Defence says it's had no UFO briefings from the US. These newly revealed emails show otherwise
Australia has been receiving high-level briefings from the United States' UFO task force for years, despite the repeated denials of the top military brass, newly revealed emails show.
Freedom of information documents from December 2021 show US officials discussing a briefing regarding Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAPs) - the modern term for UFOs - with its Five Eyes allies.
The email chain included officials from the United States UAP Task Force (UAPTF) and an Australian defence representative, using a US Department of Defence email address.
"Re tomorrow's UAP briefing, I received confirmation from Australia and Canada they will be here ... and of course UK," a UAPTF official wrote.
However, a scheduling conflict led to the meeting being rescheduled for early January, 2022, much to the annoyance of the Office Under the Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security (OUSD).
"I recall you and your team said last week that you wanted to come in today to brief the other partners. Because of this I urged the partners to build time into their schedules and come in for the brief," the OUSD official wrote.
"The last thing we want to do is be dismissive of our allies and their time," a UAPTF official replied.
The former Chief of Air Force - and now Vice Chief of Defence - Air Marshal Robert Chipman twice told senators during an estimates hearing that Australia had not been briefed on UAPs after the email exchange and rescheduled Five Eyes briefing.
In November 2022, Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson asked if the US had discussed UAPs with Australian intelligence services or the Air Force.
"I'm not aware of any formal discussions that we've held with the US," Air Marshal Chipman said.
"I imagine it would have come across my desk if those discussions were held in the last four months."
During the Senate estimates hearing the following year, the Air Marshal was more adamant in response to Senator Whish-Wilson's questions, which specifically queried if Australian defence attaches had received UAPTF briefings.
"No," Air Marshal Chipman said.
"No briefings at all," Senator Whish-Wilson said.
"No," Air Marshal Chipman repeated.
Briefing notes prepared in May 2022 for Air Marshall Chipman's Senate estimate hearing also state that neither "the US nor any other nation or ally" had requested or offered to collaborate on the issue of UAPs.
"Defence has no desire to seek collaboration on this issue," the briefing note states.
The Department of Defence refused to answer questions from The Canberra Times.
Grant Lavac, an Australian civilian UAP researcher, said the lack of transparency was "quite concerning".
"The Chief of Air Force leads all discussions on UAP in Australia, so if there's one person that needs to know what is happening on this topic in an Australian context and our discussions with allies, it's him," Mr Lavac said.
"He's either uniformed because there is a complete lack of intelligence sharing, or there's a degree of incompetence, or it's something more sinister like plausible deniability.
"Any one of those three scenarios is concerning."
It's not the first time the Australian Defence Force has misled Senators about the nation's UAP activities.
In 2024, Defence officials admitted Australia sent representatives to a UAP briefing in the Pentagon, after vigorously denying any involvement.
The agenda of the meeting, which was attended by members of the Five Eyes alliance, was later released by the US government.
It shows the alliance - which includes US, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand - met for a "caucus working group" to "cultivate shared awareness of allies' UAP issues, detection, and mitigation activities and challenges".
They discussed the need for "networks to share Five Eyes UAP reporting", including documents marked "top secret" and "special intelligence", along with UAP "collection planning".
"The intention is to develop a framework for future UAP collaboration," one document said.
Australia's UAP policy has previously been criticised for being out of step with its closest military allies, including the US, which introduced mandatory UAP reporting for defence personnel in 2021.
The US considers UAPs a potential flight safety and national security risk, while other allies have acknowledged the unknown aerial phenomenon, including the UK, Canada, France and Spain.
The Canberra Times has previously reported Australian Defence personnel don't feel comfortable reporting UAP sightings through official channels and freedom of information documents revealed senior Defence officials mocked the subject while preparing briefing notes.
Australia has been receiving high-level briefings from the United States' UFO task force for years, despite the repeated denials of the top military brass, newly revealed emails show.
Freedom of information documents from December 2021 show US officials discussing a briefing regarding Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAPs) - the modern term for UFOs - with its Five Eyes allies.
The email chain included officials from the United States UAP Task Force (UAPTF) and an Australian defence representative, using a US Department of Defence email address.
"Re tomorrow's UAP briefing, I received confirmation from Australia and Canada they will be here ... and of course UK," a UAPTF official wrote.
However, a scheduling conflict led to the meeting being rescheduled for early January, 2022, much to the annoyance of the Office Under the Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security (OUSD).
"I recall you and your team said last week that you wanted to come in today to brief the other partners. Because of this I urged the partners to build time into their schedules and come in for the brief," the OUSD official wrote.
"The last thing we want to do is be dismissive of our allies and their time," a UAPTF official replied.
The former Chief of Air Force - and now Vice Chief of Defence - Air Marshal Robert Chipman twice told senators during an estimates hearing that Australia had not been briefed on UAPs after the email exchange and rescheduled Five Eyes briefing.
