United States UFO files

United States UFO files
A UFO over western United States in December, 2025
Presented	May 8, 2026
Date effective	February 20, 2026
Location	United States
Author	United States Government
Media type	PDFs, reports, memos, briefing papers
Subject	Unidentified anomalous phenomena in the United States
Purpose	Analysis and classification Intelligence gathering Standardising reporting Transparency
Official website
www.war.gov/ufo/

The United States UFO files,^a also referred to as the UFO files or the UAP files, are a collection of declassified United States government records concerning UFOs, also called unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), released by the administration of Donald Trump beginning on May 8, 2026, and announced to continue as repeated, ongoing, expanding releases of UFO materials.¹²³

The files were published through the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE), a government website created to release reviewed UAP-related material to the public.⁴ The first release included reports, photographs, videos, witness accounts, military records, astronaut transcripts, and other historical materials connected to unresolved sightings and investigations dating from 1944 and 1945⁵⁶ to recent years.⁷⁸

The initial release followed years of renewed U.S. government and congressional attention to UFOs, including the public disclosure of the Pentagon UFO videos,⁹ the creation of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), congressional hearings, and pressure from members of Congress who argued that the government should disclose more information about UFOs and alleged extraterrestrial matters.¹⁰³ In February 2026, Trump directed federal agencies to identify and declassify records connected to UFOs and extraterrestrials.¹¹

The first release of records did not confirm the existence of extraterrestrial life. The Pentagon described the released materials as unresolved cases for which the government could not make a definitive determination based on available evidence, while some scientists and skeptics said many of the files were ambiguous, previously public, or potentially explainable as camera artifacts, balloons, debris, or unreliable eyewitness accounts.^10121314

According to Reuters, there are plans for another release 30 days after the first one, meaning the release date would be set for June, 2026.¹⁵

Belief that the U.S. Government is concealing information related to non-human intelligence, aliens or extraterrestrials visiting Earth is a long-running conspiracy theory.¹⁶¹⁷

Beginning in 2017, the New York Times and other outlets disclosed the Pentagon UFO videos and secret government programs to investigate "unusual, seemingly inexplicable phenomena", as The Washington Post described them.¹⁰ Bipartisan pressure in Congress combined with military interests around unexplained UFO encounters for multiple years had increased related to reports of incidents by defense an9d intelligence officials, radar operators, and pilots.³ Congress had previously created the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office in 2022 to "investigate anomalous incidents observed across air, maritime, space and other domains", reported Military.com.³

In 2022, NASA conducted an inquiry into the potential of space aliens visiting Earth and found no evidence to support such a notion.¹⁸ Two years later, in 2024, the U.S. Department of Defense officially disclaimed it had any information pertaining to the existence of extraterrestrial life or that it had recovered technology belonging to space aliens.¹² Donald Trump, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton have all stated their disbelief in any anomalous explanation for UFOs and denied the existence of any U.S. government secrecy surrounding the topic.¹⁹¹³ U.S. government agencies have released videos of aircraft, which according to The Washington Post, "appeared to defy the laws of physics".¹⁰ Congressional hearings in the past decade included testimony from government, military, and intelligence witness of UFO events, while skeptics claimed the U.S. military and intelligence reports and data were unreliable.³

In February 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to identify and declassify to the public files connected to UFOs, UAPs, and extraterrestrials.³¹¹ The move followed agitation by several Republican members of the U.S. Congress, such as Anna Paulina Luna and Tim Burchett, who claimed the U.S. government was withholding secrets about space aliens.²⁰¹² The month following Trump's directive, Luna demanded Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth send her some videos of UFOs by a deadline she established; according to the Associated Press, Luna's demand "came and went, and no videos were produced".²⁰

Some conspiracy theories claim that governments and political figures around the world are concealing evidence that unidentified flying objects (UFOs) are operated by extraterrestrial or “non-human” intelligence or created using alien technology.

Since the 1980s, many conspiracy theories have argued that governments around the world are in contact or cooperating with extraterrestrials, with some also claiming that governments are knowingly allowing cattle mutilations and alien abductions.

Mainstream scientists, government investigators, and skeptics state that there is little to no evidence supporting conspiracy theories about alien visitation. Despite allegations of cover-ups, conspiracy theories involving alien spacecraft generally lack verifiable proof, instead relying on speculation, anecdotal accounts, and misidentified surveillance technology.^21222324

The May 8, 2026 release²⁵ was the first PURSUE collection of declassified U.S. government records on unresolved UFO cases, including reports, photographs, videos, and historical documents. Officials described it as the beginning of a rolling disclosure process, with additional materials to be posted as they were reviewed and declassified.

