NSA UMBRA UAP files: the "13 MiGs" line, page by page

The U.S. Disclosure Foundation has published a 334-page National Security Agency FOIA production of historical UAP-related records.

The release is raw: scanned intelligence-message pages, classification markings, exemption labels, and short visible fragments. Some pages are nearly empty. Some include ordinary explanations. Others are stranger: fighters scrambled, objects tracked, lights changing direction, and one visible line stating that 13 MiGs chased one UFO.

That line traveled. The file around it is still mostly blacked out.

What was released

The Disclosure Foundation says the NSA produced the records after a Freedom of Information Act appeal. The Foundation says many pages were previously marked TOP SECRET UMBRA and that the underlying material relates to historical UAP records referenced in earlier NSA litigation.

The public PDF runs 334 pages. It contains scanned records with NSA document identifiers, redaction boxes, declassification stamps, and exemption labels. The visible text is uneven. Some pages preserve enough language to identify sightings, aircraft reactions, altitudes, bearings, and brief assessments.

This is not the same kind of material as the recent PURSUE video releases. There is no new public sensor video here. The record is older, text-heavy, and built mostly from SIGINT message traffic.

The "13 MiGs" page

The most quoted page is 236 of the PDF.

It carries a TOP SECRET UMBRA marking and a visible fragment that reads: "UFO'S: 13 MIG'S CHASED ONE UFO."

The surrounding sentence says the information had been provided by unnamed organization(s) and had not been evaluated by another redacted party. Almost everything else that would make the report usable is removed: location, source channel, date context, operational details, and what happened during or after the chase.

What remains is a classified NSA item describing a fighter reaction to a UFO report. The full incident is not in the file.

Other readable fragments

Several other pages are less viral but more useful for understanding the shape of the release.

Page 314 describes an unidentified flying object with two yellow lights, flying at low altitude, seen over a redacted location around 2080 hours, then changing direction from north to west.

Page 315 appears to describe more than one observer reporting two lights moving near a redacted location, heading south, later seen again traveling west at about 2,000 feet. The visible text says no noise was heard.

Page 322 describes two unidentified objects seen over a redacted western section. The first is described as having luminous radiation extending in a spiral form from a black center, later gaining altitude and moving east without noise. The same page also mentions observers who supposed the objects might be guided missiles.

Page 329 describes a UFO as spherical or disc-like, brighter than the sun, with a diameter estimated at about half the visible size of the moon. The object was above cloud cover; further observation was blocked by thicker clouds.

Page 330 describes a witness saying an object was going up and down vertically, looked like a large star, moved at fast speed and high altitude, and had a white luminous light with a bluish color.

Page 333 describes an elongated ball of fire moving at high speed, then splitting into three balls of fire.

Those fragments do not make one unified case. They do show why the PDF is more than a curiosity: the public portions include repeated references to unusual motion, military responses, and structured reporting.

Why the UMBRA label matters

UMBRA is the part of this release that changes the texture of the story.

The National Archives' Information Security Oversight Office says codewords such as Umbra, Talent-Keyhole, Ruff, or Gamma, when combined with Secret or Top Secret markings, signal material considered particularly damaging to national security if improperly released, regardless of age.

NSA describes signals intelligence as foreign intelligence collected, processed, analyzed, produced, and disseminated for foreign intelligence and counterintelligence purposes, including support to policymakers and military forces.

The public trail shows that UAP-related items were retained inside NSA intelligence channels and, in many cases, carried high-level classification markings.

What the files do not answer

The release does not identify the objects.

It does not show whether the "13 MiGs" item was later resolved. It does not show whether the objects on pages 314, 315, 322, 329, 330, or 333 were aircraft, balloons, missiles, atmospheric effects, sensor artifacts, foreign systems, or something else. The redactions remove too much of the context.

It also does not show a single tidy government position. The readable pages include both ordinary caveats and unresolved fragments. The mix is part of the value of the file.

What to ask for next

The open question is whether the remaining redactions can be challenged in a way that releases dates, locations, source context, and follow-up assessments without exposing still-sensitive intelligence methods.

For now, the public has page numbers, fragments, and a baseline: the NSA held historical UAP-related records, many of them highly classified, and some of the visible lines describe incidents that are still not publicly explained.

Sources

• Disclosure Foundation: NSA Releases Hundreds of Pages of Formerly Top Secret UMBRA UAP Records After Disclosure Foundation FOIA Appeal, published May 18, 2026. https://disclosure.org/news/nsa-top-secret-umbra-uap-foia-release
• Disclosure Foundation: full NSA FOIA production PDF, 334 pages. https://disclosure.org/api/media/documents/nsa-top-secret-umbra-uap-foia-release.pdf
• National Security Agency: Signals Intelligence overview. https://www.nsa.gov/Signals-Intelligence/
• National Archives, Information Security Oversight Office: marking guidance for codewords including Umbra. https://www.archives.gov/isoo/faqs/marking