A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) response has raised new questions about a widely circulated Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article that described a Department of Defense (DoD) effort known as “Yankee Blue.” According to the WSJ, the Pentagon ordered an immediate halt to a practice in which military officers misled subordinates into believing they were working on reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology. But when pressed for the underlying documentation, the Pentagon now says no such memo exists.

In September 2025, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) issued a final response to FOIA case 25-F-3514, denying the existence of records related to the alleged 2023 directive. The request specifically sought “a copy of the memorandum issued by the Office of the Secretary of Defense in spring 2023 ordering the immediate cessation of practices associated with the so-called ‘Yankee Blue’ program.” The response stated that after “thorough searches of the electronic records and files of CMD, no records of the kind you described could be identified”.

The denial directly contradicts the WSJ’s claim that “the defense secretary’s office sent a memo out across the service in the spring of 2023 ordering the practice to stop immediately.” If such a memo existed, it would be retained by OSD correspondence management systems and would be subject to FOIA. Given that the topic allegedly involved halting a hazing ritual, rather than revealing classified operations, the record would not be expected to carry high-level classification. Courts have repeatedly held that embarrassment or institutional sensitivity does not constitute grounds for classification.

This is not the first “no records” finding tied to the WSJ reporting. In FOIA case 25-F-3515, the DoD also reported that it could not locate “briefing materials, talking points, slide decks, notes, or summaries prepared for or presented to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines in connection with briefings on ‘Yankee Blue.’” The WSJ reported that Haines was briefed on the discovery, describing her as “stunned” upon hearing about the scale of the deception. That request is currently under appeal.

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