In November 2022, Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson asked if the US had discussed UAPs with Australian intelligence services or the Air Force.
"I'm not aware of any formal discussions that we've held with the US," Air Marshal Chipman said.
"I imagine it would have come across my desk if those discussions were held in the last four months."
During the Senate estimates hearing the following year, the Air Marshal was more adamant in response to Senator Whish-Wilson's questions, which specifically queried if Australian defence attaches had received UAPTF briefings.
"No," Air Marshal Chipman said.
"No briefings at all," Senator Whish-Wilson said.
"No," Air Marshal Chipman repeated.
Briefing notes prepared in May 2022 for Air Marshall Chipman's Senate estimate hearing also state that neither "the US nor any other nation or ally" had requested or offered to collaborate on the issue of UAPs.
"Defence has no desire to seek collaboration on this issue," the briefing note states.
The Department of Defence refused to answer questions from The Canberra Times.
Grant Lavac, an Australian civilian UAP researcher, said the lack of transparency was "quite concerning".
"The Chief of Air Force leads all discussions on UAP in Australia, so if there's one person that needs to know what is happening on this topic in an Australian context and our discussions with allies, it's him," Mr Lavac said.
"He's either uniformed because there is a complete lack of intelligence sharing, or there's a degree of incompetence, or it's something more sinister like plausible deniability.
"Any one of those three scenarios is concerning."
It's not the first time the Australian Defence Force has misled Senators about the nation's UAP activities.
In 2024, Defence officials admitted Australia sent representatives to a UAP briefing in the Pentagon, after vigorously denying any involvement.
The agenda of the meeting, which was attended by members of the Five Eyes alliance, was later released by the US government.
It shows the alliance - which includes US, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand - met for a "caucus working group" to "cultivate shared awareness of allies' UAP issues, detection, and mitigation activities and challenges".
They discussed the need for "networks to share Five Eyes UAP reporting", including documents marked "top secret" and "special intelligence", along with UAP "collection planning".
"The intention is to develop a framework for future UAP collaboration," one document said.
Australia's UAP policy has previously been criticised for being out of step with its closest military allies, including the US, which introduced mandatory UAP reporting for defence personnel in 2021.
The US considers UAPs a potential flight safety and national security risk, while other allies have acknowledged the unknown aerial phenomenon, including the UK, Canada, France and Spain.
The Canberra Times has previously reported Australian Defence personnel don't feel comfortable reporting UAP sightings through official channels and freedom of information documents revealed senior Defence officials mocked the subject while preparing briefing notes.
Australia has been receiving high-level briefings from the United States' UFO task force for years, despite the repeated denials of the top military brass, newly revealed emails show.
Freedom of information documents from December 2021 show US officials discussing a briefing regarding Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAPs) - the modern term for UFOs - with its Five Eyes allies.
The email chain included officials from the United States UAP Task Force (UAPTF) and an Australian defence representative, using a US Department of Defence email address.
"Re tomorrow's UAP briefing, I received confirmation from Australia and Canada they will be here ... and of course UK," a UAPTF official wrote.
However, a scheduling conflict led to the meeting being rescheduled for early January, 2022, much to the annoyance of the Office Under the Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security (OUSD).
"I recall you and your team said last week that you wanted to come in today to brief the other partners. Because of this I urged the partners to build time into their schedules and come in for the brief," the OUSD official wrote.
"The last thing we want to do is be dismissive of our allies and their time," a UAPTF official replied.
The former Chief of Air Force - and now Vice Chief of Defence - Air Marshal Robert Chipman twice told senators during an estimates hearing that Australia had not been briefed on UAPs after the email exchange and rescheduled Five Eyes briefing.
In November 2022, Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson asked if the US had discussed UAPs with Australian intelligence services or the Air Force.
"I'm not aware of any formal discussions that we've held with the US," Air Marshal Chipman said.
"I imagine it would have come across my desk if those discussions were held in the last four months."
During the Senate estimates hearing the following year, the Air Marshal was more adamant in response to Senator Whish-Wilson's questions, which specifically queried if Australian defence attaches had received UAPTF briefings.
"No," Air Marshal Chipman said.
"No briefings at all," Senator Whish-Wilson said.
"No," Air Marshal Chipman repeated.
Briefing notes prepared in May 2022 for Air Marshall Chipman's Senate estimate hearing also state that neither "the US nor any other nation or ally" had requested or offered to collaborate on the issue of UAPs.
"Defence has no desire to seek collaboration on this issue," the briefing note states.
The Department of Defence refused to answer questions from The Canberra Times.
Grant Lavac, an Australian civilian UAP researcher, said the lack of transparency was "quite concerning".
"The Chief of Air Force leads all discussions on UAP in Australia, so if there's one person that needs to know what is happening on this topic in an Australian context and our discussions with allies, it's him," Mr Lavac said.
"He's either uniformed because there is a complete lack of intelligence sharing, or there's a degree of incompetence, or it's something more sinister like plausible deniability.
