The US government has formally launched a new public portal dedicated to the release of files relating to UFOs, extraterrestrial life, and what officials now call “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena”, or UAPs.
The website – titled the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (Pursue) – was published through the Department of War and features declassified images, military stills, infrared sensor captures, and government statements relating to unresolved aerial sightings dating back decades.
For many Americans, the move represents the strongest official acknowledgment yet of the enduring public fascination with what were once casually dismissed as “flying saucers” or the territory of conspiracy theorists and science-fiction enthusiasts.
The change in terminology from UFO to UAP reflects a broader shift inside the US military and intelligence community over the past several years. Officials increasingly use “UAP” because the phenomena being investigated may not necessarily involve conventional aircraft or even objects capable of flight in the traditional sense.
The portal includes references to sightings reported by branches of the US military in North America, the Middle East, Africa, and the Indo-Pacific region, as well as archival Apollo-era imagery and infrared footage captured by military operators.
Among the material published are references to “unresolved cases”, which the Department of War defines as incidents where the government is “unable to make a definitive determination on the nature of the observed phenomena”.
In a statement published on the site, President Donald Trump said: “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!”
The initiative appears to be part of a wider transparency push concerning historical government investigations into unexplained aerial sightings.
According to the portal, the Department of War, working alongside the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, is overseeing a “government wide effort” to identify, review, declassify and publicly release UAP-related records.
The site states that the archive will be updated incrementally, with “tranches” of material released every few weeks due to the scale of the review process.
The first batch, titled “Release 01”, was cleared for release on May 8, 2026 and contains 161 files.
United States Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said: “The Department of War is in lockstep with President Trump to bring unprecedented transparency regarding our government’s understanding of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.
“These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation – and it’s time the American people see it for themselves.
“This release of declassified documents demonstrates the Trump Administration’s earnest commitment to unprecedented transparency.”
Despite the dramatic framing, the website does not claim the government has discovered extraterrestrial life or alien spacecraft. Instead, officials repeatedly emphasize that the material concerns unresolved incidents lacking sufficient data for definitive conclusions.
Still, for believers, skeptics, and curious observers alike, the launch of the Pursue portal marks another milestone in the gradual mainstreaming of a subject that, until relatively recently, was often treated as political and cultural fringe territory.
Whether the newly released material changes public understanding of UFOs remains uncertain. But the fact that the US government is now publicly curating and releasing such files under an official transparency initiative suggests the topic has moved firmly into the political and institutional mainstream.
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