The Department of Defense of the United States on May 8, 2026, launched the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE) to release military data related to the UFO phenomena.³²⁶ The files were published through a newly launched PURSUE government website.⁴ The administration stated that additional files would continue to be released over time.¹⁵ Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the goal was to provide "maximum transparency" regarding the government's knowledge of unexplained aerial phenomena. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard described a "comprehensive" multi-agency declassification program being underway.³ Included in the initial tranche of videos and material are Apollo mission photos, NASA transcripts of astronauts discussing lunar UFOs, witnesses claiming "cigar-shaped" object at a restricted government test facility, and land law enforcement reports of "orbs launching other orbs".¹⁰ The DOD's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office identified the law enforcement orb video as "among the most compelling".¹⁰

The release was presented as part of a broader transparency initiative involving the Department of Energy, United States Department of Defense, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, NASA, the FBI, and other federal agencies.^2713282930

The first tranche of documents included more than 160 files containing military reports, witness interviews, pilot accounts, government memos, photographs, and videos connected to UAP sightings dating back decades. Many of the records focused on unexplained aerial objects observed by military personnel, astronauts, and drone operators.³¹ The current and forthcoming disclosures of UFO-related information were in response to years-long Pentagon and Congressional investigations, along with military and intelligence officials reporting that some incidents remained unexplained.³

Contents of the first tranche spanned a period from 1944 and 1945 to the near present⁵⁶ and included both documents and 20 videos,⁷⁸ showing what the New York Times described as "murky still images that show what could be anything".¹³

Several still images from U.S. manned space missions to the Moon were also included, which, according to New Scientist, had "already been investigated and explained as micrometeoroid impacts on the Moon or the spacecraft, bits of floating debris, and camera or film defects".¹⁴ Many of the initially released cases remain unresolved due to limited data or unclear imagery, and The Pentagon noted that several photos and videos had not yet been fully analyzed.

Among the documents released were Apollo mission transcripts. Buzz Aldrin, an American astronaut who was onboard the Apollo 11 spacecraft, described sightings of unusual lights and objects seen during space missions,³² with some being reported to have been on the Moon in the 1960s and 1970s.³³³⁴³⁵ On the Apollo 17 flight, a photograph showed "three 'dots' in a triangular formation in the lower right quadrant of the lunar sky".³⁶ Other documents in the UAP files also described sightings of glowing or metallic objects near military training zones and restricted airspace across America. Some recent 2024 and 2025 reports included accounts from drone pilots and service members who described objects moving in ways they could not explain.⁹

The Pentagon confirmed there are no known explanations for the currently released videos, saying, "The materials archived here are unresolved cases, meaning the government is unable to make a definitive determination on the nature of the observed phenomena."¹⁰ The release was followed closely by a Truth Social post by president of the United States Donald Trump in which he encouraged the public to "have fun and enjoy!".³⁷

Reception to the initial May 8 release of UFO records was mixed, with calls for further evidence, previously unseen materials, and evidence of alien life to be released, if available.³⁸ Despite public excitement surrounding the initial release, the Pentagon and Trump said that the documents do not provide confirmed evidence of extraterrestrial life and that "the public can draw their own conclusions."²⁷³⁹¹⁰

On social media, former member of the United States House of Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene posted of the May 28 group that "unless they roll out live aliens and test demo UFOs or actually admit what we know this really is, then I have way better things to do on this Friday".¹³

According to IGN, many UFO fans had a mixed reaction on social media to the release of the initial files, with some expressing confusion at the inclusion of computer-generated imagery and others claiming the release included material that had been circulating in paranormal books and media for decades.⁴⁰

The reaction from scientists was mixed to the initial tranche one of the May 2026 disclosure content. David Whitehouse, an astrophysicist and former science journalist for the BBC, in a post to social media explained he had reviewed the materials and concluded that "some are optical artefacts, others fuzzy blobs, and some light smears. Some obviously balloons. No hint, no evidence whatsoever of anything artificial and alien".⁴¹ Michael Narlock, an astronomer at the Cranbrook Institute of Science, said of the documents that they largely contained transcripts of eyewitness accounts which were "notoriously unreliable" while the videos lacked sufficient context to assess.⁴² Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, asked by CBS News to react to the release, affirmed his view that "there is no compelling evidence for extraterrestrial life thus far".⁴³ Sean M. Kirkpatrick, a physicist and the former director of the U.S. Department of Defense's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, stated there was nothing unexpected in the release.¹²

New York Post video editor Steven Greenstreet said some of the contents from the first round release of UFO files had been in the public record for years already and claimed they were discredited as possible camera artifacts while disputing any value of the releases.⁴⁴ Writer Jason Colavito said that "most of the UFO material released ... had been made public decades ago".⁴⁵ Writer Mick West stated there was "nothing really interesting" in the first release.⁴⁶

According to Reuters, the next tranche of UFO-related records is expected to be released 30 days after the first.¹⁵