Trump Orders Release of Government Files on Aliens, UFOs
President Donald Trump accused former President Barack Obama of disclosing classified information regarding extraterrestrial life.
A still from GO FAST, an official U.S. government video of unidentified aerial phenomena, taken in 2015. U.S. Navy
President Donald Trump is ordering government agencies to release information about extraterrestrial life and related phenomena, according to a late night Feb. 19 Truth Social post.
“Based on the tremendous interest shown, I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters. GOD BLESS AMERICA!” Trump wrote.
The post followed former President Barack Obama’s comments on alien life in a podcast interview on Feb. 14.
“He’s not supposed to be doing that,” Trump said.
The president said that he does not have an opinion on the existence of aliens, but he noted that “a lot of people do” before asking Fox News reporter Peter Doocy whether he believed in aliens.
“Well, if the president can declassify anything that he wants to, so if you want to make an announcement,” Doocy said.
Trump interrupted the reporter and replied, “I may get [Obama] out of trouble by declassifying.”
Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force
During Trump’s first term, the U.S. government established the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force.
According to an Aug. 4, 2020, statement from the Department of Defense, the task force was established to improve the department’s understanding of the nature and origins of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), and the mission was to detect, analyze, and catalog UAPs that could threaten national security.
“The Department of Defense and the military departments take any incursions by unauthorized aircraft into our training ranges or designated airspace very seriously and examine each report,“ the statement reads. ”This includes examinations of incursions that are initially reported as UAP when the observer cannot immediately identify what he or she is observing.”
In 2021, a report was submitted to Congress that assessed the threat posed by UAPs and the progress made by the task force in understanding the issue.
However, because of a lack of “high-quality” information, the report could not conclusively state whether UAPs were of extraterrestrial origin.
Although some UAPs exhibited “unusual flight characteristics,” these could be due to “sensor errors, spoofing, or observer misperception,” the report stated.
The issue of UFOs again came to the fore in 2023 during the Biden administration when members of the House of Representatives claimed that the U.S. government was withholding information about them from Congress and the American people.
“The lack of transparency regarding UAPs has fueled speculation and debate for decades, eroding public trust in the very institutions that are meant to serve and protect them,” Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) said during a hearing on July 26, 2023.
Grothman was chair of the House Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs.
At the time, the White House acknowledged that there had been unexplained aerial phenomena reported by pilots, the Navy, and the Air Force.
“These phenomena have, in some cases, had an impact on our training ranges, on our pilots’ ability to fly, train, operate, and stay ready,” then-White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said during a press briefing. “That alone makes it a national security issue worth looking at. We don’t know; we don’t have the answers about what these phenomena are.”
According to a Defense Department statement on Nov. 24, 2024, a UAP report from the department’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) noted that the office received 757 UAP reports from May 1, 2023, to June 1, 2024, with 485 of them happening within the reporting period.
“Only a very small percentage of reports to AARO are potentially anomalous, but these are the cases that require significant time, resources, and a focused scientific inquiry by AARO and its partners,” AARO Director Jon Kosloski said.
“It is also important to underscore that to date, AARO has discovered no verifiable evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity or technology. None of the cases resolved by AARO [has] pointed to advanced capabilities or breakthrough technologies.”
The Pentagon has no explanations for some of the unsolved UAP cases, Kosloski testified to the U.S. Senate on Nov. 19, 2024.
In the interview with podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen, Obama was asked whether aliens were real, to which he replied: “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them—and they’re not being kept in [Area 51]. There’s no underground facility, unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States.”
After the interview went viral, Obama said in an Instagram post that he was “trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round,” adding that “the odds are good there’s life out there” but the chances that humans have been visited by aliens are “low.” Obama said he saw no evidence during his presidency that aliens made contact.
On Feb. 19, during a press gaggle on Air Force One, Trump was asked about Obama’s answer, and he responded that Obama was disclosing “classified information.”
The Pentagon on Friday released what it says are “never-before-seen files” on UFOs after President Donald Trump directed the agency to do so earlier this year.
The batch of files outlines various investigations of reported sightings of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena that span decades.
“The American people can now access the federal government’s declassified UAP files instantly,” the department wrote on X, referring to unidentified anomalous phenomena, the modern term for UFOs. “The latest UAP videos, photos, and original source documents from across the entire United States government are all in one place – no clearance required.”
The Defense Department said it will be “releasing new materials on a rolling basis as they are discovered and declassified, with tranches posted every few weeks.”
The Pentagon said some of the materials were previously released by the FBI, but the versions made public Friday had fewer redactions. This was the case with a large FBI file containing hundreds of pages describing “eyewitness testimonies and public reports” about UFOs between 1947 and 1968.
