Pentagon begins releasing declassified UFO files

The Department of Defense on Friday began publishing declassified government documents about so-called aliens; unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs; and unidentified flying objects, or UFOs. Pentagon officials planned to release new materials on a rolling basis every few weeks as files are discovered and declassified, according to a Friday statement. The mass declassification plan came about three months after President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon to declassify and release government files regarding the possibility of alien existence and UFOs due to high public interest.

The Department of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence are overseeing a government-wide effort to expeditiously find, review, identify, declassify, and publicly release unresolved UAP-related records and historical documents in the federal government’s possession, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday. These hidden, classified files have understandably fueled speculation, and it’s time that the American people get to see them for themselves, Hegseth added. Pentagon officials planned to honor Trump’s directive and bring unprecedented transparency around UAPs, he added.

What’s included in the new files? The new push is planned to specifically focus on unresolved cases, meaning the government couldn’t make an official determination on a phenomenon that was observed. Defense officials specifically welcomed any information, expertise, or analysis from the private sector.

The Pentagon’s webpage for the UAP file release included PDF documents of investigative reports, eyewitness testimonies, and photographs, along with some videos. Some documents contain redactions, and many are decades old, with several pulled from the late 1940s through the late 1960s.

The Pentagon said it planned to conduct a separate report on resolved UAP cases in an attempt to pursue the truth and share findings with Americans.

Dig deeper: Read Mary Jackson’s report in WORLD Magazine about whether Christians should be interested in paranormal and supernatural topics.