Links Disclaimer
Contents
1. Purpose
The Force Disclosure Research Team maintains an archive built on sources. Nearly every entry links outward: to government records, official filings, published reporting, primary documents, interviews, and the media in which claims were originally made. Those links are part of the record. This page explains how we treat them and what a link from this site does and does not signify.
FDRT is an independent research body. We are not affiliated with any government agency, and the presence of a link on this website does not imply that any linked organization is affiliated with, sponsors, or endorses FDRT.
2. A Link is a Citation, Not an Endorsement
The appearance of a hyperlink on this website does not constitute endorsement by FDRT of the linked site, or of the information, products, services, or opinions it contains. We link to a source so that a reader can examine it directly, in its original form, and judge it for themselves. That is the entire purpose. Placing the primary source in front of the reader is how this archive documents its claims; it is not a statement that we agree with everything the source says, or that the source is correct.
This distinction is central to how FDRT operates. We link to material we consider credible and to material we consider disputed, and we link to both for the same reason: the reader is entitled to see the source and assess it. Where a source is contested, our own entry says so and applies the sourcing designation defined in our Editorial Policy. The link lets you verify our characterization rather than take it on faith.
3. How We Select External References
External links are chosen to serve the record, in this order of preference:
- Primary sources first. Government files, court records, official filings, declassified documents, authenticated footage, and the original venue in which a statement was made, whenever such a source exists and is accessible.
- Identified, accountable outlets where a primary source is unavailable, meaning reporting and material attributable to a named publisher or author who can be held to account for it.
- The originating material for any claim we catalogue, so that testimony and secondhand accounts link back to where they actually originated rather than to a repackaging of them.
A link’s presence means we judged the source relevant and worth examining. It does not rank the source’s reliability; our own entry does that, through its wording and its sourcing designation.
4. What We Do Not Control
Once you follow a link away from this website, you are on a site FDRT does not operate and does not control. We do not exercise editorial control over external sites and are not responsible for their content, accuracy, availability, or for changes made to them after we link. External sites maintain their own privacy practices, terms, and user policies, which differ from ours; we encourage you to review the privacy policy and terms of any site you visit through a link here. References on this site to any organization, company, agency, product, or individual do not constitute or imply endorsement by FDRT, nor does such a reference imply that the referenced party endorses FDRT.
Links reflect the source as it existed when the entry was published or last reviewed. The web changes: pages move, records are relocated, and material is sometimes removed. Where a government record has been relocated, we work to restore the correct link to the authoritative source (see Section 7).
5. Government and Primary Sources
A significant share of the outbound links in this archive point to official U.S. government resources: agency reading rooms, declassified files, FOIA libraries, and public records. We link to these because they are authoritative and because we want readers to reach the government’s own words directly, without our intermediation. Linking to a government source is not a claim of government affiliation, endorsement, or approval, and none should be inferred. It is the opposite of a claim to authority of our own: it is us handing the reader the primary record and stepping out of the way.
6. Affiliate Links
Certain links on this site, primarily to books and other published works catalogued in the Media section, are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, FDRT may earn a commission on qualifying purchases made through them, at no additional cost to you. Affiliate status never determines whether a work is included in the archive or how it is described. A work is catalogued on its relevance to the record; the affiliate link is added only afterward, to a work already included on its merits. This is described further in our Editorial Policy.
7. Reporting a Broken or Improper Link
The integrity of our sourcing depends on links that resolve to the correct material. If you find a link on this site that is broken, that has been redirected to material other than the source we intended, or that you believe is inappropriate, tell us. Include the page it appears on and the link in question. We review such reports and correct confirmed problems promptly, because a citation that no longer reaches its source is a defect in the record.