How Library Search Works

Library Search lets you find documents, entities, and events across the full Disclosure Navigator knowledge base using both keyword matching and semantic (meaning-based) search.

Two Search Modes

Keyword Search

Matches documents that contain the exact words or phrases you enter. Best for searching by proper noun — a person's name, a program name (like "AATIP" or "Project Blue Book"), a location, or a specific document title. Keyword search is fast and precise when you know what you're looking for.

Semantic Search

Matches documents by meaning, not just by exact words. If you search for "government programs studying aerial phenomena," semantic search can surface documents that discuss those topics even if they don't use those exact words. Best for exploratory questions or when you don't know the specific terminology used in the source documents.

Tip: Both modes run simultaneously. Results are ranked by a combination of keyword relevance and semantic similarity, so you see the most relevant material regardless of how you phrased the query.

What Gets Searched

The search index covers:

Documents — titles, extracted text, and AI-generated summaries from all ingested PDFs, transcripts, and reports
Entities — canonical names and aliases for all people, organizations, programs, and locations
Events — descriptions and dates for all timeline events

Filtering Results

Use the source filter on the left to narrow results by source category or individual source. For example, you can limit a search to only declassified government documents, or to a specific collection like AARO reports or the GERB video library.

Results in the library view are organized by document card. Each card shows the source tier (T1 or T2), the document title, a short excerpt, and a link to open the full document or video.

From Search to Briefing

When you find a topic or entity you want to understand more deeply, use the AI Briefing button (top navigation) to ask a structured research question about it. The AI will retrieve the most relevant documents — including ones you may not have found in your search — and synthesize a sourced answer. See What Are AI Briefings? for details.