Other files made public Friday contained much more recent observances.
This image, identified as "DOW-UAP-PR43, Unresolved UAP Report, Africa, 2025" shows "a US military operator reported UAP while operating within African airspace," per the Defense Department.
Department of Defense
The files include internal military memos describing “one possible small UAP” in Iraq in 2022, as well as “multiple glares or light from an unknown origin” observed in Syria in 2024. US troops were stationed in Iraq and Syria during that time as part of ongoing operations against ISIS.
There are also recent reports from US troops in the United Arab Emirates and Greece.
The Pentagon website where the new documents were posted contains a disclaimer saying that the “descriptive and estimative language” in these military memos reflect the “subjective interpretation” of the person who wrote the report — and therefore “should not be interpreted as a conclusive indication” of what actually happened.
The files also include reports from astronauts aboard the Apollo 12 mission in 1969 to more recent reports from various law enforcement or government officials.
During the Apollo 12 mission, the second crewed moon landing, one of the astronauts, Alan L. Bean, reported to mission control seeing “flashes of light” that are just “sailing off in space.”
“It looks like some of those things are escaping the Moon,” the astronaut says. “They really haul out of here and just press off at the stars.”
Three years later, during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, two astronauts reported seeing “very bright” particles of light.
“It’s like the Fourth of July out there!” one of them, Lunar Module Pilot Harrison “Jack” Schmitt, said.
This image, identified as "NASA-UAP-VM6, Apollo 17, 1972" shows "archival imagery from the Apollo 17 mission to the Moon. The yellow box contains an enlarged area of the original photo in which three lights are visible above the lunar terrain," per the Defense Department.
Department of Defense
The astronauts theorized the lights might have come from chunks of ice.
Interest and speculation about extraterrestrials reignited in February after former President Barack Obama said in a podcast that aliens are “real but I haven’t seen them.” He later clarified his comments, saying, “I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us.”
Trump, shortly after, in a Truth Social post, directed the Pentagon and other relevant agencies to “begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs).”
On Friday, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman applauded Trump for the “effort to bring greater transparency to the American people on unidentified anomalous phenomena.”
“We will remain candid about what we know to be true, what we have yet to understand, and all that remains to be discovered,” Isaacman said in a post on X. “Exploration and the pursuit of knowledge are core to NASA’s mission as we endeavor to unlock the secrets of the universe.”
Trump said on Truth Social Friday that these documents allow people to “decide for themselves, ‘WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?’”
Hovering objects and flashing lights: what we learned from UFO documents released by the Pentagon
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Watch: Declassified footage shows 'unidentified anomalous phenomena' around the world
The tranche of never-before-seen documents released by the Pentagon on UFOs includes descriptions of reported sightings - by civilians on Earth and by astronauts on the Moon.
The documents, spanning decades, were declassified and posted online on Friday at the direction of US President Donald Trump, who said earlier this year that he would release them "based on the tremendous interest shown".
The US has seen renewed public interest in extraterrestrial life in recent years. In 2022, Congress held the first hearings on UFOs in 50 years and the military has promised more transparency on the matter.
The 161 files are accessible on the Department of Defense's website, with more set to be released.
Friday's release of files comes after former President Barack Obama sparked further interest when he said in a February interview that aliens were "real, but I haven't seen them".
Obama has since clarified his comments, saying that statistically the chances are that life is out there but that he saw "no evidence" while president.
Trump later that month directed to Pentagon to release files "related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs)".
The files that came out on Friday include decades of declassified military memos, reports from the Apollo Moon missions and reports from individuals who claim to have witnessed a UFO - or unidentified flying object - that they suspect has extraterrestrial origins.
Apollo astronauts describe flashes of light
US Department of Defense
A view from the Moon during the Apollo 12 mission in 1969, with an unidentified flash is highlighted and enlarged
The files contain previously classified transcripts from the astronauts aboard the Apollo 11, Apollo 12 and Apollo 17 Moon landing missions in the 1960s and 1970s.
Buzz Aldrin, famed astronaut from the Apollo 11 mission, said in a 1969 interview published on Friday that he saw several inexplicable phenomena on his trip to the Moon.
"I observed what appeared to be a fairly bright light source which we tentatively ascribed to a possible laser," he said.
The transcripts show that Apollo 12 Astronaut Alan Bean, who walked on the Moon in 1969, said he saw particles and flashes of lights "sailing off in space" during the mission. The particles looked like they were "escaping the Moon", he said.
Two astronauts aboard the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 also reported seeing flashing light while on board. "It's like the Fourth of July out there!" astronaut Jack Schmitt said. They added that the light could have been reflections off pieces of ice.
