CIA Releases FOIA Package on Larry W. Bryant's UFO Records Disputes, Including 1986 Japan Airlines Encounter

The Black Vault, operated by FOIA researcher John Greenewald, published on October 14, 2026, a 170-page CIA document package released under FOIA case number F-2021-02420. The collection centers on Larry W. Bryant, a long-active UFO researcher, writer, and government transparency advocate who submitted numerous FOIA requests to the CIA over multiple decades. Bryant also contributed to UFO Magazine, where he examined government records and controversies related to UFO research and intelligence activities.

The release package contains historical correspondence, administrative records, appeals, fee assessment disputes, and litigation materials arising from Bryant's interactions with the CIA. A recurring theme is Bryant's effort to be recognized as a representative of the news media for the purpose of obtaining reduced or waived FOIA processing fees. The CIA ultimately granted him news media fee status in at least one case, documented in correspondence from 2009 related to a reopened request.

A significant portion of the collection concerns Bryant's attempts to obtain CIA records related to the November 1986 Japan Airlines (JAL) Flight 1628 UFO encounter over Alaska — one of the most widely cited commercial aviation UAP cases of the Cold War era — and a meeting that reportedly took place at Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) headquarters in Washington, D.C., in 1987 in connection with that incident. In a formal response dated September 30, 2008, the CIA stated unequivocally that there was "no organized CIA effort to do research in connection with UFO phenomena" and that the agency had not maintained an organized UFO intelligence collection effort since the 1950s.

Additional materials document Bryant's requests for CIA records on John Joseph McCarthy Jr. and an entity or program referred to as Project CHERRY. In September 2004, the CIA invoked FOIA exemptions protecting classified information and intelligence sources and methods, refusing to confirm or deny the existence of records that would reveal a covert relationship — a so-called Glomar response. Subsequent processing led to a determination that no responsive records were located, a finding the CIA upheld on administrative appeal in 2006. The collection further includes records tied to Bryant's interest in UFO skeptic Philip J. Klass, including discussion of FBI records about Klass obtained through FOIA.

The release provides a rare documentary record of a private citizen's sustained engagement with CIA disclosure mechanisms on UFO-related topics, spanning at least the early 2000s through 2009 and resulting in litigation. It also preserves the CIA's formal, on-record position — reiterated as recently as 2008 — that the agency conducted no organized UFO research and had not done so since the 1950s, a claim that has been contested by independent researchers citing earlier CIA-commissioned studies such as the 1953 Robertson Panel.