Trump Orders Release of Government Files on Aliens, UFOs

President Donald Trump is ordering government agencies to release information about extraterrestrial life and related phenomena, according to a late night Feb. 19 Truth Social post.

“Based on the tremendous interest shown, I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters. GOD BLESS AMERICA!” Trump wrote.

The post followed former President Barack Obama’s comments on alien life in a podcast interview on Feb. 14.

In the interview with podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen, Obama was asked whether aliens were real, to which he replied: “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them—and they’re not being kept in [Area 51]. There’s no underground facility, unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States.”

After the interview went viral, Obama said in an Instagram post that he was “trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round,” adding that “the odds are good there’s life out there” but the chances that humans have been visited by aliens are “low.” Obama said he saw no evidence during his presidency that aliens made contact.

On Feb. 19, during a press gaggle on Air Force One, Trump was asked about Obama’s answer, and he responded that Obama was disclosing “classified information.”

“He’s not supposed to be doing that,” Trump said.

The president said that he does not have an opinion on the existence of aliens, but he noted that “a lot of people do” before asking Fox News reporter Peter Doocy whether he believed in aliens.

“Well, if the president can declassify anything that he wants to, so if you want to make an announcement,” Doocy said.

Trump interrupted the reporter and replied, “I may get [Obama] out of trouble by declassifying.”

Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force

During Trump’s first term, the U.S. government established the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force.

According to an Aug. 4, 2020, statement from the Department of Defense, the task force was established to improve the department’s understanding of the nature and origins of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), and the mission was to detect, analyze, and catalog UAPs that could threaten national security.

“The Department of Defense and the military departments take any incursions by unauthorized aircraft into our training ranges or designated airspace very seriously and examine each report,” the statement reads. “This includes examinations of incursions that are initially reported as UAP when the observer cannot immediately identify what he or she is observing.”

In 2021, a report was submitted to Congress that assessed the threat posed by UAPs and the progress made by the task force in understanding the issue.

However, because of a lack of “high-quality” information, the report could not conclusively state whether UAPs were of extraterrestrial origin.

Although some UAPs exhibited “unusual flight characteristics,” these could be due to “sensor errors, spoofing, or observer misperception,” the report stated.

The issue of UFOs again came to the fore in 2023 during the Biden administration when members of the House of Representatives claimed that the U.S. government was withholding information about them from Congress and the American people.

“The lack of transparency regarding UAPs has fueled speculation and debate for decades, eroding public trust in the very institutions that are meant to serve and protect them,” Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) said during a hearing on July 26, 2023.

Grothman was chair of the House Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs.

At the time, the White House acknowledged that there had been unexplained aerial phenomena reported by pilots, the Navy, and the Air Force.

“These phenomena have, in some cases, had an impact on our training ranges, on our pilots’ ability to fly, train, operate, and stay ready,” then-White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said during a press briefing. “That alone makes it a national security issue worth looking at. We don’t know; we don’t have the answers about what these phenomena are.”

According to a Defense Department statement on Nov. 24, 2024, a UAP report from the department’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) noted that the office received 757 UAP reports from May 1, 2023, to June 1, 2024, with 485 of them happening within the reporting period.

“Only a very small percentage of reports to AARO are potentially anomalous, but these are the cases that require significant time, resources, and a focused scientific inquiry by AARO and its partners,” AARO Director Jon Kosloski said.

“It is also important to underscore that to date, AARO has discovered no verifiable evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity or technology. None of the cases resolved by AARO [has] pointed to advanced capabilities or breakthrough technologies.”

The Pentagon has no explanations for some of the unsolved UAP cases, Kosloski testified to the U.S. Senate on Nov. 19, 2024.

Jacob Burg contributed to this report.