The US Government Just Put Its UFO Files Online. Here Is Exactly What’s In the First Batch.

On May 8, 2026, the US Department of War published the first batch of declassified UAP files to a public government website at war.gov/UFO, under a program called PURSUE — the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters. The release was ordered by President Trump pursuant to his February 20, 2026, Truth Social directive instructing the Pentagon and all relevant agencies to identify and release government files on unidentified anomalous phenomena, UFOs, and alien and extraterrestrial life. The first batch contains 162 individual records: 120 PDF documents, 28 videos, and 14 photographs. The files came from multiple agencies — 82 from the Pentagon, 56 from the FBI, 12 from NASA, 8 from the State Department, and 4 from an unidentified agency. “No clearance required,” the Pentagon wrote. After months of teasing, the files are real, they are public, and anyone can read them. Here is what researchers found in the first 48 hours.

To understand the release in context, it helps to start with what was said about it. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a statement accompanying the release, said: “These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation — and it’s time the American people see it for themselves.” Trump, on Truth Social, framed it as a direct challenge to past administrations and invited the public to judge: “Whereas previous Administrations have failed to be transparent on this subject, with these new Documents and Videos, the people can decide for themselves, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?”

Both statements framed the release as historic, which it is. No previous US administration has assembled a multiagency UAP file collection and made it freely downloadable at a single public URL. The PURSUE system was modeled on the setup the Department of Justice used when releasing the Epstein Files in December 2025. The Pentagon says it will add new tranches every few weeks as more records are discovered and declassified.

What the Files Actually Contain

The most historically significant materials in the first batch are the Apollo mission files. Six photographs from the Apollo 12 (1969) and Apollo 17 (1972) missions show the lunar surface from the landing sites, with clearly visible unidentified phenomena above the horizon.

The Apollo 12 photograph shows the lunar terrain with two highlighted zones labeled “Area 1” and “Area 2” — faint but distinct features above the horizon that the Pentagon acknowledges remain unexplained. During the Apollo 12 mission, astronaut Alan Bean reported seeing “flashes of light” that were “sailing off into space.” “It looks like some of those things are escaping the Moon,” Bean told mission control. “They really haul out of here and just press off at the stars.”

The Apollo 17 photograph — from the final moon landing in December 1972 — shows three dots in a triangular formation in the lunar sky. The Pentagon’s caption notes: “While this photo has been previously released and discussed by keen observers, there is no consensus about the nature of the anomaly. New preliminary US government analysis suggests the image feature is potentially the result of a physical object in the scene.” The DOW has opened a formal case, obtained the original film from the Apollo 17 mission, and committed to releasing the results of a full NASA and DOW analysis when complete. During Apollo 17, astronaut Harrison “Jack” Schmitt described the light phenomena as looking “like the Fourth of July out there.”

There is also a previously classified briefing from the Apollo 11 mission, in which astronaut Buzz Aldrin described seeing “little flashes inside the cabin, spaced a couple of minutes apart” while trying to sleep during the return trip, and “what appeared to be a fairly bright light source which we tentatively ascribed to a possible laser.”

The Military Encounter Reports

The roughly two dozen videos run 41 minutes total. Most show infrared camera footage of white specks moving against dark backgrounds — the format that UAP researchers have debated for years regarding camera artifact versus genuine objects. But among them is a standout: a two-minute, 57-second video from US Central Command showing infrared footage of an object flying near the ocean surface making multiple 90-degree turns at approximately 80 miles per hour. A 90-degree turn at speed is geometrically impossible for conventional fixed-wing aircraft and extremely difficult for any known aircraft at that velocity.

Other documents describe: a “triangular and metallic UAP” flying at 25,000 feet over the Mediterranean, observed by a military pilot; “one possible small UAP” in Iraq in 2022; “multiple glares or light from an unknown origin” in Syria in 2024; encounter reports from the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, Gulf of Aden, Greece, and the UAE; and an FBI infrared still image of an “unidentified object over western United States” from December 2025.

The Historical Documents

The FBI materials in the release include a partially declassified version of case file 62-HQ-83894, described as having fewer redactions than prior versions and “several newly declassified pages.” Among the historical FBI documents: a 1966 internal memo describing eyewitness accounts of small humanoid figures described as three-and-a-half to four feet tall, wearing what witnesses described as “space suits and helmets,” near unidentified craft — filed during a period the memo described as a surge of UFO sightings that year.

The FBI case file on Roswell is also included. A memo from the FBI’s Dallas field office to headquarters reports that a major in the Air Force called to inform the office that “an object purporting to be a flying disc was recovered near Roswell, New Mexico.”

Also in the batch is the French COMETA report, “UFOs and Defense: What Should We Prepare For?” — a 1999 study by the French Institute of Higher Studies for National Defence, conducted by former French military and defense officials, which concluded there was an “almost certain physical reality” of flying objects displaying “extraordinary capabilities that current science could not explain,” and that the extraterrestrial hypothesis was a “probable or credible explanation” for the roughly 5% of cases backed by radar data but still unexplained. The report was not widely circulated at the time due to copyright restrictions.

What the Files Do Not Show

The Pentagon included a disclaimer noting that language in the military memos reflects the “subjective interpretation” of individual report authors and “should not be interpreted as a conclusive indication” of what actually happened. NBC News noted that the files do not suggest any wide-ranging government confirmation of extraterrestrial contact. No document in the first batch contains an admission that the US government possesses recovered non-human craft or has had contact with non-human intelligence. What the files confirm is that credible military personnel — pilots, astronauts, drone operators, ground troops — have been documenting encounters with objects they cannot explain, and that the government has been filing those accounts for eight decades.

Additional tranches are coming. The first 162 records are at war.gov/UFO right now.

Sources: NBC News — Pentagon Releases Declassified UFO Files Including Videos and Photos (May 8, 2026) — CBS News — Pentagon Begins Releasing New UFO Files, Unveiling Dozens of Photos, Videos and Documents (May 8, 2026) — CNN — Pentagon Releases Initial Batch of Declassified Files Detailing UFOs (May 8, 2026) — NewsNation — Pentagon Releases Online UFO Photo Collection (May 8, 2026) — EarthSky — Pentagon UFO Files Released: Views from the Moon and More (May 9, 2026) — Wikipedia — United States UAP Files (updated May 2026) — WLT Report — Pentagon Releases First Batch of UFO Files (May 8, 2026) — Unexplained Mysteries — Trump’s UFO Files Are Here: Pentagon Releases First Batch of Documents (May 8, 2026) — Unexplained Mysteries — New Details of UFO and Alien Encounters Emerge from FBI Files (May 9, 2026)