The Pentagon UFO files released Friday included more than 160 previously secret records on reported sightings, including cases dating back to the 1940s, US officials said.
The US Department of War published the files on its website, where it refers to UFOs as Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, or UAPs.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth said the records had “long fueled justified speculation” and that Americans should see them directly.
One December 1947 file contains reports on “flying discs,” while a November 1948 US Air Force intelligence report marked “top secret” covers sightings of “unidentified aircraft” and “flying saucers.”
Another file describes a 2023 incident in which three teams of federal law enforcement special agents separately reported seeing orange “orbs” release smaller red “orbs” in the sky.
President Donald Trump ordered US federal agencies in February to identify and release government files related to UFOs and aliens, citing public interest in the issue.
Trump also accused former President Barack Obama of revealing classified information after Obama discussed extraterrestrial life in podcast remarks with host Brian Tyler Cohen.
Obama said extraterrestrial life was “real” but added that he had not seen it and that no one was keeping it at Area 51, the classified US military facility in Nevada.
In a March 2024 report, the Pentagon said it had found no proof that UAPs involved alien technology, adding that weather balloons, spy planes, satellites or other ordinary activity explained many sightings.
