Dear New Zealand Defence Force,

Under the Official Information Act 1982, I request information relating to New Zealand’s participation in the Five Eyes Inaugural UAP Caucus Working Group held at the Pentagon on 24 May 2023.
NZDF previously confirmed in response OIA-2024-5215, dated 10 December 2024, that a New Zealand representative attended that meeting.
I request:
The position title, role, unit, service, and agency affiliation of the New Zealand representative who attended.
I am not necessarily seeking the individual’s name if there are legitimate privacy or security grounds for withholding it.
Any invitation, agenda, terms of reference, attendance list, meeting programme, briefing, speaking points, background material, presentation, or preparatory document relating to the meeting.
Any notes, minutes, summaries, reports, action items, intelligence reports, assessments, or post-meeting briefings created during or following the meeting.
Any communications concerning the meeting between NZDF and:
the United States Department of Defense
AARO
DPMC
the Ministry of Defence
GCSB
NZSIS
MFAT
any Five Eyes partner
Any record showing whether the New Zealand representative briefed NZDF leadership, Ministers, DPMC, the Ministry of Defence, intelligence agencies, or another New Zealand government entity following the meeting.
Any records concerning subsequent meetings, working groups, correspondence, requests for information, data-sharing arrangements, or follow-up activity arising from the Five Eyes UAP Caucus.
The internal file reference, classification, record category, subject heading, or document-management location under which records relating to the meeting are held.
Any records concerning the purpose of New Zealand’s attendance, including whether participation related to:
aviation safety
air-domain awareness
intelligence collection
foreign military systems
space-domain awareness
sensor anomalies
national security
scientific analysis
For the avoidance of doubt, please do not limit searches solely to the acronym “UAP”. Please also search relevant variants and related terminology, including:
UFO
unidentified anomalous phenomena
unidentified aerial phenomena
AARO
Five Eyes UAP Caucus
FVEY UAP
air-domain awareness
anomalous observations
aerospace safety
space-domain awareness
Please also search by the meeting date, 24 May 2023, and by communications involving the Pentagon or AARO.
The timeframe for this request is 1 January 2023 to the present.
If any information is withheld, please identify the specific withholding ground and consider releasing redacted versions rather than withholding documents in full.
If any part of this request is held by, or more closely connected with the functions of, another agency, please transfer that part under section 14 of the Act and advise me of the transfer.
Please confirm receipt and the statutory due date.

Kind regards,

Andrew Arkins

Good Afternoon,

Thank you for your email of 15 July 2026.

Your message does not constitute a decision on my request. It defers the decision indefinitely pending the outcome of an Ombudsman investigation into a separate, earlier request.

I ask you to identify the statutory provision of the Official Information Act 1982 that authorises deferring a decision on these grounds. To my knowledge, no such provision exists. The Act required NZDF to either make and communicate a decision within the statutory time limit, refuse the request under a specified withholding ground, or extend the time limit under section 15A by notice specifying a new date and the reasons for extension. None of these occurred.

Accordingly, unless NZDF communicates a decision or identifies a lawful basis for deferral, I will treat this as a deemed refusal under section 28(4) of the Act from 15 July 2026, and will complain to the Ombudsman on that basis.

I also note for the record that your email confirms the requested information is closely related to material currently under Ombudsman investigation (reference 042339). My request of June 2026 was made specifically on the basis of changed circumstances, namely the United States PURSUE declassification program (Release 01, 8 May 2026), which postdates the decisions under investigation. A change in circumstances requires a fresh assessment of the withholding grounds; it is not answered by pointing to an investigation into decisions made before those circumstances existed.

I request a substantive decision, or a lawful extension notice under section 15A with a specified date, within five working days.

Regards,
Andrew Arkins