John Greenewald

Fast Walker FOIA Campaign

Greenewald conducted a persistent multi-year campaign to obtain information about Fast Walkers and Slow Walkers — the military designations for objects detected entering or leaving Earth's atmosphere by Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites and other space-based sensors.

2013 Request to US Northern Command

In 2013, Greenewald submitted a FOIA request to US Northern Command (NORTHCOM), which oversees NORAD, seeking any reports, information, or detailed military documentation on Fast Walkers and Slow Walkers.

NORTHCOM responded that Fast Walker documentation is "currently and properly classified" under Executive Order 13526 as material "considered critical to National Defense or foreign policy."

The denial was not absolute, however. NORTHCOM provided two unclassified US Air Force research papers that confirmed the existence of Fast Walker detection and analysis:

1. "Orbit Determination of Sunlit Illuminated Objects Detected by Overhead Platforms" (1989) by USAF Captain Richard P. Oszx
2. "Space-Based Satellite Tracking and Characterization Utilizing Non-Imaging Passive Sensors" (2008) by USAF Captain Bradley R. Townson

These papers confirmed that DSP satellites had been detecting and cataloging Fast Walkers since at least 1972.

2023 Request to US Space Force

In late 2023, Greenewald submitted a similar FOIA request to US Space Force, which had absorbed oversight of space surveillance operations including DSP. Space Force issued a full denial under FOIA Exception One, citing classification in the interest of national defense and foreign policy. The Space Force provided no documents and gave a decisive and final response to the request.

USS Trepang Photograph Analysis

Greenewald engaged with the disputed USS Trepang photographs from 1971 — a set of images purportedly showing triangle, cigar-shaped, and egg-shaped UAP interacting with the Arctic Ocean near Jan Mayen Island. Researcher Wim van Utri identified signs of photographic tampering in one of the most prominent images. Greenewald argued that the presence of tampering in a single image does not invalidate the remaining photographs, noting that publications routinely enhance images for print and that differences in aspect ratio between the original image and the magazine version are consistent with standard print enhancement rather than deliberate falsification.

Philip J. Corso FBI Documents

Greenewald released FBI documents obtained through The Black Vault in July 2024 relating to a 1964–65 background check of Philip J. Corso. These documents characterized Corso negatively — one document attributed to another government agency described Corso as "a parasite who has never produced any intelligence through his own efforts." No FBI documents discussed Corso's Foreign Technology Division duties or UAP, and all files were cross-references rather than primary investigatory files. UAP Gerb cited these documents as counterpoints to Corso's claims while noting the FBI characterization does not directly address the specifics of his military career.

Significance

Greenewald's systematic FOIA campaign has publicly documented the consistent pattern of government classification and denial surrounding space-based UFO detection. His work has established on the official record that the US military has been tracking objects entering and leaving Earth's atmosphere since at least 1972, that this data is among the most heavily classified UAP-related information held by the government, and that the term "Fast Walker" has functionally served as a classification shield against FOIA requests that use the terms "UFO" or "UAP."

Sources

• FASTWALKERS – UFOs Outside Earth
• Philip J. Corso - US Army UFO Technology Research & Development
• USO - Unidentified Submerged Objects