Trump Orders Release of Government UFO and Alien Files

A directive announced by former President Donald Trump on February 19, 2026, will initiate a process to declassify and release government files related to Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) and potential extraterrestrial intelligence. The move signals a continuation of a broader trend toward government transparency on a subject long relegated to the fringes, though expectations for revelatory disclosures of alien technology remain low.

The directive aligns with a significant legislative and policy shift in Washington regarding what the government now officially terms Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP). This term was updated in 2022 to replace UFO, broadening the scope to include objects in air, sea, and space. This effort follows recent legislative mandates, most notably the UAP Disclosure Act of 2023, which was passed as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). That legislation requires government agencies to transfer UAP-related records to the National Archives with a presumption of immediate public release.

Background on UAP Transparency

Recent years have marked a departure from decades of official secrecy. The Pentagon's official declassification and release of three UAP videos on April 27, 2020, confirmed the authenticity of footage captured by Navy pilots in 2004 and 2015 that had circulated publicly for years. This was followed by a landmark unclassified report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) in June 2021.

According to the ODNI's preliminary assessment, U.S. government sources reported 144 UAP incidents between 2004 and 2021. Of these, only one was identified with high confidence as a large, deflating balloon. The remaining 143 cases were left unexplained, highlighting significant data collection and analysis challenges for the intelligence community.

To address these challenges, the Department of Defense has formalized its investigative efforts. The Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF), established in 2020, was succeeded in 2022 by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). The AARO is tasked with synchronizing efforts across the U.S. government to detect, identify, and attribute objects of interest that could pose a threat to national security.

Scientific Interest and Official Stance

While the government's focus remains on potential national security threats from advanced terrestrial adversaries, the lack of conventional explanations for many UAP sightings has fueled growing academic interest. Recent studies have begun to apply rigorous scientific methods to historical data. For instance, a study published in Scientific Reports by Dr. Beatriz Villarroel of the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics analyzed astronomical photographic plates from the 1950s. The research found that mysterious bright spots were 45% more likely to appear within a three-day window of nuclear weapons tests, leading Dr. Villarroel to state, "I cannot find any other consistent explanation than that we are looking at something artificial."

Despite such intriguing findings, the official government position remains cautious. A Pentagon spokesperson has stated that the department "has not found any verifiable evidence that any UAP observation represented extraterrestrial activity." The statement also affirmed that the DOD has not discovered verifiable information to substantiate claims of past or present programs involving the possession or reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial materials. This suggests that any recovered exotic technology, if it exists, would likely be held by private defense contractors, away from direct government oversight and therefore potentially outside the scope of declassification orders.

What to Expect from the Directive

The forthcoming releases are expected to include more declassified videos, sensor data, and witness reports from military personnel. While this will provide valuable data for public and academic analysis, it is unlikely to produce a

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