At first glance, there’s not much to see. A few blurry images, some with oddly shaped objects. Others have clumped dots too far away to tell what they are.
But for lawmakers and administration officials, it’s a major win for transparency — and a release of files that have been long sought-after by both political parties. It’s only the first batch of files from the Pentagon, which is expected to release more on a rolling basis.
“As for my promise to you, the Department of War has released the first tranche of the UFO/UAP files for the Public for their review and study,” President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “In an effort for Complete and Maximum Transparency, it was my Honor to direct my Administration to identify and provide Government files related to Alien and Extraterrestrial Life, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, and Unidentified Flying Objects.”
Trump made the directive for the Pentagon to release all its files related to unidentified flying objects earlier this year, responding to efforts from lawmakers to investigate the matter. Congress has been investigating the phenomenon for years, emerging as one of the few issues uniting Republicans and Democrats as they dig for answers about outer space.
“The UAP documents should have been released a long time ago,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., one of the lawmakers spearheading the efforts, said in a post on social media. “Thank you to every witness who came forward to testify before our committee, as well as the countless researchers who worked alongside us to push for transparency.”
Although researchers, science fiction fans, and conspiracy theorists alike have been obsessed with alien life for decades, the phenomenon took on a reignited interest earlier this year when former President Barack Obama seemed to suggest aliens did in fact exist. He later clarified that he “saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us” but by then it was too late — everyone wanted to know more.
NASA officials praised the Trump administration’s decision to release the files on Friday, calling it an important step to “bring greater transparency” around UFOs.
“We will remain candid about what we know to be true, what we have yet to understand, and all that remains to be discovered,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a post on social media. “Exploration and the pursuit of knowledge are core to NASA’s mission as we endeavor to unlock the secrets of the universe.”
The promise of released classified information is only the latest government file drop pursued by the Trump administration. Since taking office in January 2025, Trump has already sought to make public the records related to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.; the disappearance of aviator Amelia Earhart; and the Crossfire Hurricane FBI investigation into Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
