The Black Vault
The Black Vault is one of the largest privately-run online repositories of declassified US government documents, founded and operated by John Greenewald. Since its inception, The Black Vault has collected hundreds of thousands of pages of government documents obtained primarily through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, with a major focus on UFO/UAP-related records, national security documents, and classified program disclosures.
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Fast Walker FOIA Campaign
Through The Black Vault, John Greenewald has conducted a persistent multi-year campaign to obtain information about Fast Walkers — the military designation for objects detected entering or leaving Earth's atmosphere. Greenwald's FOIA requests have documented a consistent pattern of government denial:
2013: US Northern Command / NORAD Denial
FOIA request to US Northern Command (overseeing NORAD) resulted in a classification denial under Executive Order 13526. However, two unclassified research papers were released confirming Defense Support Program (DSP) detection of Fast Walkers since 1972.
2023: US Space Force Final Denial
FOIA request to US Space Force resulted in a complete denial under FOIA Exception One (national security), representing the government's most recent refusal to disclose Fast Walker data.
Significance
The Black Vault's systematic documentation of FOIA responses has established the clear record of government classification and denial surrounding space-based UFO detection. Greenwald's work has made these documents publicly accessible and searchable, providing researchers with evidence of decades-long patterns of secrecy.