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Burlison Presses CIA and FBI for Records on 1996 Brazil UAP Incident

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Burlison Presses CIA and FBI for Records on 1996 Brazil UAP Incident

Summary

Rep. eric-burlison, a member of the task-force-declassification-federal-secrets, sent letters to CIA Director john-ratcliffe and FBI Director kash-patel requesting an accounting of U.S. government records tied to the January 1996 Varginha/Campinas, Brazil UAP incident. The letters follow recent public statements by former Brazilian Defense Minister aldo-rebelo and press for review of flight records, liaison reporting, contractor records, and material-transfer documentation. The CIA letter specifically invokes a prior private FOIA request (Ref. F-2023-00442) to which the agency issued a Glomar-style neither-confirm-nor-deny response on January 10, 2025, citing FOIA exemptions (b)(1) and (b)(3). The FBI letter asks the bureau to determine investigative equities, preserve records, and brief Congress. This extends Burlison’s ongoing contractor/agency records-accountability campaign (previously aimed at mitre and mit-lincoln-laboratory) to a foreign incident and to the CIA/FBI directly for the first time.

Key Claims

  • CIA FOIA Reference No. F-2023-00442 sought records on U.S. government flights, material transfers, and coordination with Brazilian authorities from January 14–28, 1996, including activity in or near Campinas, São Paulo State (per the CIA letter attachment).
  • The CIA’s January 10, 2025 response to that FOIA request neither confirmed nor denied the existence of responsive records, citing FOIA exemptions (b)(1) and (b)(3) (Burlison’s office).
  • The FBI letter requests the bureau determine whether investigative equities, legal attaché reporting, or records involving U.S. government personnel, contractors, or U.S.-registered aircraft exist connected to the incident (Burlison’s office).
  • Burlison frames the request as applying the same preservation/accountability principle previously directed at mitre and mit-lincoln-laboratory to “a decades-old international incident” (Burlison’s office).

Notable Quotes

“Agencies and contractors should not be able to place historically significant records beyond congressional review through classification, contract structures, mis-indexing, or custody transfers.” — Office of Rep. Eric Burlison

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