NSA TOP SECRET UMBRA UAP records
334 pages of formerly Top Secret / UMBRA-compartment NSA records on UAP incidents, released to the Disclosure Foundation under FOIA appeal on May 18, 2026. The first release of UAP material at the UMBRA classification level.
NSA Top Secret / UMBRA UAP records, 334-page FOIA production released to the Disclosure Foundation on May 18, 2026. The first release of UAP material at the UMBRA SIGINT compartment level.
Provenance metadataFields marked “not disclosed” are transparent gaps in the release, not omissions on our end.
- Coordinates
- Not disclosed in this release; specific geographic locations redacted throughout
- Altitude
- Not disclosed in this release
- Sensor detail
- SIGINT collection: radar tracks, communications intercepts, direction-finding data
- Encounter duration
- Not disclosed in this release
- Witness count
- Multiple SIGINT collectors, plus corroborating US and allied military ATC personnel (source designators redacted)
- Operational context
- Cold War-era SIGINT collection targeting Soviet and other adversary military communications; the majority of documented incidents cluster in the 1960s-1980s
- Weather / visibility
- Not disclosed in this release
- Chain of custody
- NSA collection assets → SIGINT product officers → NSA FOIA office → Disclosure Foundation (FOIA appellant) → public release
- Classification
- Originally TOP SECRET UMBRA (SIGINT compartment); declassified in full for May 18, 2026 FOIA release
Official description
NSA FOIA production of 334 pages, previously classified Top Secret / UMBRA, one of the most sensitive signals-intelligence compartments. Material includes radar tracks of unidentified objects, multi-witness intelligence reports, and accounts of military scrambles against unknown contacts, including one case involving 13 MiG fighters scrambled against a single object and another tracking 72 objects in formation. Specific witness names, geographic locations, and source designators are redacted; classification and routing stamps remain visible.
Editor's context
The UMBRA compartment was reserved through the Cold War for the most sensitive SIGINT product. NSA has previously released UFO-related material in the much-lower-classification 'Confidential' tier (the well-known 'UFO Documents' FOIA series from the 1980s). The May 2026 release is the first time UMBRA-tier UAP product has reached the public record. The material is decades old, but the precedent of releasing at this classification level is the headline. NSA has not provided modern adjudication of the incidents described.
In the margins
Transcribed redactions, stamps, and handwritten markings, the paratext of the file. Often the most human part of a declassified document, and worth reading on its own.
- Stampp. every pageTOP SECRET UMBRA, DECLASSIFIED
- AnnotationReleased as a single 334-page FOIA production.
- AnnotationNotable cases described: 13-MiG scramble against a single unknown contact, 72-object formation tracking, 23-object tracking event.
- AnnotationWitness names, exact locations, and source designators redacted. Classification routing stamps intact.
- AnnotationFirst-ever release of UAP material at UMBRA SIGINT compartment level.
Cite the primary source
Citations center the originating government agency and link to the official record. This archive is listed as the access point, not the author.
U.S. Government. "NSA TOP SECRET UMBRA UAP records." Released via PURSUE program, 2026-05-18. File ID: NSA UMBRA UAP FOIA Appeal, 2026. https://disclosure.org/news/nsa-top-secret-umbra-uap-foia-release. Accessed 2026-08-01 via Social Media for Aliens archive, https://socialmediaforaliens.com/files/nsa-umbra-uap-2026.
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