The Pentagon in Washington released what it called “new, never-before-seen” files on UFOs on Friday, hailing the step as an example of the commitment of the department, which kicked out reporters earlier this year, to transparency.
“No other president or administration in history has followed through on this level of UAP [unidentified anomalous phenomena] transparency,” the Pentagon said in a news release, referring to what the defence department now calls unidentified anomalous phenomena but what most people call UFOs, or unidentified flying objects.
The collection is being “housed,” the release said, online (war.gov/ufo). Files will be released on a rolling basis.
The initial files are murky still images that show what could be anything.
READ MORE
In one, a cluster of dots appears on the screen. In another, there are some strangely shaped objects.
One document details an FBI interview with someone identified as a drone pilot who, in September 2023, reported seeing a “linear object” with a light bright enough to “see bands within the light” in the sky.
“The object was visible for five to 10 seconds and then the light went out and the object vanished,” according to the FBI interview.
Another file is a Nasa photograph from the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, showing three dots in a triangular formation.
The Pentagon says in an accompanying caption that “there is no consensus about the nature of the anomaly”, but that a new, preliminary analysis indicated that it could be a “physical object”.
US president Donald Trump has been teasing the announcement since February.
In a post on the Truth Social network, US president Donald Trump said: “Whereas previous Administrations have failed to be transparent on this subject, with these new Documents and Videos, the people can decide for themselves, “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?” Have Fun and Enjoy!”
He has previously released records related to the assassinations of US president John F Kennedy, senator Robert F Kennedy and Martin Luther King jnr that revealed little beyond what was already known.
The Pentagon has been working on declassifying documents related to UFOs for years, and Congress created an office in 2022 to declassify material.
Its 2024 debut report revealed hundreds of new UAP incidents but found no evidence that the government had ever confirmed a sighting of alien technology.
Congress ordered the Pentagon to begin releasing decades of files on UFO sightings in 2022 as some members of the military shared encounters with unexplained aircraft.
A small group of Republicans in Congress has pressed for further transparency, accusing the Pentagon of holding documents back.
Experts have urged caution around the release of the new files, warning that UAP videos are often misinterpreted and mischaracterised by those unfamiliar with advanced military technology.
The Pentagon’s 2024 report rebutted claims that the government has recovered alien technology or confirmed evidence of alien life.
In 2017, The New York Times reported that the Pentagon had a secret and classified programme, which began in 2007, that investigated episodes brought to it by service members who had reported encounters with what appeared to be space objects. Since then, there has been a push from politicians for the government to declassify its work on UFOs.
- This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Additional reporting: Bloomberg
