State Department UAP Cable 004, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, November 5, 2004
UFOlogists of Turkmenistan has gained a positive reputation as a reliable partner for the United States in Turkmenistan to the bemusement of the cable’s author in the build up of civil society organizations within the country. The reputation has become earned because everyone in Turkmenistan, apparently, “is interested in UFOs.”
The summary above is sourced from the released file metadata as published to war.gov. The analysis sections below are original to this tracker.
Text of the document
Machine-extracted from the PDF war.gov published (its text layer or OCR), so expect errors, especially in names, numbers and handwriting; the PDF is the authoritative copy. Lines that did not extract as readable text are left out. Showing about 966 words from pages 1, 2, 3, 4 of 5.
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From: AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT Action: RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC ROUTINE TAGS: AORC, TSPA, PREL, PGOV, EAID, OSCI, TX Captions: SEMSl'fl'v'E Subject: TURKMENISTAN, CIVIL SOCIETY AND UFOS FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE DEPT FOR EUR/CACEN (RUBIN) TAGS: AORC, TSPA, PREL, PGOV, EAID, OSCI, TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN, CIVIL SOCIETY AND UFOS ODWITl'~E BUT UtWLAOOIFIED -PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY 1. ~Yes, UFOs. Somehow, over time, the Union of Released in Full John Powers, Acting-Director US Department of State
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UFOiogists ofTurkmenabat has established a reputation as a reliable NGO partner for a variety of activities from assisting with small and medium businesses, to distributing humanitarian assistance, to assisting NGOs with registering under the 2003 NGO law. The UFOiogists have developed a good rapport with local authorities, they say, and are able to accomplish their tasks because "everyone is interested in UFOs." The UFOiogists next initiative is to publish an independent newsletter, the first in independent Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan, it almost seems fitting that one of the USG's most reliable implementers is equally committed to looking for life on another planet. End Summary. UFOs in Turkmenabat 3. ~On November 5, DCM and USAID Director met with the Board and interested members of the Union of UfOlogists (UOU) of Turkmenabat, Lebap Welayet (province). The Union of UFOiogists is working on an $8,532 grant to assist other local NGOs navigate the NGO registration process of the new NGO law (reftels). The UOU was the first NGO to register after independence in 1992 and was the first independent NGO to reregister successfully under the new 2003 NGO law. 4. ~Though the Union first was established to pursue the study of life on other planets, over time its activities became more "practical," Board members told the DCM. Members of the Union have attended international UFO fora and published on the subject, but most members assured the DCM, they had limited or no interest in the subject at all. UOU President Ovezberdy Muradov said the Turkmen military and government authorities had consulted him about mysterious occurrences in Turkmen airspace, but he said there had been no confirmed sightings of UFOs in Turkmenistan. Peace on Earth 5. ~Instead, the Union has attracted a local brain trust of lawyers, scientists, computer experts, accountants, teachers and others who had joined together to "do good things." Pointing to their mission statement in English, Russian and Turkmen hanging on the wall of their office, members assured the DCM that any assistance they provided would fit their mission. According to their statement, the UFOiogists "help spread the ideas about the struggle for peace and human coexistence on Earth and in the Universe." Because of their diverse activities, the UOU has become an umbrella organization with at least nine member organizations running Released in Fulll
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activities from sport, to youth, to business consulting. The Union has over 1000 members including some individual members from other welayets. Registering Small and Medium Businesses 6. ~Members told the DCM they first started the "practical" side of their work shortly after independence by assisting small and medium-sized businesses register with local authorities. According to the UOU President, during the '90's the Union assisted 187 enterprises in registering ranging from farmers unions to joint enterprises to a shoe factory. The UOU told the DCM all this consulting was done pro bono. The Union made money over the years, however, by running for-fee computer, accounting and other "non-traditional" courses such as UFOiogy and massage. 7. ~UOU President Muradov told the DCM the Union had been successful in this effort because it had the respect of local authorities. According to Muradov, "everyone is interested in UFOs" and local authorities were eager to assist and also learn more about UFOs. The Union also regularly ran UFO-related seminars and talks, which were well attended. 8. ~In addition to commercial work, the UOU obtained experience in humanitarian goods distribution when it became a partner of the State Department funded CHAP humanitarian assistance program administered by Counterpart International. UOU facilitated humanitarian assistance to refugees from the civil war in Tajikistan and also with Afghan refugees. Muradov said the Union was eager to continue with such work, should the need Assisting NGOs 9. ~Because of their established track record and their success in re-registering after the austere 2003 NGO law was passed, USAID, through Counterpart International, is considering a $15,000 grant to assist the UOU with internal capacity building. The grant passed the local grants committee and has been forward to the regional committee for consideration. The UOU already has successfully registered an NGO and is working on the registration documents of four others. Next, an Independent Newsletter Released in Fulll
