President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday released the UFO Files – dozens of documents on alleged UFO sightings and alien and extraterrestrial life. However, the photos and videos have only sparked more questions around the infamous Area 51 and Roswell theories.
What’s in the UFO Files?
Among the roughly 170 declassified files were materials tied to NASA’s Apollo missions, including a photo labeled ‘unidentified phenomena’ captured from the moon during the Apollo 12 mission in 1969. Another document included a transcript from the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 in which astronauts discussed mysterious objects drifting near their spacecraft.
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In the transcript, Apollo 17 pilot Ronald Evans told mission control: “A few very bright particles or fragments or something that go drifting by as we maneuver.”
“Roger. Understand,” mission control replied.
The files were released as part of President Donald Trump’s broader push to declassify records tied to UFOs and unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs).
‘See it for themselves’
Hegseth defended the move and said the administration wanted to address years of speculation surrounding classified government records.
“These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation – and it’s time the American people see it for themselves,” Hegseth said in a statement.
Trump also celebrated the release and encouraged the public to draw its own conclusions after reviewing the documents and videos.
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“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?,” Trump said in a statement. “Have fun and enjoy!”
The disclosure effort was welcomed by several lawmakers who have long pushed for public access to UFO-related records, including Representatives Tim Burchett and Anna Paulina Luna. Luna indicated another batch of material could arrive within about 30 days.
Still, not everyone viewed the release positively.
Former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene accused the administration of using the UFO disclosures to divert attention away from issues including the U.S. military campaign involving Iran and continued demands for additional records tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“I really don’t care about the UFO files. I just don’t. I’m so sick of the ‘look at the shiny object’ propaganda,” Greene wrote on X, platform formerly known as Twitter.
Popular Area 51 and Roswell questions
However, several questions are unanswered. Social media users brought up theories about Area 51 and the Roswell files.
What happened in Roswell?
In July 1947, personnel from the nearby Roswell Army Air Field announced they had recovered a ‘flying disc’ from a ranch near Roswell. The military quickly retracted the statement and said the debris was actually from a weather balloon.
That reversal triggered decades of speculation that: an alien spacecraft crashed, extraterrestrial bodies were recovered, and the US government covered it up.
One famous document is the 1947 FBI memo sent to Director J Edgar Hoover mentioning reports of recovered ‘flying discs’.
In the 1990s, the US Air Force released detailed investigations concluding the debris likely came from ‘Project Mogul’, a secret Cold War surveillance balloon program designed to detect Soviet nuclear tests.
Area 51, meanwhile, is a top-secret Air Force facility in Nevada, notoriously linked to alien conspiracy theories, including claims of housing extraterrestrial spacecraft and bodies. There is no evidence of aliens there.
The latest UFO Files release did not mention Area 51 or Roswell. “Are you going to release Area 51 photographs?” one social media user asked.
“Where is the Roswell evidences? Bodies and the spacecraft?” another one tweeted.