"Any one of those three scenarios is concerning."
It's not the first time the Australian Defence Force has misled Senators about the nation's UAP activities.
In 2024, Defence officials admitted Australia sent representatives to a UAP briefing in the Pentagon, after vigorously denying any involvement.
The agenda of the meeting, which was attended by members of the Five Eyes alliance, was later released by the US government.
It shows the alliance - which includes US, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand - met for a "caucus working group" to "cultivate shared awareness of allies' UAP issues, detection, and mitigation activities and challenges".
They discussed the need for "networks to share Five Eyes UAP reporting", including documents marked "top secret" and "special intelligence", along with UAP "collection planning".
"The intention is to develop a framework for future UAP collaboration," one document said.
Australia's UAP policy has previously been criticised for being out of step with its closest military allies, including the US, which introduced mandatory UAP reporting for defence personnel in 2021.
The US considers UAPs a potential flight safety and national security risk, while other allies have acknowledged the unknown aerial phenomenon, including the UK, Canada, France and Spain.
The Canberra Times has previously reported Australian Defence personnel don't feel comfortable reporting UAP sightings through official channels and freedom of information documents revealed senior Defence officials mocked the subject while preparing briefing notes.
Australia has been receiving high-level briefings from the United States' UFO task force for years, despite the repeated denials of the top military brass, newly revealed emails show.
Freedom of information documents from December 2021 show US officials discussing a briefing regarding Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAPs) - the modern term for UFOs - with its Five Eyes allies.
The email chain included officials from the United States UAP Task Force (UAPTF) and an Australian defence representative, using a US Department of Defence email address.
"Re tomorrow's UAP briefing, I received confirmation from Australia and Canada they will be here ... and of course UK," a UAPTF official wrote.
However, a scheduling conflict led to the meeting being rescheduled for early January, 2022, much to the annoyance of the Office Under the Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security (OUSD).
"I recall you and your team said last week that you wanted to come in today to brief the other partners. Because of this I urged the partners to build time into their schedules and come in for the brief," the OUSD official wrote.
"The last thing we want to do is be dismissive of our allies and their time," a UAPTF official replied.
The former Chief of Air Force - and now Vice Chief of Defence - Air Marshal Robert Chipman twice told senators during an estimates hearing that Australia had not been briefed on UAPs after the email exchange and rescheduled Five Eyes briefing.
In November 2022, Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson asked if the US had discussed UAPs with Australian intelligence services or the Air Force.
"I'm not aware of any formal discussions that we've held with the US," Air Marshal Chipman said.
"I imagine it would have come across my desk if those discussions were held in the last four months."
During the Senate estimates hearing the following year, the Air Marshal was more adamant in response to Senator Whish-Wilson's questions, which specifically queried if Australian defence attaches had received UAPTF briefings.
"No," Air Marshal Chipman said.
"No briefings at all," Senator Whish-Wilson said.
"No," Air Marshal Chipman repeated.
Briefing notes prepared in May 2022 for Air Marshall Chipman's Senate estimate hearing also state that neither "the US nor any other nation or ally" had requested or offered to collaborate on the issue of UAPs.
"Defence has no desire to seek collaboration on this issue," the briefing note states.
The Department of Defence refused to answer questions from The Canberra Times.
Grant Lavac, an Australian civilian UAP researcher, said the lack of transparency was "quite concerning".
"The Chief of Air Force leads all discussions on UAP in Australia, so if there's one person that needs to know what is happening on this topic in an Australian context and our discussions with allies, it's him," Mr Lavac said.
"He's either uniformed because there is a complete lack of intelligence sharing, or there's a degree of incompetence, or it's something more sinister like plausible deniability.
"Any one of those three scenarios is concerning."
It's not the first time the Australian Defence Force has misled Senators about the nation's UAP activities.
In 2024, Defence officials admitted Australia sent representatives to a UAP briefing in the Pentagon, after vigorously denying any involvement.
The agenda of the meeting, which was attended by members of the Five Eyes alliance, was later released by the US government.
It shows the alliance - which includes US, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand - met for a "caucus working group" to "cultivate shared awareness of allies' UAP issues, detection, and mitigation activities and challenges".
They discussed the need for "networks to share Five Eyes UAP reporting", including documents marked "top secret" and "special intelligence", along with UAP "collection planning".
"The intention is to develop a framework for future UAP collaboration," one document said.
Australia's UAP policy has previously been criticised for being out of step with its closest military allies, including the US, which introduced mandatory UAP reporting for defence personnel in 2021.
The US considers UAPs a potential flight safety and national security risk, while other allies have acknowledged the unknown aerial phenomenon, including the UK, Canada, France and Spain.
The Canberra Times has previously reported Australian Defence personnel don't feel comfortable reporting UAP sightings through official channels and freedom of information documents revealed senior Defence officials mocked the subject while preparing briefing notes.
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