Pentagon releases declassified UFO files from various federal agencies

The Pentagon on Friday released declassified UFO files from various federal agencies, some dating as far back as the late 1940s.

­­ The documents, which the Pentagon said include "never-before-seen" files on unidentified flying objects — called unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) by the U.S. government — were being posted on a new government website.

"The American people can now access the federal government's declassified UAP files instantly. The latest UAP videos, photos, and original source documents from across the entire United States government are all in one place — no clearance required," the Pentagon said in a statement.

The department said it will release more files "on a rolling basis."

Many of the reported sightings of unidentified flying objects were clustered near active military operations, according to the files reviewed by ABC News.

A large share of the alleged encounters date back to the 1950s and 1960s, particularly in Cold War-era hotspots like Germany and the Soviet Union, according to the documents. More recent reports are concentrated in the Middle East — including around the Strait of Hormuz, Iraq and Syria — where the U.S. has maintained a substantial military presence and some of its most sophisticated monitoring capabilities.

The concentration of sightings around military activity is most likely a reflection of where the Pentagon is deploying its most advanced equipment and conducting frequent missions. The lion’s share of reported sightings comes from military pilots, according to the files. 

In all of the reported incidents, the aerial phenomena posed no apparent threat, with most encounters ending after the mysterious craft abruptly flew away.

A notable encounter took place over the course of two days in the western U.S. in 2023, according to the files. In that incident, federal law enforcement officers independently reported strange incidents involving orbs, with one reporting "orbs launching other orbs."

The Pentagon calls this "among the most compelling" of the reports it holds.

An encounter in Iraq in 2024 also reported a mysterious craft zipping across a U.S. aircraft’s surveillance systems at a high rate of speed while that crew was attacking an unrelated target.

In an account from 2025 that a senior intelligence officer relayed to the FBI, U.S. government personnel went searching for orbs where they had previously been reported.

"After searching the area with a helicopter, they found a 'super-hot' orb hovering over the ground. The orb is reported to have travelled for 20 miles at a speed too fast for the helicopter in pursuit," the government writes in its description of the FBI report.

In NASA transcripts from 1969 that are a part of this release, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin told the government he saw a "possible laser" in space. 

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

One remarkable image shows a composite sketch designed by the FBI which depicts an "an apparent ellipsoid bronze metallic object materializing out of a bright light in the sky, 130-195 feet in length, and disappearing instantaneously."

In a statement, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth touted the release as "unprecedented transparency." Some of the files are heavily redacted, including several documents with entire pages blacked out. 

However, Sean Kirkpatrick, the former head of the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, cautioned against jumping to conclusions with the new release.

“There’s nothing unexpected in the release, and without any analysis or context, will only serve to fuel more speculation, conspiracy and arm-chair pseudoscience, particularly from the playhouse politics theater company,” Kirkpatrick said in a statement to ABC News.

The release is in keeping with President Donald Trump's announcement earlier this year that he is directing agencies to make public files related to unidentified flying objects, unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) and "extraterrestrial life."

There are some redactions in the files, but this is the first time ever that complete case files have been released. In recent years, the AARO has been reviewing these historic documents and has released public summaries and reviews to the public.

So far, none of their reviews have found anything that has led them to conclude that UFOs or UAPs are extraterrestrial in origin.

Trump touted the Pentagon’s release of the first batch of UFO files on Friday, taking credit for offering transparency to the American people.

"In an effort for Complete and Maximum Transparency, it was my Honor to direct my Administration to identify and provide Government files related to Alien and Extraterrestrial Life, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, and Unidentified Flying Objects," Trump wrote on his social media platform. 

Trump added that this document release will allow the American people to "decide for themselves" what is happening with the reported sightings.

For weeks, the president has floated the release of government files on UFOs and UAPs. 

"Well, I think we're going to be releasing as much as we can in the near future. For some reason, and I guess it's just a reason, it's been in the minds of people for a long time," Trump said last month while welcoming the Artemis II astronauts to the Oval Office. 

-ABC News' Emily Chang and Christopher Boccia contributed to this report.