'There will be no sensation': A massive archive of UFO data was wiped from the web shortly after Trump called for the documents to be declassified

A massive public archive of declassified U.S. government documents known as The Black Vault, containing 3.8 million files related to unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and other top secret projects, was reportedly completely wiped on February 20. The incident came just hours after President Donald Trump ordered the release of all UFO-related documents. Although the archive’s founder, John Greenawald Jr. does not fully suspect foul play, the timing and nature of the deletion raised questions, although all files were successfully restored from backups.

According to the Daily Mail, the incident occurred when The Black Vault’s main server, run by researcher and ufologist John Greenawald Jr. was zeroed out. Hundreds of gigabytes of files relating to UFOs, declassified CIA projects and major conspiracies, including the assassination of John F. Kennedy, were deleted. Greenwald reported online that some server directories had their permissions and file ownership logs changed without explanation.

The Black Vault has served for thirty years as a key resource for those who want to view information that the U.S. government has discreetly released over the past 80 years. Greenewald has spent decades organizing data on covert programs and little-known incidents suggesting U.S. involvement in top secret efforts to extract and use alien technology. The researcher also publicly disclosed every instance in which his Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the CIA, FBI and other government organizations were returned with little or no response.

The timing of the potential sabotage coincided with a historic announcement by President Trump, who on Feb. 19 ordered the Pentagon to disclose everything «related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) and unidentified flying objects (UFOs).» Trump’s order came after he publicly criticized former President Barack Obama for making a statement in an interview about the existence of aliens, calling it a disclosure of «classified information.» Until recently, the U.S. government categorically denied the existence of UFOs or extraterrestrial beings, claiming for decades that no physical evidence had ever been found that something non-human had ever landed on Earth.

Greenewald initially said he didn’t «fully suspect foul play,» but said he couldn’t rule out the possibility because of the suspicious information he received from the hosting provider. «They had no idea what had happened, and on their end, they said it was a deletion, not a corruption,» the researcher wrote. Simply put, someone or something deliberately deleted every file from The Black Vault’s server, erasing all the records published by the CIA and other groups, but without completely shutting down the site so that alarms wouldn’t go off right away. Later, he also called it «very oddly timed server maintenance» that «went awry,» while not completely ruling out a version of «bad faith.»

Among the lost but later recovered data were military base reports, witness statements, and even CIA directives from the 1940s and ’50s that were declassified without wide publicity. Greenwald’s investigations also provided credible documentary evidence of how previous administrations and the intelligence community created secret task forces of high-ranking military and scientific officials to investigate UFO incidents. Such groups include Majestic 12 (MJ-12), which was supposedly formed after the alleged 1947 Roswell UFO crash and operated for over two decades, investigating alien spacecraft sightings, working with non-human technology, and making contact with extraterrestrial beings.

Fortunately for The Black Vault, Greenewald said that all of the more than 3.8 million files were backed up in safe locations, and the site was restored shortly after the mysterious zeroing. «This is a stark reminder for all of us, including me. Make backups. Keep them in multiple locations. And never be afraid of anything that comes across our path, regardless of what we expect might happen,» the researcher wrote on X.

Such data erasures can happen in a number of ways, often without malicious intent. The most common problem is hosting companies performing routine updates or data cleanses. If there is a software failure, human error, or incompatible changes, this can accidentally delete files or change permissions. Hardware problems such as hard drive failures, software bugs, or even power outages can also corrupt or erase data. However, hosting provider The Black Vault is said to have ruled out corruption, pointing to the deliberate erasure of declassified files. This leaves the possibility of hackers breaking into the server through vulnerabilities including weak passwords, outdated software or phishing attacks. As noted, once infiltrated, attackers can delete files to cause havoc, especially if the site deals with sensitive data that some groups may want to hide.

Critics of the Trump administration’s promise to release all files related to UFOs and contact with extraterrestrial civilizations have argued that the move is merely a stunt to distract the public from other political controversies and that nothing will actually be known about aliens. Many on social media pointed to previous publications of documents related to the assassination of President Kennedy and the Jeffrey Epstein files, which contained heavily redacted information that did not provide any definitive «evidence.»

Recall, earlier US President Donald Trump expressed his intention to initiate the process of declassification of government documents related to alien life, unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and unidentified aerial phenomena. This decision came amid growing public interest in the topic of extraterrestrial civilizations and after a number of official disclosures of information about unusual phenomena.