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Trump says he's directing Pentagon to release any files on UFOs and "alien and extraterrestrial life"

By
Joe Walsh
Senior Editor, Politics
Joe Walsh is a senior editor for digital politics at CBS News. Joe previously covered breaking news for Forbes and local news in Boston.
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Joe Walsh

/ CBS News

President Trump on Thursday directed his administration to release files on UFOs and any "alien and extraterrestrial life," an issue that has drawn decades of public fascination — and spawned more than a few wild theories.   

In a post, the president told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other agency heads "to begin the process of identifying and releasing" any relevant files. 

Mr. Trump also called for the release of "any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters." 

It's not clear what files on UFOs might be released — or what information they might contain. The Pentagon has tracked reports of what it calls unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs, for decades. But the military said in a 2024  there's no evidence that any government investigation into UAPs has confirmed the existence of extraterrestrial life.

Mr. Trump's announcement came just days after one of his predecessors, former President Barack Obama, made waves by telling a podcaster that aliens are real. He later clarified that he never saw evidence of contact between humans and extraterrestrial life during his time in the White House, and he primarily believes that extraterrestrial life is real because "statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there's life out there."  

Asked Thursday about Obama's comments, Mr. Trump told reporters he isn't sure whether or not aliens exist, but added that the former president "made a big mistake" and "gave classified information." 

"I may get him out of trouble by declassifying," Mr. Trump said.

Public interest in UAPs has grown in recent years. Pilots and military service members have reported spotting hundreds of unexplained objects in the sky, leading some lawmakers to press the Pentagon to investigate the phenomena and determine whether they pose a threat to safety or national security.  

Last year, one House Republican released a whistleblower video of a U.S. missile striking an unidentified glowing orb in the sky and bouncing off it. And in another case, a former Navy pilot told "60 Minutes" about frequent sightings of strange, fast-moving objects in restricted airspace.

A large number of UAP reports can be explained by birds, balloons, drones, satellites and other everyday phenomena, according to the military's . But many cases remain unresolved. 

"It is important to underscore that, to date, AARO has discovered no evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity, or technology," the office said in a 2024 report. The office also noted that it has "no indication or confirmation that these activities are attributable to foreign adversaries." 

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