Pentagon releases first documents on UFOs but fails to impress skeptics

The Pentagon opened UFO archives at Trump’s initiative

President Donald Trump instructed the Pentagon to declassify materials related to unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) – that is, “UFOs.” First in the public set were photographs, video clips and documents from five federal agencies: the Pentagon, the Department of Energy (DOE), NASA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the White House, and the FBI.

How experts react

*Scientific American* surveyed specialists on the topic. Most believe that nothing groundbreaking is in the published data: it will more likely fuel existing speculation than destroy it.

Physicist and former head of AARO (AARO) Sean Kirpatrick noted: “The declassification itself contains no surprises; without subsequent analysis it merely feeds conspiracy theory and pseudoscience, especially among political provocateurs.”

Why this happened

In February Trump directed the Pentagon and other agencies to gather and publish materials on “alien life,” “unidentified aerial phenomena,” and “unidentified flying objects.” In 2021 a Pentagon report was already published that found no evidence of extraterrestrial origin in the observations. NASA continues to study UFOs for decades; its independent scientific report of 2023 also did not find traces of alien activity.

What exactly was revealed

- Photographs from American military aircraft: blurry spots that had been previously published.

- Footage from the “Apollo” missions: astronauts recorded unidentified patches above the lunar surface.

- Recordings of conversations with Buzz Aldrin: in one dialogue he describes an object that could have been a debris fragment from a Saturn V launch vehicle.

Reaction of the Minister of War

Minister Pete Hegseth posted on social media that “secret” materials had long fueled reasonable speculation and that Americans should now see them with their own eyes. He called the publication proof of the Trump administration’s commitment to openness.

Opinion of independent researchers

UFO skeptic Mike West noted that new video recordings and pilot reports appeared in the set, but “nothing truly interesting” has been found yet.