Archive of Luis Elizondo’s “Deleted” Emails

The Black Vault published an archive of emails recovered indirectly through FOIA requests to Department of Defense personnel who corresponded with Luis Elizondo, after the DoD destroyed Elizondo's own emails related to his work with the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program. By filing requests targeting email archives of DoD officials including former Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Marcel Lettre and Navy intelligence analyst Brennan McKernan, the organization reconstructed portions of Elizondo's communications that would have otherwise remained inaccessible. The recovery effort circumvents the standard FOIA process barrier created by the email destruction, allowing researchers to verify or challenge Elizondo's past claims about his Pentagon work on unidentified aerial phenomena. The archive also documents "no records" determinations from searches of officials including Defense Intelligence Director James Clapper and Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, with some emails confirmed destroyed after personnel left the agency. Additional FOIA requests remain open and will continue adding to the collection.