Pentagon Releases 162 Declassified UFO Files Spanning 1942 to 2025

The Department of War published 162 declassified files on unidentified anomalous phenomena Friday, launching a dedicated government website and kicking off what officials described as a rolling, indefinite disclosure effort spanning eight decades of unexplained military and space encounters.

The files, now available at war.gov/ufo, represent the first tranche released under PURSUE (Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters), an interagency program President Donald Trump ordered in February. They draw from the FBI, the State Department, NASA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Department of Energy, among other agencies. Additional files will follow on a rolling basis.

“These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation – it’s time the American people see it for themselves,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a statement posted to the new site.

Trump, posting Friday on Truth Social, characterized the release as an act of unprecedented openness. “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?'” he wrote.

PRESIDENTIAL UNSEALING FOR UAP ENCOUNTERS.

Per President Trump’s directive, the @DeptofWar has declassified & released unresolved UAP records. This is an unprecedented level of transparency, no other admin has gone this far.

Files now live on https://t.co/kWE5tvdY9H —… pic.twitter.com/2WDKbBj2gE

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 8, 2026

What the files contain

The collection spans nearly 80 years of government records. Among the most notable: debriefing transcripts from Apollo-era astronauts, including Buzz Aldrin, who reported observing a “fairly bright light source” while aboard Apollo 11, and separate accounts from Apollo 12 and Apollo 17 crews. A Gemini 7 transcript describes a crew member reporting a “bogey” object.

Multiple archival photographs from the Apollo 12 landing site each flag separate areas above the horizon where unidentified phenomena appear. An Apollo 17 image, taken in 1972 at the last manned lunar landing, captures three dots in a triangular formation above the terrain.

This archival photograph depicts the lunar surface as viewed from the landing site of Apollo 12. This image features five highlighted areas of interest, labeled “Area 1” through “Area 5,” above the horizon, in which unidentified phenomena are visible. (NASA via war.gov/ufo/)

NASA photograph from the Apollo 17 mission, taken December 1972. The image contains three “dots” in a triangular formation in the lower right quadrant of the lunar sky that is clearly visible upon magnification of the image. (NASA via war.gov/ufo/)

Military footage in the collection shows an unidentified object executing “multiple 90-degree turns” at high speed. Other files describe metallic elliptical objects floating in mid-air, and a separate infrared video captures what one document labels an “eight-pointed star” formation.

One of the videos released on the https://t.co/XlIT4nH4IA page shows infrared footage from a U.S. military platform recorded in 2013.

The clip runs one minute and 46 seconds and captures an object resembling an eight-pointed star with arms of alternating length, trailed by a… pic.twitter.com/2DjZfItgDv

— SOFX (@SOFXnetwork) May 8, 2026

Another video released on the https://t.co/XlIT4nH4IA page shows infrared footage from a U.S. military platform recorded in 2023.

The clip captures an object flying near the ocean surface making multiple 90-degree turns at approximately 80 miles per hour, according to the… pic.twitter.com/R2RUkTutL0

— SOFX (@SOFXnetwork) May 8, 2026

The FBI contributed a case file spanning 1947 to 1968, covering two decades of flying disc reports. The collection includes a memo tied to the 1947 Roswell, New Mexico incident, one of the most scrutinized events in UAP history.

Internal military memos also describe sightings in Iraq and Syria that no agency has since resolved, and multiple UAP videos from the Middle East were included.

The government’s own investigative arm arrived at a firm conclusion before the release. The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, known as AARO, stated it has found no evidence that any UAP sighting to date involves extraterrestrial origin.

NASA, cited across multiple files, noted that most reported sightings produce limited data, making scientific conclusions difficult to reach.

Officials and Congress

FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed one day before the release that the bureau had already delivered its first batch of documents to the PURSUE interagency committee. “We already delivered our first tranche of information to that committee,” Patel said on a podcast appearance, adding that the Department of War was directing the effort across all intelligence agencies.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), chair of the House Oversight Committee’s Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, has pressed the Pentagon for months to release UAP-related video files. Her task force opened a formal investigation after whistleblowers told members that AARO held additional, unreleased video records of UAP sightings.

The files now host on a purpose-built government site styled with white typewriter font against a black background. The Pentagon did not specify a timeline for subsequent releases, saying only that more documents would follow

The full collection of declassified UAP files is publicly available at war.gov/ufo.