Summary explained
President Donald Trump has renewed attention on UFO-related records, telling supporters that the government is preparing to release more previously withheld documents. Speaking at a White House event honoring NASA astronauts, Trump said the administration is “going to publish a lot of things we haven’t published” and added that he thinks some of the material will be “very interesting.”
The latest remarks build on Trump’s earlier push beginning in February, when he directed federal agencies to disclose their records connected to alien life and unidentified flying objects. Since then, Trump has repeatedly hinted that additional publications are near, including remarks in April to Turning Point USA supporters in Phoenix where he said, “The first publications will begin very, very soon,” and that people could “see if that phenomenon is correct.”
Even as Trump raises expectations, skeptics point to the government’s longer-running effort to declassify material about unidentified anomalous phenomena, or FANE. Congress created an office in 2022 to investigate FANE and declassify as much material as possible; its initial report in 2024 disclosed “hundreds” of new FANE incidents but did not find evidence that the U.S. government has confirmed any alien technology, according to the report described by the Associated Press.
A Pentagon spokesperson described the next steps as continuing work inside the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, which the Pentagon said is working with the White House to publish “information about FANE never before seen.” The AP report says a second report covering more recent sightings is expected soon.
Former office director Sean Kirkpatrick, a physicist and intelligence veteran who led the unit until 2023, said Trump’s promises amount to “fanfarronería” and urged caution about what any new releases could show. Kirkpatrick said he has reviewed government records and believes there will not be a breakthrough discovery in the form of major new “explosive” evidence, and he added that viral UFO videos often have mundane explanations.
Kirkpatrick also pointed to how modern infrared cameras used by the U.S. military capture heat signatures, saying that the technology can record aircraft engines and other hot objects with a long thermal trail—an explanation he said fits the kinds of fast-moving, “pill”-shaped videos that have circulated online. He used that context to argue that there is no basis for the most dramatic expectations, including the idea that documents will show photos, or direct contact, involving extraterrestrials.
In Congress, a small group of Republicans aligned with Trump have pressed the Pentagon for more disclosures, arguing the government is not sufficiently transparent about FANE. The Federal Declassification Task Force has conducted its own review of accounts of mysterious aircraft near U.S. military installations, which the group says pose risks to national security and the armed forces.
The AP report says the group heard testimony last fall from active-duty and retired service members about encounters with FANE, including an incident described by a senior Navy officer in 2023 off the coast of California. In that account, the officer said a bright “Tic Tac”-shaped object emerged from the ocean and then joined three similar objects before the group sped away quickly, according to the AP story.
Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a veteran of the Air Force and co-chair of the task force, has criticized what she describes as inadequate transparency. In a March letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Luna asked for dozens of videos of unidentified aerial phenomena identified by whistleblowers and labeled with names including “spherical FANE in clouds,” according to the AP report; her deadline passed without delivery of any videos, the report said.
Trump’s public focus on UFOs has also echoed the intra-Capitol pressure for more material. Luna has said the Pentagon can no longer hide from the disclosure request, and the AP report says she drew attention to the topic after Trump’s order by writing on social media that the Pentagon could not continue to withhold requested documents.
Trump has also appeared skeptical about the existence of alien life while still driving attention to the records. At the Turning Point USA event, he told the audience he does not know whether he agrees with the idea, saying, “I don’t know if I” would, even as he talked about revelations. The AP report also notes that the day before the remarks in Phoenix, Trump spoke in Las Vegas near Area 51, a Cold War-era testing site that has fueled conspiracy theories about UFO activity.
Vice President JD Vance has said he is “obsessed” with UFO files and has described himself as trying to find time to investigate Area 51 since taking office. The AP report says Vance told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson that he intends to “get to the bottom of the UFO files” and said he believes reported alien sightings involve spiritual demons, citing his Christian faith.
The UFO discourse around Trump’s disclosures has spread beyond government officials, with entertainment and politics converging in mainstream attention. The AP report says that in February, former President Barack Obama drew headlines after suggesting that extraterrestrials are real, then later clarified he had not seen proof while saying there are “good probabilities” that life exists elsewhere. The AP story also references how former presidents including Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan have made claims or directed reviews involving UFO-related questions, including a 1997 review order by Clinton tied to the 50th anniversary of the Roswell incident.
Outside Washington, some UFO-focused communities have welcomed the promise of more disclosures while others have said such expectations often exceed what any new government material can provide. Greg Eghigian, a Pennsylvania State University professor who wrote a book about the history of UFO sightings, said long-time followers may still face disappointment, describing the idea of “almost no satisfaction possible” for those with strong expectations and suggesting disappointment could be “almost guaranteed” regardless of what gets released.