President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he will move to declassify long-guarded government files related to extraterrestrial life and unidentified aerial phenomena.
Trump said he will direct top defense and intelligence officials to identify and release documents tied to aliens, UFOs and what the Pentagon now calls UAPs. Trump specifically called on Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to spearhead the effort, directing him to coordinate with other relevant departments and agencies.
“I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs),” Trump wrote. “And any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters,” Trump said. “GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
In January 2026, Republican Missouri Rep. Eric Burlison called for UFO disclosures and stronger whistleblower protections, saying lawmakers had been given “marching orders” to press for transparency on unidentified aerial phenomena.
“I’m looking forward to actually getting my hands on any kind of real physical evidence — whether that’s material evidence or biological samples, maybe from the corpse … at the end of the day, I remain skeptical until I get my hands on physical evidence. But until then, I’m going to take it seriously investigating myself,” Burlison told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
In November 2023, former military and intelligence figures warned the government risked a “catastrophic: leak if officials failed to proactively declassify UFO-related information. Members of Congress pushed for UAP disclosure provisions as they debated the National Defense Authorization Act, which signals bipartisan interest in releasing long-withheld records.
In December 2020, Navy personnel captured footage of a triangular object emerging from the ocean near a U.S. warship, with defense officials acknowledging they could not identify the craft. A Pentagon assessment reviewed more than 140 military encounters with unidentified aerial phenomena, concluding that most cases remained unexplained and warranted further investigation.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Department of Defense via AP)
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