On May 8, 2026, the United States government took the unprecedented step of releasing a trove of declassified files related to unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), more commonly known to the public as UFOs. The release, initiated under the direction of President Donald J. Trump, marks the first time in American history that such a comprehensive collection of government-held materials on extraterrestrial encounters has been made instantly accessible to the public, without the need for security clearance.
President Trump’s order, executed in February 2026, established the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters—PURSUE—an initiative designed to maximize transparency on issues that have long fueled speculation and debate. The effort, according to the Department of War, was coordinated by a coalition of agencies including the White House, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), NASA, the FBI, and the Department of Energy, among others. The files are now available for public review at WAR.GOV/UFO, with new batches promised in weekly installments over the coming weeks.
The initial release includes never-before-seen photographs from the Apollo 12 and Apollo 17 lunar missions, videos and images of unexplained objects captured over Greece, Iraq, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States, as well as intelligence reports, FBI case files, and eyewitness testimonies. Among the most tantalizing items are Apollo 17 images showing three mysterious dots hovering in a triangular formation above the lunar surface, accompanied by astronaut transcripts describing “very bright particles or fragments or something that go drifting by as we maneuver.” One crew member famously remarked, “It looks like the Fourth of July out of Ron’s window. They’re very jagged, angular fragments that are tumbling.” According to Fox News, NASA later confirmed that the crew observed unidentified phenomena during lunar operations, a sharp departure from decades of official silence.
In addition to lunar anomalies, the files include a composite sketch and photo from September 2023, depicting an ellipsoid bronze metallic object hovering over a field—an image corroborated by multiple eyewitness reports and analyzed by the FBI Laboratory. The Pentagon’s tranche also features a still from an infrared video of an unidentified object over the western United States in December 2025, and footage of a football-shaped UAP near Japan reported by US Indo-Pacific Command in 2024. Other documents date back as far as the 1950s, charting the government’s long and complicated relationship with unexplained aerial phenomena.
“The Department of War is in lockstep with President Trump to bring unprecedented transparency regarding our government’s understanding of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said in a statement. “These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation—and it’s time the American people see it for themselves. This release of declassified documents demonstrates the Trump Administration’s earnest commitment to unprecedented transparency.”
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard echoed Hegseth’s sentiments, noting, “The American people have long sought transparency about the government’s knowledge of unidentified anomalous phenomena. Under President Trump’s leadership, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is actively coordinating the Intelligence Community’s declassification efforts with the Department of War to ensure a careful, comprehensive, and unprecedented review of our holdings to provide the American people with maximum transparency. Today’s release is the first in what will be an ongoing joint declassification and release effort.”
The files are not limited to military or intelligence sources. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman praised the initiative, stating, “I applaud President Trump’s whole-of-government effort to bring greater transparency to the American people on unidentified anomalous phenomena. At NASA, our job is to bring the brightest minds and most advanced scientific instruments to bear, follow the data, and share what we learn. We will remain candid about what we know to be true, what we have yet to understand, and all that remains to be discovered.”
FBI Director Kash Patel described the release as a “landmark” moment, telling the public, “For the first time in history, the American people have unfettered access to declassified government files on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon—a level of transparency that no prior administration has delivered.”
The rollout strategy, as explained by Representative Tim Burchett, involves weekly releases to allow for ongoing national security review processes. “It’s going to start this week. It will have some stuff in there from pilots, and maybe one video. Transparency won’t all happen at once,” Burchett said, emphasizing the balance between openness and security.
Despite the excitement, some experts urge caution. Sean Kirkpatrick, former head of the Department of War’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), told the Associated Press, “Readers should not get their hopes up that there’s going to be some document with photos, interviewing the aliens when they came down. Because that just doesn’t exist.” Kirkpatrick explained that many purported UAP videos have mundane explanations, such as thermal imaging artifacts from jet engines, and the AARO’s 2024 report found no evidence confirming alien technology, despite cataloging hundreds of new UAP incidents.
Nonetheless, the public’s fascination is undiminished. Republican officials like Representative Anna Paulina Luna have pressed for greater transparency, with Luna alleging the Pentagon’s efforts have been “less than adequate.” Vice President JD Vance has also publicly declared his obsession with the UFO files, stating on a podcast in March, “I will get to the bottom of the UFO files.”
This historic disclosure follows Trump’s earlier orders to release files related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr.—an effort that, while less revelatory, set a precedent for the current approach to government transparency. The current release, however, dwarfs those previous efforts in both scope and public intrigue.
As the files continue to roll out, the American public is left to sift through decades of reports, images, and data, drawing their own conclusions about the mysteries that have long hovered at the edge of official knowledge. While definitive proof of alien contact remains elusive, the sheer volume and detail of the declassified files represent a seismic shift in the government’s approach to UAPs—one that may change the conversation about extraterrestrial life for years to come.