Deutsche WellePolitics United States of America US: Pentagon releases trove of classified UFO files Jenipher Camino Gonzalez with Reuters, AP, AFP May 8, 2026
US President Donald Trump hailed his government’s move to release over a 100 UFO-related documents as “complete and maximum transparency.”
The White House directed several agencies to divulge files that have to do with so-called Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO) and other unexplained phenomenon. The Pentagon on Friday led the way by releasing a trove of documents.
The director of national intelligence, the Energy Department, NASA and the FBI, were also tasked with publicly sharing the information, which the White House has compiled in a newly unveiled website.
The UFO release could stir speculation among those who believe in the existence of intelligent life outside of Earth. The release follows previous releases on contentious issues in the US that have long drawn conspiracy theorists, such as the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
“These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation — and it’s time the American people see it for themselves,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a statement.
Some 162 files have been released, including old State Department cables, FBI documents and transcripts from NASA of crewed flights into space.
Trump hailed his administration’s move as “complete and maximum transparency.”
“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?,” Trump said in a statement. “Have fun and enjoy!” he added.
To date, no evidence of intelligent life beyond Earth has been produced.
Critics have described the UFO disclosures as a distraction from Trump’s unpopular US military campaign against Iran and and other domestic issues.
“I really don’t care about the UFO files. I just don’t. I’m so sick of the ‘look at the shiny object’ propaganda,” former Republican U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X.
What is in the files?
Among the documents are more than 20 video showing unidentified objects captured by military sensors in locations from Syria and Japan to North America. The documents and videos span several decades, with the latest dating back to January 1 of this year.
Official accounts of sightings include testimony from astronaut Buzz Aldrin observing a “fairly bright light source” while aboard the Apollo 11.
Another NASA-related file is a photograph from the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, showing three dots in a triangular formation, in which the Pentagon caption described that “there is no consensus about the nature of the anomaly” but that a new, preliminary analysis indicated that it could be a “physical object.”
In another interview with a US intelligence official, a “super-hot” orb was observed hovering over the ground, traveling about 20 miles (32 kilometers) at a speedy clip, while the official was in a helicopter. The official then spotted four or five more orbs that flared up and down.
Someone identified as a drone pilot told the FBI in 2023 that they had witnessed a “linear object” with a light bright enough to “see bands within thelight” in the sky. “The object was visible for five to ten seconds and then the light went out and the object vanished,” according to the FBI interview.
Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko
