This mystery all began on July 25, 2018, when Las Vegas KLAS-TV reporters George Knapp and Matt Adams published an article that included a 2009 letter from Senator Harry Reid. “I-Team obtains some key documents related to Pentagon UFO study,” the headline ran, and embedded within was a four page leaked letter that has intrigued UFO enthusiasts ever since.

Now, more than two years after a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was filed by The Black Vault, the mystery about the letter has deepened significantly. The Department of Defense (DOD), having first denied that they could even find a copy of the letter on March 11, 2021, was forced to do a second search once a previous Pentagon spokesperson statement was cited. That statement, given to The Black Vault in 2019, authenticated the letter and made it clear the DOD responded to Reid. Once that official statement was brought to the FOIA office’s attention, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) found the letter written by Reid on the second search, and is processing it for a future release at an unknown date.

However, despite having confirmed that a response was sent back to Reid by the DOD; the FOIA office has confirmed to The Black Vault they simply can’t find it, and they will be issuing a “no records” response to that portion of the request once the case is completed.

Over the course of the last two years, it was also discovered that within numerous places where the letter written by Reid should exist, it does not, indicating that even as far back as 2009 the DOD possibly aimed to cover-up the existence of not only this Unclassified AATIP letter, but quite possibly, cover-up the existence of the entire Unclassified AATIP program all together.