Nick Pope, the Man Who Ran the British Government’s UFO Desk, Has Died. He Was 60.

Nick Pope died on April 6, 2026, at his home in Tucson, Arizona. He was 60. His wife Elizabeth Weiss announced his passing on X. In his final weeks, as Stage IV esophageal cancer spread to his liver, he continued giving interviews from home and spent his remaining days watching British comedy shows with Weiss, who described him as a wonderful husband. Pope worked as a civil servant for the UK Ministry of Defence for 21 years. From 1991 to 1994 he ran the MoD’s UFO desk — officially Secretariat (Air Staff) 2a — where his duty was to investigate reported sightings and determine whether they posed a defense risk. What he found there changed the direction of his life. His death comes at the most consequential moment in UAP disclosure history since his investigations ended. He did not live to see what the files contain.

Pope announced his diagnosis on February 12, 2026. His statement that day was characteristic of the man: measured, warm, exact, with no self-pity. “What an amazing adventure I’ve had,” he wrote. “A 21-year career at the UK Ministry of Defence, where I got involved in subjects ranging from financial policy to counter-terrorism; from military policing to UAP. And then a second career, where my previous government UAP role brought me to the attention of the world’s media, leading me to become a regular commentator on TV news shows and documentaries, as well as consulting and acting as spokesperson on various UFO and alien-themed movies, TV series and video games. The media called me the real Fox Mulder. The true highlight, of course, is life with my wonderful, beautiful and incredibly smart wife, Elizabeth.”

He added: “I can’t beat this, but I have lived a blessed and extraordinary life.”

He was right on the second point.

What He Actually Did

Pope was not a fringe figure who stumbled into UFO commentary. He was a career civil servant who was assigned to investigate the phenomenon as an official government function, at a time when the British government maintained a formal process for doing so. Between 1991 and 1994, his desk received, logged, and investigated UFO sighting reports from military and civilian sources. He assessed whether they posed any national security significance. He had access to classified information. He was bound by the Official Secrets Act.

What he found, by his own subsequent account, was that some sightings were genuinely unexplained. A significant percentage could not be attributed to misidentified conventional aircraft, atmospheric phenomena, or hoaxes. He became convinced — as a matter of professional assessment rather than personal belief — that the phenomenon deserved serious, ongoing investigation. When MoD terminated its UFO investigation program in 2009 and officially closed the desk, Pope argued publicly that the decision was premature.

His first book, Open Skies, Closed Minds, published in 1996, was an autobiographical account of his time at the UFO desk. He was careful to distinguish between what he could say from his position and what he personally believed. Over the years, he became one of the most trusted intermediaries between the classified world and the public — not because he claimed to know more than he did, but because he was scrupulous about the boundary between the two.

Investigative journalist Ross Coulthart paid tribute immediately after the news broke: “Terribly sad to hear of Nick Pope’s passing. Nick was a kind and intelligent person who threw his every ounce of energy into informing the world about the UAP secrets to which he was a witness.”

The Timing

Pope died on the same day as Westall ’66’s 60th anniversary — the largest mass UFO sighting in Australian history. He died with Congress preparing to give the Pentagon an April 14 deadline to hand over 46 classified UAP videos. He died with the files he spent decades asking governments to release still locked in classification.

In one of his final emails to NewsNation producers, he said he planned to spend his remaining days with “plenty of laughter.” His wife was with him when he died.

There is no one who will fill exactly his role. He was the inside voice — the man who had seen the official files and could speak to what they contained within the limits of what he was permitted to say. That voice is now gone. What he knew, and what he was still not permitted to fully disclose, goes with him.

Sources: NewsNation — Nick Pope, famed UFO expert, dies, wife announces (April 7, 2026) — IBTimes UK — UFO Expert Nick Pope, Who Knew Secrets, Dies After Stage 4 Cancer Battle (April 7, 2026) — Entertainment Now — Nick Pope, Ancient Aliens Host and MoD UFO Expert, Dies at 60 (April 7, 2026) — Wikipedia — Nick Pope (journalist), updated April 7, 2026