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10. ~ USAID was presented with a grant proposal by the UOU for a $30k grant for printing equipment for the UOU to establish its own newsletter. Though printing of independent media is illegal in Turkmenistan, the UOU assured DCM it already had advance approval from local authorities because a license was needed for anything over 1000 copies and the UOU only planned to publish 999 copies. UOU members said the content of the newsletter would be nonpolitical and only would describe the activities of the Union. If members wanted to make additional copies, the UOU told DCM, "that is up to them." Eventually subscribers would be charged for the newsletter, which would then become self-sustaining, according to the UOU plan. USAID has requested that the UOU submit a stronger, more cost-effective proposal. 11. ~The UOU also is considering opening chapters in other welayets because "our services are in so much 12. ~ Crazy? Like a fox; and worthy of USG attention and support. End Comment. Signature: JACOBSON Info: RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE ROUTINE; RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA ROUTINE; WASHDC//DHO-2/REA/NMJIC-J2// ROUTINE; RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC ROUTINE; WASHINGTON DC ROUTINE; RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC//JS/RUE// ROUTINE; CIS COLLECTIVE ROUTINE Dissemination Rule: Archive Copy IReleased in Fulll
Where this file fits in the PURSUE archive
This file is one of State Department's 9 files in the Trump PURSUE disclosure. Within the State Department agency block it ranks #8 of 9 by Anomalousness Index. Across the entire 450-file archive it ranks #443 of 450.
That places it in the lower-scoring band of the archive (443 of 450 by score), typical of investigative-record style files where the report is paper-based rather than instrumented.
For the broader cluster context, this file is part of Diplomatic UAP Cables - the 9-file State Department PURSUE cluster spanning 1952-2004 embassy cables and policy memoranda, including the two 1963 Bahia, Brazil cables added in Release 05. The cluster page walks through all 9 member files with regional grouping, sensor breakdown, and standout analysis.
Anomalousness Index: 50/100
Evidentiary weight that this encounter remains unexplained after conventional analysis. Not a probability of extraterrestrial origin - that number is not honestly computable from the released files and this tracker refuses to publish it.
🤖 AI-ASSISTED SCORING · methodology
The six rubric components break down for this file as follows. Each component has a weighted contribution to the final score; the per-component explanation below describes what this file's particular value on that component means in the rubric's framework.
Reported by a witness with no instrumented record. The lowest tier in the rubric's sensor axis. Eyewitness perception in field conditions, even when the witness is highly credentialed, scores below capture by any instrumented modality. This report reached the federal record through the State Department.
Civilian witness whose report entered the federal record through investigative channels. The rubric weights civilian credentialed witnesses below uniformed personnel because the report enters the federal record at a remove rather than directly from a mission context.
Single-witness or single-instrument capture. This is the corroboration tier for the overwhelming majority of the PURSUE archive on the released metadata - the rubric records the honest limit of the underlying record rather than inferring multi-witness corroboration that the released summaries do not establish. A small number of files with an independent second witness or instrument score on the multi-witness/multi-instrument tier above this one.
No kinematic measurements - speed, acceleration, vector - are published in the released file with sufficient precision to score on the kinematic axis. The rubric does not infer kinematic anomaly from narrative observer estimates. Every file in the archive carries this value, which is itself an observation about the disclosure: kinematic-grade telemetry was not part of what was released.
A conventional candidate explanation has been considered but is not dispositive. Every file in the archive scores this way - reflecting that the underlying release metadata systematically caveats strong determinations in either direction. The released summaries warn against reading them as conclusive analytical judgments, and the rubric respects that.
Released as open after formal review by the originating agency. The file passed through a review process and was published in that posture - a stronger disposition signal than 'unresolved with no review,' because review has occurred and the open status is the agency's published conclusion.
Bottom line on the score: the Anomalousness Index of 50/100 reflects evidentiary weight that this specific file's encounter remains structurally unexplained by the rubric's six axes - it is not a claim that the underlying event involved anything non-conventional, and it is not comparable across rubrics that use different weights. For the full per-axis weights and the rubric JSON, see /methodology.
Related files in State Department
Other PURSUE files in the same category, ranked by Anomalousness Index.
59_214434_SP 16 [7.18.1963]
59_64634_711.5612[7-2852
DOS-UAP-D001, Diplomatic Cable, Brazil, November 14, 1963
DOS-UAP-D002, Diplomatic Cable, Brazil, November 20, 1963
State Department UAP Cable 001, Papua New Guinea, January 28, 1985
State Department UAP Cable 002, Kazakhstan, January 31, 1994
Verification
SHA-256:
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Source: https://www.war.gov/medialink/ufo/release_1/059uap00012.pdf