The Department of War (DOW) released a batch of U.S. government documents related to unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) on Friday, as part of the rollout of its new Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE).
“These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation,” said U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in a statement accompanying the release on Friday, adding that “it’s time the American people see it for themselves.”
“This release of declassified documents demonstrates the Trump Administration’s earnest commitment to unprecedented transparency,” Hegseth said.
“Today’s release is the first in what will be an ongoing joint declassification and release effort,” said Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard in a statement on Friday.
According to supplemental information made available at the new PURSUE web page, which was featured on a portion of the DOW’s website that can be found here, the new release follows an announcement by President Donald Trump earlier this year, where he revealed on his Truth Social website that he would be directing Hegseth and Pentagon officials to oversee the release of UAP-related materials.
“In response to President Donald J. Trump’s directive for transparency on U.S. government information regarding Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), the Department of War (DOW), with support from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), is overseeing government wide efforts to expeditiously find, review, identify, declassify and publicly release unresolved UAP-related records and historical documents in the federal government’s possession,” read a statement accompanying the new release, which appeared at the website of the DOW on Friday morning.
A composite image recreation included in the new DOW release, which featured the following contextual information: “Actual site photo with FBI Lab rendered graphic overlay depicting corroborating eyewitness reports from September 2023 of an apparent ellipsoid bronze metallic object materializing out of a bright light in the sky, 130-195 feet in length, and disappearing instantaneously.”
(Image Credit: DOW/FBI)
Characterizing the new effort under PURSUE as “an unprecedented, historic undertaking,” the statement added that the DOW’s efforts under Trump’s directive require “coordination between dozens of agencies and the review of tens of millions of records, many existing only on paper, spanning many decades.”
Friday’s release, which includes a trove of U.S. military imagery depicting what appear to be unidentified aerial objects, as well as NASA imagery from the Apollo era, and a collection of files from agencies that include the FBI, DOW, Department of State, and NASA from over the years, are said to be the first of an ongoing series of releases under the President’s PURSUE initiative.
“Given the scope of this task, the Department of War will be releasing new materials on a rolling basis as they are discovered and declassified, with tranches posted every few weeks,” the DOW statement reads.
Historical Documents and Unresolved Cases
The recent releases feature cases that were previously unresolved, which the DOW characterizes as incidents involving purported UAP for which “the government is unable to make a definitive determination on the nature of the observed phenomena,” citing insufficient data and other factors that may account for this.
The DOW says that it “welcomes the application of private-sector analysis, information and expertise” in the further evaluation of the UAP records it has released. “DOW will continue to conduct separate reporting on resolved UAP cases, as mandated by statute.”
“Under this Administration, we will pursue the truth and share our findings with the American people,” the DOW statement reads.
It remains unclear whether any formal directives or other Presidential actions were behind the new release of UAP records. Last year, a similar release of long-classified records was secured with the issuance of a formal Executive Order by President Trump, which led to the release of some new files related to the assassination of John F. Kennedy, although many of the files in that release had previously been made available.
Along similar lines, some of the UAP-related documents made available in the new DOW release appear to have been publicly available in various formats previously, including several documents related to past FBI inquiries into reports of aerial phenomena.
Fewer Redactions on Previously Available UAP Files
Significantly, the new versions appearing on the DOW’s PURSUE page are reportedly released with fewer redactions than previous versions made available by the FBI.
A summary accompanying Friday’s re-release of the FBI’s 62-HQ-83894 case file, which features “investigative records, eyewitness testimonies, and public reports concerning Unidentified Flying Objects and flying discs documented between June 1947 and July 1968,” notes that the originals released by the FBI were incomplete.
The FBI’s 62-HQ-83894 case file, as shown in the recent DOW UAP release
(Image Credit: FBI/DOW).
“This file is partially posted on [the] FBI vault with more redactions and some pages missing. Included here is the complete case file with several newly declassified pages and only minor redactions,” the DOW summary states.
Although some of the newly released files do feature redactions, the DOW states that these were only made “to protect the identity of eyewitnesses, the location of government facilities, or potentially sensitive information about military sites not related to UAP.”
“No redactions have been made to any files released under President Trump’s directive concerning information about the nature or existence of any encounter reported as a UAP or related phenomena,” the DOW’s website states.
FBI Director Kash Patel said on Friday that his agency “remains committed to supporting this rolling declassification effort with the same rigor and integrity we bring to every national security matter.”
“As these files continue to be reviewed and released, the American people can be confident that their security remains our highest priority,” Patel said.
NASA Administrator Jared Issacman said he applauded the new effort, which he said will “bring greater transparency to the American people on unidentified anomalous phenomena.”
“At NASA, our job is to bring the brightest minds and most advanced scientific instruments to bear, follow the data, and share what we learn,” Issacman said on Friday. “We will remain candid about what we know to be true, what we have yet to understand, and all that remains to be discovered.”
What the New Records Reveal
In advance of the release, expectations about what the Trump Administration might reveal ranged from the otherworldly to the likelihood that little new information would be made available.
Based on Friday’s release, very little of the documentation appearing at the DOW’s website provides significant new insights into the nature of UAP, and the new web page appears to be poised mostly to serve as a one-stop clearinghouse for various past U.S. government records related to the subject.
Several images and videos included with the initial PURSUE release constitute UAP imagery that had been assessed by the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), and which are currently characterized as unresolved UAP reports.
Also notable from the new release are the inclusion of a series of historic NASA images that have been modified to include “highlighted areas of interest” which emphasize what appear to the unexplained objects. Among the images are photos from the Apollo era, including lunar photography “in which unidentified phenomena are visible,” according to the newly modified PURSUE versions of these images.
It remains unclear whether the “areas of interest” in these images are merely photographic artifacts, reflections, or if they represent genuine physical objects, although the PURSUE versions of these historic NASA images are accompanied by a statement emphasizing that the highlighted portions “do not constitute an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination regarding the nature or significance of the subject matter.”
In one incident report included with the release, a series of events that reportedly occurred over two days in 2023 describes observations of unusual orange “orbs” that appeared to emit or release smaller reddish orbs.
An incident report in the recent DOW release labeled “Western US Event” described observations of unusual orbs over a period of two days
(Image Credit: DOW).
The sightings, observed by three teams of federal law enforcement special agents, are reportedly deemed significant by AARO based on “contextual factors” that include the credibility of the reporters, which the PURSUE release states “combine to make this report among the most compelling within AARO’s current holdings.”
Despite its apparent significance, no technical information, including imagery or other data, apparently accompanied the report.
What’s Next
In a statement that appeared on her X account, Representative Anna Paulina Luna called Friday’s release “a great first step,” adding that “Additional releases are expected in the coming weeks.”
“A second tranche of documents, including additional requested video footage, is anticipated within approximately 30 days,” Luna wrote, seemingly in reference to several videos depicting UAP that she and other lawmakers have reportedly learned of, which they have requested to be released to the public.
On Friday, a DOW statement accompanying the first PURSUE release also affirmed that additional collections of UAP records will be made available in the days ahead.
“DOW will continue to conduct separate reporting on resolved UAP cases, as mandated by statute,” the statement read.
“Under this Administration, we will pursue the truth and share our findings with the American people.”
The complete contents of PURSUE Release 01 can be found at the DOW’s official UFO web page.
- Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.
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US government declassifies nearly 200 UAP files, including strange sightings from Apollo astronauts
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