Document · D-OC-08
The prepublication review file for the message on the alleged retrieval program circulated by Christopher Mellon
FOIA 24-F-1134 – DOPSR review of Christopher Mellon's submission (January–March 2024)
Office of the Secretary of Defense – Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review (DOPSR), with AARO and OUSD(I&S) · Mar 1, 2024 · USA · FOIA release
Documented provenance
OSD FOIA release published by The Black Vault; the PDF (20 pages) was downloaded on November 1, 2026 and its content compared with The Black Vault's article. A copy in the DoD FOIA reading room was not searched for.
- What it contains
- A 17-page OSD release according to The Black Vault (the published PDF has 20): Mellon's request of January 19, 2024 to confirm that the screenshot of a Signal message was not classified, the internal emails on delays, the “no objection” from AARO and OUSD(I&S) and the approval of March 1, 2024. In the letter Mellon writes that the sender, a former DoD employee, said he had been briefed on a program for the exploitation of recovered “off-world” technology, and specifies that he has no position on the validity of the allegations.
- What it shows and what it does not
- It documents that the message was cleared for publication because it was unclassified, not that its content was true: AARO's statement of no objection is a security assessment. It helps in reading G-008 (Grusch's statements cleared by DOPSR) and Mellon's testimony cited in G-001; according to The Black Vault, Mellon later acknowledged that the sender had not obtained access to the program and had not seen craft. Omega Click wrote that the Pentagon “initially blocked it” and that AARO “approved the content”: the first submission was rejected because the mailed package was judged a security threat, and the approval concerned only publishability. Omega Click's reference to Kingman was not verified in these documents.
- How it came to light
- Obtained by The Black Vault through FOIA request 24-F-1134 and published on November 24, 2025. Omega Click picked it up in its video of November 28, 2025.
- The document
- Open the document (documents2.theblackvault.com)
Sources
- The Black Vault, “Inside the Pentagon's Review of Christopher Mellon's Alleged UFO Crash Retrieval Text” (November 24, 2025) (analysis)
- FOIA release 24-F-1134 (PDF, The Black Vault copy) (primary source)
- Omega Click, “UFO: Trump Potrebbe Fare un Annuncio Storico?” (YouTube, November 28, 2025) (video/audio, pro-disclosure)
On this site
People 2
Claims 3
- David Grusch: Claims that the United States holds material of non-human origin, including intact and partially intact craft. Disputed
- David Grusch: Claims that his public statements were cleared for publication by the Pentagon's Defense Office of… Verified
- David Grusch: Claims that he was informed, in the course of his official duties, of a decades-long program to retrieve… Disputed
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