Burlison Presses CIA and FBI for Records Related to 1996 Brazil UAP Incident

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Eric Burlison (R-MO), a member of the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, sent letters to Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel requesting an accounting of U.S. government records and potential investigative equities related to the January 1996 Varginha/Campinas, Brazil unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) incident.

While the letters do not ask the CIA or FBI to validate any particular public claim, recent public statements attributed to former Brazilian Defense Minister Aldo Rebelo concerning the 1996 Varginha case underscore the need for Congress to determine whether U.S. government records, flight records, liaison reporting, contractor records, or material-transfer documentation exist-and whether any continued restriction of those records remains legally justified.

The CIA letter requests that the agency review and produce to Congress records responsive to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Reference No. F-2023-00442, which sought records concerning U.S. government flights, transfers of materials, and coordination with Brazilian authorities during the period of January 14, 1996, through January 28, 1996, including activity in or near Campinas, São Paulo State, Brazil. In its January 10, 2025, response to that private FOIA request, the CIA neither confirmed nor denied the existence of responsive records, citing FOIA exemptions (b)(1) and (b)(3).

The FBI letter requests that the bureau determine whether investigative equities exist, preserve relevant records, conduct appropriate records searches, and provide Congress with a briefing concerning whether it possesses records, legal attaché reporting, domestic investigative equities, or information involving U.S.-government personnel, U.S. persons, federal contractors, U.S.-registered aircraft, or other federal interests connected to the same matter.

Rep. Burlison has previously requested that federally funded research and development centers, including MITRE and MIT Lincoln Laboratory, identify and preserve legacy UAP-related records. These letters to the CIA and FBI apply the same basic principle to a decades-old international incident that agencies and contractors should not be able to place historically significant records beyond congressional review through classification, contract structures, mis-indexing, or custody transfers.

Click the link below to read the letter.