Pentagon releases UFO files on new website

Source: TechCrunch

Announcement

The Trump administration on Friday launched a new website that will house a collection of “new, never-before-seen” files about UFOs, according to the Pentagon. The URL to the new website is .

In a public announcement by the Defense Department — which, under Trump, rebranded as the Department of War — the initial set of files housed on the site will include those containing unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) videos, photos, and original source documents from across the entire U.S. government. The materials have been reviewed for security purposes, but many have “not yet been analyzed for resolution of any anomalies,” the Department’s statement read.

The collection will also grow over time as additional files are released on a “rolling basis.”

Contents of the Release

• Unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) videos
• Photographs related to UAP incidents
• Original source documents from various U.S. government agencies

All materials have undergone a security review, though many remain unanalyzed for specific anomalies.

Historical Background

The release follows the December 2017 news story broken by The New York Times, Politico, and others, about a $22 million classified Pentagon program called the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), which investigated military encounters with unknown objects.

Public Interest and Cultural Impact

Since then, interest in UAPs—now the modern term for UFOs—has grown among the public, fueling concerns about what’s in our skies, as was the case with the 2024 U.S. drone sightings. Modern factors such as SpaceX launches and the proliferation of satellites have complicated efforts to determine what is truly unexplained.

The government’s funding of the Pentagon program has also influenced pop culture in recent years, reflected in films like 2023’s Jules, Bugonia, and Steven Spielberg’s upcoming film “Disclosure Day”, which references government cover‑ups around the topic.

Interagency Collaboration

According to the Pentagon, the release of the UFO files is the result of an interagency effort called the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE). This initiative includes:

• The White House
• Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI)
• Department of Energy (DOE)
• Department of Defense’s All‑Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
• Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
• Components of other U.S. intelligence agencies

Related Developments

Independent news site 404 Media reported in March that the Executive Office of the President had registered the domain aliens.gov; however, that site is not active at this time.