The Pentagon has declassified and released a batch of government files on unidentified flying objects (UFOs), describing the move as a “historic transparency effort.”
The release, published on a dedicated page on the website of the US Department of War, contains hundreds of documents, videos, intelligence reports and witness accounts spanning decades.
The files reportedly include:
- FBI interviews
- NASA mission transcripts
- Military pilot testimony
- US State Department cables
- Archival imagery linked to unexplained aerial incidents
Among the newly released material are reports describing “metallic objects,” unexplained “red lights” in the sky and aerial encounters involving US military personnel.
One highlighted case reportedly references a 2024 Indo-Pacific sighting of a football-shaped object near Japanese waters.
Another revisits Apollo 17 mission records from 1972 documenting mysterious drifting lights observed above the lunar surface.
Pentagon-led interagency release
The release was coordinated through the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) as part of a broader interagency initiative involving:
- The White House
- Office of the Director of National Intelligence
- NASA
- FBI
- Department of Energy
- Multiple US intelligence agencies
Officials stated that additional files are expected to be released in coming weeks as part of a broader declassification process.
The initiative follows years of pressure from Congress as well as testimony from military whistleblowers alleging the US government withheld information about unexplained aerial objects observed near sensitive military installations.
Trump executive order
In February, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of War to disclose “any and all information” related to UFOs and unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP).
The UFO disclosure order followed earlier Trump-era declassification efforts involving:
- President John F. Kennedy assassination files
- Senator Robert F. Kennedy files
- Martin Luther King Jr. files
The article notes those earlier releases produced relatively few major new revelations beyond details already publicly known.
Obama comments referenced
Trump’s UFO disclosure order also followed a widely shared podcast appearance by former President Barack Obama, who discussed the possibility of extraterrestrial life while insisting the US government was not concealing proof of alien contact.
Trump later claimed Obama had “made a big mistake” by discussing “classified information.”
Pentagon says many sightings have ordinary explanations
Despite growing public fascination around UFO disclosures, former AARO chief Sean Kirkpatrick recently told AP that many alleged UFO sightings likely have conventional explanations.
According to Kirkpatrick, viral UFO footage often results from:
- Infrared camera distortions
- Aircraft heat signatures
- Optical effects
- Routine aerial phenomena
rather than extraterrestrial technology.
Source: RT