The White House declassifies documents on UFOs and extraterrestrial life
The Pentagon emphasizes that these are unsolved cases but says the goal is for people to "form their own opinion"
BarcelonaThe United States Department of War has begun publishing files related to unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and possible extraterrestrial life forms this Friday, which can be consulted on an official web page that will be updated "continuously," according to the official statement. In February, President Donald Trump announced that, "given the enormous interest shown," he would order the process of identifying and publishing government files related to extraterrestrial and alien life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), and UFOs to begin.
The Pentagon states that the declassification responds to a goal of "total transparency" so that people can "form their own opinion" about the information. However, it emphasizes that the archived materials are unresolved cases, meaning that the government "cannot make a definitive determination about the nature of the phenomena observed." The Department of War is coordinating with other government departments and agencies, such as NASA and the FBI, which are reviewing "tens of millions" of files, "many of which exist only on paper, and which span many decades."
The White House announces that new materials will be published continuously as they are discovered and declassified, with installments published every few weeks. The first release includes 162 files, such as old State Department cables, FBI documents, and NASA transcripts of crewed space flights.
Among the documents is, for example, the transcript of a conversation between the astronauts of Apollo 17 – the last mission to the moon – and NASA's control center, which highlights three moments when the cosmonauts reported seeing various unidentified phenomena, such as "very bright particles or fragments" near the spacecraft and even "physical objects." There are also several photographs of the lunar surface seen from the landing site of Apollo 12, in which lights on the horizon can be glimpsed.
The Pentagon has been working on declassifying documents related to UFOs for years, and Congress created an office in 2022 to declassify the material. Its first report, from 2024, revealed hundreds of new incidents with unidentified aerial phenomena, but found no evidence that the U.S. government had ever confirmed a sighting of alien technology.
"These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation and it is time for the American people to see for themselves," justified Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. But experts warn that videos of these unidentified phenomena are often misinterpreted by those unfamiliar with advanced military technology.
