Pentagon Releases Declassified UFO Files After Trump Directive
Image: Pbs
Main Takeaway
Pentagon drops 162 declassified UFO files online, including Buzz Aldrin’s Apollo 11 sighting of a "sizeable" object near the moon.
Jump to Key PointsSummary
What the Pentagon just posted
The Pentagon on Friday flicked the switch on war.gov/UFO, a bare-bones portal now hosting 162 freshly declassified files. They span every agency that’s ever looked sideways at a blip: the military, FBI, NASA, State Department, even the Energy nerds who track nukes. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called it a “historic transparency moment” and told CBS viewers “it’s time the American people see it for themselves.”
One file already lighting up phones details Buzz Aldrin’s Apollo 11 sighting. Notes from 1969 log the crew spotting a “sizeable” object near the moon and a “fairly bright light source” they briefly thought might be a laser. NASA later chalked it up to sunlight glinting off a discarded panel, but the raw cockpit transcript shows genuine cockpit chatter about the thing.
How we got here
President Trump’s February directive ordered every corner of the national-security maze to cough up its UAP secrets. The White House, DNI, DOE, NASA, and FBI are all playing along, scanning dusty shelves and redacting on the fly. Rep. Tim Burchett warns the dump “won’t all happen at once; it’ll take some time,” so expect more Friday afternoon surprises.
What’s actually inside
Beyond the Aldrin episode, the cache is a grab bag. You’ll find: - Routine pilot write-ups from the 80s and 90s (think weather balloons and misidentified Venus). - Radar tapes from Cold War scrambles where F-4s chased ghosts. - Internal memos arguing over whether to brief Congress on incidents that never panned out.
A 2024 congressional report cited in PBS coverage logged hundreds of fresh UAP encounters but still found zero confirmed alien tech. The vibe is more “oops, that was a mylar party balloon” than “hangar 18 autopsy footage.”
Why this matters
For decades the government’s go-to move was stonewall, ridicule, then lose the file. Friday’s upload flips the script. Even if the smoking-gun saucer never shows, opening the drawer chips away at the reflexive secrecy that’s haunted public trust since Roswell.
Key Points
Buzz Aldrin’s Apollo 11 crew logged a “sizeable” object near the moon in 1969; transcript now public.
162 declassified files posted at war.gov/UFO from Pentagon, FBI, NASA, and more.
Trump directive forced agencies to unseal UAP records; more batches expected.
Congressional review still finds zero confirmed alien technology in any incident.
Shift from decades of secrecy to proactive online disclosure.
Questions Answered
No. NASA later concluded the object was likely a discarded spacecraft panel reflecting sunlight, but the newly released cockpit transcript shows the crew’s real-time uncertainty.
162 declassified documents are live on war.gov/UFO as of Friday’s initial release, with more expected in future batches.
President Trump issued a directive earlier this year requiring all agencies to identify and declassify UAP-related materials.
Some portions remain blacked out for national-security reasons, but the core narratives and sensor data are largely intact.
Unlikely. The government still says zero confirmed alien tech has turned up, and these files reinforce that mundane explanations dominate.
Source Reliability
67% of sources are highly trusted · Avg reliability: 85
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