The Pentagon has published an investigation into the existence of UFOs. What you need to know

US President Donald Trump has released the data available to the United States on unidentified flying objects (UFOs). But the photographs, videos, and testimonies released by the Pentagon did not answer the question of whether extraterrestrial civilizations exist, and, in fact, did not contain any sensationalism. What was the reaction to the publication and why these materials were disclosed right now — in the Izvestia article.

What's in the files

• 161 materials published by the Pentagon contain photographs, videos and evidence from 1947 to 2025, including a photograph and a transcript of the description by the participants of the Apollo 17 lunar mission of unidentified objects seen from the surface of the moon in 1972. At the same time, the researchers agree that there is no new evidence of the existence of extraterrestrial life in the published materials, and the images may have a completely prosaic explanation — from optical distortions to stray weather balloons.

• Trump warned that the investigation into the published files has not been completed and the government cannot draw a conclusion about the nature of the phenomena reflected in the documents. Despite Trump's promise to open previously unpublished materials to the public, UFO researchers state that most of the files published in May were submitted earlier by the administration of former US President Joe Biden. The next publication is expected in a month.

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The United States has been investigating UFO reports since the 1940s. U.S. presidents have been paying attention to the disclosure of reports on unidentified flying objects since the 1970s. Additional interest in the topic was spurred by the publication in 2017 of an article about The Pentagon's secret program for the study of aerospace threats in The New York Times. In July 2022, on behalf of the US Congress and in the interests of national security, the Pentagon created the Anomaly Investigation Directorate (AARO), which studies unidentified objects on land, at sea and in space. Two years earlier, the term "unidentified flying object" (UFO) was replaced in official documents by "unidentified aerial phenomenon" (UAP), probably due to the fact that the former name was compromised in American popular culture.

Reaction to the publication

• The researchers reacted critically to the publication of the files. Former AARO director Sean Kirkpatrick is confident that publishing the files without expert comments will not answer the question of the existence of aliens and will not reassure people who believe that the government is hiding the truth about UFOs: conspiracy theories may become even more. According to him, during his time at AARO, he discovered that sometimes the myth of UFOs is intended to hide secret defense programs. Astrophysicists explain UFO sightings by saying that people are simply unfamiliar with optical, climatic, and astronomical phenomena.

Ufologists and people who are passionate about UFOs were disappointed because the published documents did not provide any sensations or convincing facts about the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations. In fact, the publication of the Pentagon files confirmed only that the US government is investigating reports of anomalies. The growing interest in the topic of UFOs in society, according to an American study in 2017, may be explained by a decrease in religiosity while maintaining the need for the search for meaning in life among the US population. In fact, UFOs are becoming a new religion for Americans.

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• Congressmen from the Republican Party of the United States Tim Burchett and Anna Paulina Luna welcomed the publication of materials about UFOs and called it "a step in the right direction." Many of Trump's supporters in Congress insisted on disclosing the materials, but some considered the timing to be unfortunate. Trump recalled that he had promised voters to disclose information about the government's most high-profile investigations, and information about UFOs was among them.

Why are the files published now?

• Trump's statement on the disclosure of Pentagon UFO files followed an interview with former US President Barack Obama. During a conversation with a journalist, he stated that aliens exist, although he did not see any evidence of this. At the same time, the Western media consider the publication of the Pentagon materials not so much Trump's emotional reaction to Obama's interview as an attempt to divert public attention from the conflict in Iran, where the United States is unable to achieve a convincing victory. Former Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green said the UFO files were intended to reduce public pressure over the Trump administration's publication of Epstein's files.

• The press notes that the disclosure of UFO data occurred in anticipation of the premiere of Steven Spielberg's science fiction film Disclosure Day, which tells how the government reveals the existence of aliens. The film is scheduled to premiere in the United States on June 12. It is not known whether the US president was aware of this fact when planning to publish the files, but given Trump's desire for spectacular gestures, this option is also possible.