In another of the released files, an audio recording from the 1965 Gemini 7 space flight features communication between astronaut Frank Borman communicating and ground support. He reports a sighting of an unidentified object to Nasa mission control, describing a "bogey" and "trillions of little particles" seen to the left of the spaceship.
Hovering objects emerging from light
Among the decades' worth of reports released in the files are dozens of individual claims of sightings of unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP.
One file shows a man told the FBI in a 1957 interview that he had witnessed a large, circular vehicle rising over the ground. There are also interviews from September and October 2023 in which US citizens report hovering metal objects materialising out of bright light.
Military sightings in Iraq, Syria, and the UAE
The files also include video clips taken by the US military from the Middle East, dating from 2022.
Footage from Iraq, Syria and the United Arab Emirates, shows what the Pentagon's website calls "unresolved unidentified anomalous phenomenon".
One 2022 clip, taken in an undisclosed location in the Middle East, captures an oval-shaped object streaking left to right, which an accompanying report flagged as a "possible missile".
Good first step, but we need more, lawmakers say
Congressman Tim Burchett, a Republican from Tennessee, has previously advocated for more governmental transparency on UFO sightings. He welcomed the Pentagon's release of the files, calling it a "great start" in a post on X.
Republican Anna Paulina Luna, a congresswoman from Florida, also advocates for transparency on this issue. She called the disclosure "a massive first step in the right direction" in a statement.
However, former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a onetime Trump ally who has fallen out with the president and left Congress, said the release was a distraction from more pressing issues facing Americans, such as price affordability and the war in Iran.
"I'm so sick of the 'look at the shiny object' propaganda," Greene said in a post on X.
3 UFO Sightings Recorded in Declassified NSA Document
The NSA recorded several UFO sightings in a top secret report, now declassified. Here’s a look at a few of those sightings.
Excerpts from a declassified National Security Agency document on UFOs. Screenshot/NSA.gov; Background concept image of a UFO via Thinkstock
The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) recorded several sightings of unidentified flying objects [UFOs] in a top secret report. In 1980, a civil action suit was brought against the NSA by a group called Citizens Against Unidentified Flying Objects Secrecy.
Since that time, the NSA has declassified many reports on UFOs.
Here’s a look at four of the incidents in one of the declassified documents. Information has been redacted, making it difficult at times to piece together the findings. The reports often conclude the objects could be propaganda balloons or satellites.
1. Radar Detects Multiple UFOs Same Time Daily
A portion of a declassified NSA report on UFOs. Read the full document here. (Screenshot/NSA.gov)
Multiple UFOs were detected on radar usually between the time of 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. traveling against the wind, according to the NSA report. The largest number observed at one time was eight, and they were estimated to be flying at a height of 50,000 feet. The objects were described as yellow or green and as drifting over the area (the location is not given).
Military electronics experts were sent to investigate, along with a civilian meteorologist and a civilian scientist.
It seems one person thought the UFOs could be sophisticated devices of some sort, though it is unclear who held this opinion or what specific kind of devices they could be. The report states: “Possibility that UFO’s some kind of sophisticated [redacted] device appears remote though this is what [redacted] suspects.”
“Possibly these are reflections of [word redacted] and/or [word redacted] propaganda balloons, depending on wind direction at UFO’s altitude.”
The report states that four reliable Americans spotted them and said they may be satellites or space debris. One of the observers had spent years professionally observing satellites. Though the sentence specifically describing this observer’s opinion is partially redacted or illegible, it seems to indicate he thought the object he saw was similar to a satellite: “He indicated this observation, made from [redacted] outside [redacted] was of [illegible] nature, a yellowish object on a steady course.”
2. 33 Yellow or Green UFOs Spotted
A portion of a declassified NSA report on UFOs. Read the full document here. (Screenshot/NSA.gov)
As in the previous report, another report states that UFOs described as yellow or green seem to drift over an area (again unspecified). A total of 33 were sighted in the area.
The chances that the UFOs are “some kind of sophisticated [redacted] device appears remote,” the report states. “Unless amplifying [illegible] received, most plausible explanation of UFOs is that they are either [redacted] or [redacted] propaganda balloons.”
3. A Ball of Light Splits Into 3
A portion of a declassified NSA report on UFOs. Read the full document here. (Screenshot/NSA.gov)
It is common for people who report seeing UFOs to describe multiple, smaller UFOs coming out of one large one.
In one of the NSA reports, it seems the original object disappeared, however, becoming three separate objects.
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“[Redacted] saw an elongated ball of fire moving … [redacted] … high rate of speed. After covering some distance, it split into three balls of fire,” the heavily redacted report states.
Again propaganda balloons or satellites are posited as explanations.
