WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� The Pentagon has begun releasing , saying members of the public can draw their own conclusions on 鈥渦nidentified anomalous phenomena鈥� like an object that a drone pilot says shone a bright light in the sky and then vanished.
It said in a post on X on Friday that while past administrations sought to discredit or dissuade the American people, President Donald Trump 鈥渋s focused on providing maximum transparency to the public, who can ultimately make up their own minds about the information contained in these files.鈥� It said additional documents will be released on a rolling basis.
Besides the Pentagon, the effort is led by the White House, the director of national intelligence, the Energy Department, NASA and the FBI.
A newly unveiled website housing the documents on unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs, has a decidedly retro feel, with black-and-white military imagery of flying objects displayed prominently on the page, with statements displayed in typewriter-like font. The first release includes 162 files, such as old State Department cables, FBI documents and transcripts from NASA of crewed flights into space.
One document details an FBI interview with someone identified as a drone pilot who, in September 2023, reported seeing a 鈥渓inear object鈥� with a light bright enough to 鈥渟ee bands within the light鈥� in the sky.
鈥淭he object was visible for five to ten seconds and then the light went out and the object vanished,鈥� according to the FBI interview.
Another file is from the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, showing three dots in a triangular formation. The Pentagon says in an accompanying caption that 鈥渢here is no consensus about the nature of the anomaly鈥� but that a new, preliminary analysis indicated that it could be a 鈥減hysical object.鈥�
Trump, a Republican, has been since February. He has previously released records related to the assassinations of President , Sen. and 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 revealed hundreds of new UAP incidents but found no evidence that the U.S. 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. A March letter from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna demanded 46 UAP videos identified by whistleblowers. On social media on Friday, Luna said those videos are expected to be released in a later Pentagon release.
Rep. Tim Burchett thanked Trump for 鈥渒eeping his word鈥� on transparency and disclosure.鈥�
鈥淚 would like to remind people that transparency won鈥檛 all happen at once, it will take some time,鈥� Burchett said in a statement.
But experts have urged caution around the release of the new files, warning that UAP videos are often misinterpreted and mischaracterized by those unfamiliar with advanced military technology. The Pentagon鈥檚 2024 report rebutted claims that the U.S. government has recovered alien technology or confirmed evidence of alien life.
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