitized and made available all the pages to the public on the Black Vault, described by ABC News as a "painstaking effort". [5]

MKUltra files

MKUltra was an illegal human experimentation program run by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to develop interrogation techniques using drugs and psychological methods such as brainwashing and psychological torture. [11] When Greenewald was 15, one of his first FOIA requests for the Black Vault was for MKUltra documents. [2] The materials were delivered on four CD-ROMs, [2] and Greenewald told Vice that MKUltra quickly became one of the most viewed parts of the website. [2]

In 2016, Greenewald discovered that his 2004 release of MKUltra documents was incomplete. [2] A total of 4,358 pages listed in an index had been omitted from the CIA’s 2004 response. [2] Over the next two years, the Black Vault pressed the agency for the missing files, at one point submitting 97 printed pages of evidence showing the omissions. [2] The CIA admitted in 2016 that the documents had been withheld 12 years earlier, but the files were not released because they involved “behavioral modification” programs. [2]

Media coverage

In 2021, the Smithsonian Magazine , [12] The Independent , [13] Vice, [14] and Live Science [15] reported on the Black Vault's publication of then-newly released CIA UFO documents. Smithsonian Magazine reported the Black Vault had publicized 2,780 pages of CIA-related UFO documents obtained via FOIA. [12] Black Vault founder Greenewald told Vice the material was purchased from the CIA in 2020 on CD-ROM, and per the CIA it "represents all its documents" on the matter. [14] The Independent wrote that "there is no way to verify that". [13] Greenewald told Live Science that the documents were the result of decades of Black Vault FOIA requests to the CIA. [15]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Raviv, Shawn (2020-05-09). "Inside the Black Vault". Columbia Journalism Review . Archived from the original on 2020-05-09.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Gaynor, Michael (2018-08-13). "The Internet Is Crowdfunding the Release of 4,358 Secret CIA Mind Control Documents". Vice . Archived from the original on 2025-03-23.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rose, Nick (2015-01-23). "The Mother Lode of UFO Files Has Finally Hit the Web". Vice . Archived from the original on 2025-08-31.
  4. ↑ Epstein, Kayla (2019-09-19). "Those UFO videos are real, the U.S. navy says, but please stop saying 'UFO'". Washington Post . Archived from the original on 2019-09-19. 'The Navy designates the objects contained in these videos as unidentified aerial phenomena,' Joseph Gradisher, spokesman for the deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare, told the Black Vault blog, a massive civilian repository of government documents mostly obtained by Freedom of Information Act requests.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Man releases 130K pages of declassified Air Force documents on UFOs". ABC News . 2015-01-20. Archived from the original on 2023-06-09. John Greenewald, a UFO enthusiast, spent nearly 20 years filing Freedom of Information Act requests for the government files on UFOs and related phenomena.
  6. ↑ "Insectothopter". International Spy Museum. Retrieved 2023-03-24.
  7. 1 2 Hambling, David (2020-02-18). "In the 1970s, the CIA Created a Robot Dragonfly Spy. Now We Know How It Works". Popular Mechanics . Archived from the original on 2020-02-18.
  8. 1 2 Baker, Peter (2024-02-21). "Secret Service Had to Adjust Tactics to Avoid Bites From Biden's Dog". New York Times . Archived from the original on 2024-02-22. The documents were released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by John Greenewald, a longtime California-based researcher who specializes in unearthing government secrets on everything from U.F.O.s to C.I.A. and military activities, and posted on his website, called The Black Vault. The Secret Service confirmed the documents were authentic.
  9. 1 2 "US Navy Admits It Has More UFO Videos, But Don't Expect to See Them Anytime Soon". ScienceAlert. 2022-09-11. Archived from the original on 2022-09-11. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  10. ↑ Kooser, Amanda (2021-01-13). "The Black Vault releases trove of CIA's classified UFO documents". CNET . Archived from the original on 2022-04-27.
  11. ↑ United States Congress Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (1977). Project MKULTRA, the CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 70. Some MKUltra activities raise questions of legality implicit in the original charter.
  12. 1 2 Davis-Marks, Isis (2021-01-15). "You Can Now Explore the CIA's 'Entire' Collection of UFO Documents Online". Smithsonian Magazine . Archived from the original on 2021-01-17.
  13. 1 2 Smith, Adam (2021-01-12). "CIA unexpectedly releases all of its documents on UFOs". The Independent . Archived from the original on 2022-09-12.
  14. 1 2 Ferdowsi, Samir (2021-01-11). "You Can Now Easily Download All CIA UFO Documents to Date". Archived from the original on 2025-08-27.
  15. 1 2 Spektor, Brandon (2021-01-13). "CIA releases entire collection of UFO-related documents to truth-seeking website". Live Science . Archived from the original on 2021-01-13.
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