Washington Opens the Vault: UFO Files Land With a Thud

Governments have spent decades telling us there is nothing to see. Now, apparently, there is quite a lot.

By the time a government releases classified documents with great fanfare and promises of "unprecedented transparency," one is entitled to ask: unprecedented for whom?

The American public has been waiting since the 1940s for answers about what its own military has seen in the skies.

What arrived on Friday was a tranche of 160 declassified files, a handful of new videos, and, by the admission of experts themselves, no conclusive evidence of extraterrestrial life. Make of that what you will.

President Donald Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday released dozens of previously classified files on alleged UFO sightings and alien life, describing the move as offering "unprecedented transparency" to the American people, according to a Reuters report.

Why Did Trump Order the Release of Decades-Old UFO Files Now?

The documents, spanning decades, were declassified and posted online at the direction of President Trump, who had said earlier this year he would release them "based on the tremendous interest shown."

The disclosure, published through the Pentagon, covers descriptions of reported sightings by civilians on Earth and by astronauts on the Moon.

The U.S. Defense Department confirmed in a statement that the release of these long-sought documents and photos of "unidentified anomalous phenomena" would be followed by future releases as more materials are declassified.

Trump is the latest in a line of American presidents to release reports on UFOs that date back to the 1940s and were first disclosed in the late 1970s.

The renewed push reflects a broader resurgence of public interest in extraterrestrial life in the United States. In 2022, Congress held its first hearings on UFOs in 50 years, and the military has since promised greater transparency on the matter.

What Did Apollo Astronauts Actually See During Their UFO Encounters?

Among the most striking documents in Friday's release is a 1947 report describing "flying discs."

The files also include a photograph of "unidentified phenomena" taken from the Moon's surface during the Apollo 12 lunar mission in 1969, and a transcript of the Apollo 17 crew describing unidentified objects seen from the Moon in 1972, as reported by the BBC.

Apollo 17 mission pilot Ronald Evans reported "a few very bright particles or fragments or something that go drifting by as we maneuver," to which mission control replied simply: "Roger. Understand."

The files contain previously classified transcripts from astronauts aboard the Apollo 11, Apollo 12, and Apollo 17 Moon landing missions of the 1960s and 1970s.

Buzz Aldrin, the celebrated astronaut from the Apollo 11 mission, said in a 1969 interview published as part of Friday's release that he saw several inexplicable phenomena on his trip to the Moon.

"I observed what appeared to be a fairly bright light source which we tentatively ascribed to a possible laser," he said.

What Did Obama Really Mean When He Said Aliens Are Real?

Friday's release follows a chain of political moments that have kept the UFO question alive in the public imagination.

Former President Barack Obama sparked considerable interest when he said in a February interview that aliens are "real, but I haven't seen them."

He later clarified those remarks, saying that statistically the chances are that life is out there, but that he saw "no evidence" while serving as president.

Trump subsequently directed the Pentagon to release files "related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs)."

Experts who reviewed the batch said the files contained new videos of known sightings but stopped well short of delivering the revelation many had anticipated. The sky, it seems, remains full of questions.