Pentagon releases first batch of previously secret files documenting reports of UFOs | US news
The Pentagon on Friday released a previously classified set of files documenting UFO reports; it was a move sought by some for decades.
“These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation, and now it’s time for the American people to see for themselves,” said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. a statement Published on X
This announcement follows Donald Trump’s directive in February for federal agencies to begin identifying, declassifying and releasing government files related to unidentified flying objects, now known as unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), and the possibility of alien life beyond Earth.
The US President said at the time that the move was “based on tremendous interest” from the public and reflected a renewed appetite for information about the government’s knowledge of, and perceived involvement in, programs that supposedly track and even harbor aliens and spacecraft.
Last month, NASA’s new administrator, Jared Isaacman, added further credence to a push for greater transparency at the agency by stating that the space agency is planning missions to space at least in part because of the possible presence of extraterrestrial alien life forms.
“There’s a pretty good chance we’ll find something at some point that will show that we’re not alone,” he told NBC’s Meet the Press.
Despite this, the first batch of 162 files containing hundreds of pages in monochrome was published on Friday. new ministry of defense websiteoffered little new or conclusive evidence.
In the statement made by the Pentagon, it was stated that “the public can ultimately make their own decision about the information in these files.”
These include old State Department cables, FBI documents and transcripts of NASA crewed space flights, the Associated Press reported. Other pages, dating back decades, include vague eyewitness accounts of UFO encounters or UFO-related claims.
For example, a previously classified 1947 report from Air Defense Command headquarters in New York includes testimony by the pilot and navigator of a Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) commercial jet airliner who said they momentarily saw a mysterious “bright orange object” in the sky.
Crew members said the object was visible for only seconds, then quickly disappeared behind a cloud and was never seen again.
A more recent document details an FBI interview with someone identified as a drone pilot who reported seeing a “linear object” in the sky in September 2023 with a light so bright he could “see bands within the light.”
“The object would be visible for five to 10 seconds, then the light went out and the object disappeared,” according to the FBI interview.
Numerous other pages tell similar but unsubstantiated accounts of sudden, brief, or unexpected events witnessed in the sky.
The Pentagon called Friday’s release of the documents a “first release” in partnership with several federal agencies, including the White House, the director of national intelligence’s office, the energy department, the FBI and NASA.
“Additional files will be released by the War Department on an ongoing basis,” the Pentagon said, using the defense department’s unofficial name.
“While the entire files are being reviewed for security purposes, most of the material has not yet been analyzed to resolve any anomalies,” he acknowledged.
Despite Friday’s over-the-top statement, the defense department’s policy of drip-feeding information to the public is not new.
A Pentagon report in 2024 concluded that there was no evidence of extraterrestrial activity and that most sightings were weather-related or misidentified balloons, birds or satellites.
Earlier that year, a separate report released by the All Domain Anomaly Resolution Office said that the government does not and has never secretly concealed alien technology or extraterrestrial assets from the public, and that the facility in the New Mexico desert that allegedly housed alien entities and spacecraft was a hoax.
This follows claims by former US intelligence official and whistleblower David Grusch that the US government ran a “decades-long” secret UFO program finding “non-human” entities.
