United States UFO files
U.S. government documents declassified in 2026
The United States UFO files, officially known as the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE), also referred to as the UFO files or the UAP files, are a collection of declassified United States government records concerning UFOs, also called unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), released by the administration of Donald Trump beginning on May 8, 2026.
The files were published through the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE), a government website created to release reviewed UAP-related material to the public. The first release included reports, photographs, videos, witness accounts, military records, astronaut transcripts, and other historical materials connected to unresolved sightings and investigations dating from 1944 and 1945 to recent years.
The initial release followed years of renewed U.S. government and congressional attention to UFOs, including the public disclosure of the Pentagon UFO videos, the creation of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), congressional hearings, and pressure from members of Congress who argued that the government should disclose more information about UFOs and alleged extraterrestrial matters. In February 2026, Trump directed federal agencies to identify and declassify records connected to UFOs and extraterrestrials.
The first release of records did not confirm the existence of extraterrestrial life. The Pentagon described the released materials as unresolved cases for which the government could not make a definitive determination based on available evidence, while some scientists and skeptics said many of the files were ambiguous, previously public, or potentially explainable as camera artifacts, balloons, debris, or unreliable eyewitness accounts.
The second release of files was on May 22, 2026. The third release was on June 12 of that same year, the fourth on July 10, and the fifth on August 7.
Background
Belief that the U.S. Government is concealing information related to non-human intelligence, aliens or extraterrestrials visiting Earth is a long-running conspiracy theory.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “United States UFO files” as u.S. government documents declassified in 2026. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as u.S. government documents declassified in 2026. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q139718826. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2026, 1944 and 1945.
Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
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Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
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- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “United States UFO files” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.