{"id":210202,"date":"2026-05-09T04:31:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T04:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/pentagon-begins-release-of-ufo-files-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T04:31:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T04:31:48","slug":"pentagon-begins-release-of-ufo-files-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/pentagon-begins-release-of-ufo-files-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon begins release of UFO files – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Pentagon on Friday began releasing \u201cnever-before-seen\u201d files relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena \u2014 previously and more infamously known as unidentified flying objects<\/a>, or UFOs \u2014 that the government has been holding onto for decades.
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The files have been a source of intrigue and fascination for generations of skeptical Americans wondering if we\u2019re alone in the universe.
The release came nearly a month after President Donald Trump gave a sneak preview<\/a> of the possible contents, telling a conservative gathering that some \u201cvery interesting documents\u201d would be released by the Department of Defense \u201cvery, very soon.\u201d
The first batch of the long-awaited files on what the government is calling Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) are being housed on a dedicated government site, https:\/\/www.war.gov\/UFO\/<\/a>, and additional files will be added to the site \u201con a rolling basis,\u201d Pentagon Public Affairs said in a press release.
\u201cThe American people can now access the federal government\u2019s declassified UAP files instantly,\u201d the press release said. \u201cThe latest UAP videos, photos, and original source documents from across the entire United States government are all in one place \u2014 no clearance required.\u201d
The documents don\u2019t suggest any wide-ranging government cover-up of extraterrestrial encounters<\/a>, which may disappoint some conspiracy-minded individuals looking for such evidence. The files show no indication that the U.S. government has had any interaction with beings from other planets<\/a> or that it has any reason to believe such beings have visited Earth. Instead, the release offers pages and pages of files for the public to consume and potentially draw their own conclusions.
The collection includes more than 160 files, detailing more than 400 incidents from all around the world. Some of the most recent eyewitness statements were taken last year, while other cases date back to the 1940s.
Many of the declassified videos consist of grainy U.S. military footage from infrared sensors, and the release included a slew of mostly indiscernible photos showing points of light or dark and unusually shaped objects.
Among the files in the newly unsealed trove are incidents from the Apollo 11<\/a>, Apollo 12 and Apollo 17 moon missions. In a 1969 debriefing after the Apollo 11 flight, astronaut Buzz Aldrin reported seeing \u201clittle flashes inside the cabin, spaced a couple of minutes apart,\u201d while trying to fall asleep. In another incident, Aldrin described seeing \u201cwhat appeared to be a fairly bright light source which we tentatively ascribed to a possible laser.\u201d
During Apollo 12 in 1969, astronaut Alan Bean reported \u201cflashes of light\u201d that he described as \u201csailing off into space.\u201d
During Apollo 17, the program\u2019s final mission in 1972, the crew saw \u201cvery bright particles\u201d of light that were \u201ctumbling\u201d and \u201crotating way out in the distance.\u201d Astronaut Harrison Schmitt <\/a>said the phenomenon looked \u201clike the Fourth of July.\u201d
The newly released documents show some of the incidents were immediately debunked. For example, on Sept. 5, 1948, there was a report from military crew members flying at 30,000 feet over the Netherlands of an unidentified aircraft sighting. The crew cited \u201csudden accelerations and then a climb.\u201d Within a few months, intelligence officials concluded that it was a single propelled jet using \u201crocket assists with tremendous reserve power.\u201d
Other incidents in the files are only described and do not draw conclusions.
There is a transcript of an exchange between astronaut Frank Borman from Gemini 7 in 1965 in which he refers to a \u201cbogey at 10 o\u2019clock high,\u201d which occurred about 4 \u00bd hours into the space flight.
Houston acknowledges the reference and responds: \u201cThis is Houston, say again Seven?\u201d Borman then describes the bogey as the following: \u201cIt looks like hundreds of little particles going by to the left out about three or four miles.\u201d
The files also include incidents from 2020 to the present as mission reports from the U.S. Air Force identifying \u201cpotential\u201d UAPs, with few details on what the object is or when or where it was identified.
Other accounts in the files are reports from people around the country since the 1940s that were submitted to the government.
Other sightings were redacted<\/a>, such as a September 2023 report of an FBI FaceTime interview with a drone operator who, along with colleagues, saw a \u201cbright light over the horizon\u201d at a U.S. test site.
The document notes that \u201credactions have been made to protect the identity of eyewitnesses, the location of government facilities, or potentially sensitive information about military sites not related to UAP.\u201d
The sighting was described as the following: \u201ca linear object with a super bright light on the east side of the object. The light was bright white and bright enough to see bands within the light. The object was metallic \/ gray in color. It did not have any wings or exhaust. The object was smaller than a 737, one to two Blackhawk helicopters in length and was definitely bigger than a drone.\u201d
The witnesses said the object was about 5,000 feet above ground, then moved east to west before vanishing after about 5 to 10 seconds. The person said after that the sky was clear and the object could not be found again.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill, along with interested parties ranging from serious scientists to conspiracy theorists, have pressed for the disclosure of these files<\/a> for years. Trump has also spoken often of the need to release this information.
\u201cThe American people have asked for more transparency on these topics, and President Trump is delivering,\u201d the press release said.
\u201cWhile past administrations sought to discredit or dissuade the American people, President Trump is focused on providing maximum transparency to the public, who can ultimately make up their own minds about the information contained in these files,\u201d the release added.
But there\u2019s a caveat.
\u201cWhile all of the files have been reviewed for security purposes, many of the materials have not yet been analyzed for resolution of any anomalies,\u201d the press release said.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman praised the Trump administration for its efforts to bring greater transparency to unidentified anomalous phenomena.
\u201cAt NASA, our job is to bring the brightest minds and most advanced scientific instruments to bear, follow the data, and share what we learn,\u201d Isaacman wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cWe will remain candid about what we know to be true, what we have yet to understand, and all that remains to be discovered.\u201d
Trump did not immediately weigh in on the new UFO document drop. But he announced in February that he had directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other agency officials to begin reviewing government documents related to \u201calien and extraterrestrial life.\u201d
Trump made the announcement just days after former President Barack Obama said on a podcast that aliens were real. Obama later clarified that he meant \u201cthe odds are good there\u2019s life out there\u201d and said he hadn\u2019t seen any evidence of alien life while he was in the White House.
The interagency effort to release the UFO files has its own acronym \u2014 PURSUE, or the Presidential Unsealings and Reporting System for UAP Encounters.
But the Pentagon appears to be using, as its model, a setup similar to the one the Department of Justice began employing in December, when it began releasing the Epstein Files<\/a>. And the government site with the UFO documents also appeared to be glitchy in the early going.
That Epstein files release, which is still underway, was widely criticized for releasing paperwork that had already been in the public domain, for heavily redacting many documents while inexplicably omitting others, and for inadvertently releasing the names of some of the women Epstein had been accused of preying on before he was arrested and died by suspected suicide in August 2019 in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City.
Not unlike the government\u2019s Epstein files document dump, there was no interpretation of the unidentified anomalous phenomena shared by the White House on Friday.
Corky Siemaszko is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital.
Denise Chow is a science and space reporter for NBC News.
I am NBC News\u2019 producer & off-air reporter covering stories about and related to the Defense Department around the world.
Laura Strickler is the senior investigative producer on the national security team where she produces television stories and writes for NBCNews.com.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeThe Pentagon on Friday began releasing \u201cnever-before-seen\u201d files relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena \u2014 previously and more infamously known as unidentified flying objects, or UFOs \u2014 that the government has been holding onto for decades.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":210203,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-210202","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}