The Pentagon just started releasing UFO files, but skeptics say they’re not impressed
The Pentagon’s first UFO file includes photographs, videos and documents gathered in an effort involving several government offices and agencies, including the FBI, the White House and NASA.
By Adam Kovac edited by Claire Cameron
Public domain
The Pentagon begins releasing files related to unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) or unidentified flying objects (UFO). The government has said the efforts are aimed at increasing transparency, but experts say Scientific American that the files have “nothing unexpected”.
THE collection is created as part of an interagency effort that includes the Pentagon, the Department of Energy, NASA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the White House, as well as the FBI and other U.S. intelligence agencies. It includes photographs, videos and documents collected from different federal agencies. Some of the photographs are similar to previously published images showing blurred spots seen from US military aircraft, while others were taken by Apollo. Astronauts show unidentified spots above the Moon’s surface.
Release comes after President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon and other federal agencies to identify and release government files related to “extraterrestrial and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena, and unidentified flying objects” via a social media post in February. Previously, in 2021, the The Pentagon released a report on the UAP which found no evidence linking such phenomena to aliens or extraterrestrial activity.
On supporting science journalism
If you enjoy this article, please consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribe. By purchasing a subscription, you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
“These records, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation – and it’s time for the American people to see it for themselves,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a statement. statement posted on social media on Friday. “This release of declassified documents demonstrates the Trump administration’s serious commitment to unprecedented transparency.”
Physicist and former director of the Pentagon’s All Domain Anomaly Resolution Office Sean Kirkpatrick says the files are likely to fuel speculation rather than appease him.
“There is nothing unexpected about their release. And without any analysis or context, [it] will only serve to fuel more speculation, conspiracies and armchair pseudoscience, particularly from the political theater company Playhouse,” he says.
Independent researcher and UAP skeptic Mick West says that while the publication includes new videos and pilot reports, there is “nothing really interesting” to be found so far. “More dots, more parallax,” he says.
Some files include debriefings with Apollo-era astronauts. In one of these documents, Buzz Aldrin describes seeing what may have been a piece of a Saturn V launch vehicle, the NASA rocket that helped propel the Apollo missions into space.
Current NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman welcomed the publication. “At NASA, our job is to bring in the brightest minds and most advanced scientific instruments, track the data, and share what we learn,” he said in the same social media statement. “We will remain candid about what we know to be true, what we have not yet understood, and everything that remains to be discovered. »
NASA has been conducting its own research on the UAP for decades. And in 2023, the agency published an independent report scientific report which found no evidence that UAP sightings or other reports were in any way linked to extraterrestrial activity.
Editor’s Note (5/8/26): This is a developing story and may be updated.
It’s time to defend science
If you enjoyed this article, I would like to ask for your support. Scientific American has been defending science and industry for 180 years, and we are currently experiencing perhaps the most critical moment in these two centuries of history.
I was a Scientific American subscriber since the age of 12, and it helped shape the way I see the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of respect for our vast and magnificent universe. I hope this is the case for you too.
If you subscribe to Scientific Americanyou help ensure our coverage centers on meaningful research and discoveries; that we have the resources to account for decisions that threaten laboratories across the United States; and that we support budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.
In exchange, you receive essential information, captivating podcastsbrilliant infographics, newsletters not to be missedunmissable videos, stimulating gamesand the best writings and reports from the scientific world. You can even give someone a subscription.
There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you will support us in this mission.
