Science

US declassifies UFO documents: what's really in those X-Files

The Department of Defence kicked off the initial release of government documents on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (Uap), colloquially known as UFOs, at the behest of US President Donald Trump

by Marco Trabucchi

12 May 2026

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

"I want to believe", was the inscription on the poster with a UFO behind the desk of Fox Mulder, the detective in the cult series X-Files investigating paranormal phenomena. Today, the reasons for believing in extra-terrestrials might become more solid thanks to some desecretised and published documents from NASA and the Pentagon. This was confirmed by President Trump, speaking of the need to tear down the wall of secrecy that previous governments had erected.

"As I promised, the War Department has made public thefirst tranche of documents related to UFOs and UAPs," Trump wrote on social media. "In pursuit of complete and absolute transparency, I have instructed my administration to make available all government documents concerning alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena, and unidentified flying objects. Thanks to these new documents and videos, citizens will be able to decide for themselves: "What the hell is going on?". Have fun and enjoy!"

Stati Uniti, il Pentagono pubblica nuovi documenti e video sugli Ufo

The Trump administration's decision is part of a path that has already been set in motion: as early as 2022, Congress had established a special office - the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) - and imposed progressive declassification. Trump has, however, accelerated the pace and turned up the political volume of the operation, transforming a bureaucratic fulfilment into a show, which some interpret as yet another attempt at mass distraction at a time of unfavourable polls.

UFOs, UAPs: what we are talking about

It is worth clarifying the terms before getting carried away. UFO, an acronym coined in 1952 by the US Air Force, simply means flying objects that experts have been unable to identify. UAP - Unidentified Aerial Phenomena - is an even broader category, which also includes luminous phenomena with no certain scientific explanation. Neither meaning, therefore, implies the sighting of objects of an alien nature, but of phenomena whose nature we do not know.

Ufo, le immagini del Pentagono
Photogallery12 foto

Photos and testimonials

Most of the material posted on the war.gov/ufo website concerns "previously classified UFO/UAP files, including military reports, pilot reports, radar data, and government investigations dating back decades," explains the Department of Defence. Several incidents remain officially 'unidentified' even after analysis by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (US team of experts to deal with unidentified anomalies).

Among the most discussed images are some black and white photographs taken during the Apollo 11 (1969) and Apollo 17 (1972) missions, including one shot from the lunar surface showing three small dots in the sky. The Pentagon, in its official caption, admits that 'there is no consensus on the nature of the anomaly', while indicating that it could be an 'object'.

Apparently more interesting is the image depicting an ellipsoidal metallic object. Reading the caption, however, one discovers that it is a rendering, constructed on the basis of testimonies from people who claimed to have seen something materialise 'from a bright light in the sky, 130 to 195 feet long, then instantly disappear'. Not a photo: a reconstruction. Not an insignificant detail.

In another photo from 2024, US Indo-Pacific Command personnel reported sighting a UAP (Under-Positive Alien) in the shape of an American football near Japan.

Astronauts, pilots and alleged close encounters

Among the dossiers, the undoubtedly 'juiciest' part is the alleged encounter with extraterrestrial entities. One of the hundreds of pages of the report states that "some witnesses reported seeing crew members who landed with those objects. They were three to four feet tall, wearing what appeared to be helmets and spacesuits'. Science fiction or reality? Documents report testimonies, not verify them.

The documents also contain reports from the astronauts aboard the Apollo 12 mission in 1969. During the second manned lunar landing, one of the astronauts, Alan L. Bean, reported seeing "flashes of light" that "sailed through space". "It appears that some of these objects are escaping lunar orbit," the astronaut claimed. "They are moving away at full speed and heading towards the stars." Three years later, during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, two astronauts reported seeing 'very bright' light particles. "It looks like the 4th of July out there!" said one of them, lunar module pilot Harrison "Jack" Schmitt.

Documents released and posted on the web include encounters involving Navy pilots and objects showing unusual flight behaviour. Among the most noteworthy contents are internal military memos describing "a possible small Uap (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, ed)" in Iraq in 2022, as well as "multiple flashes or lights of unknown origin" observed in Syria in 2024. US troops were stationed in Iraq and Syria at that time as part of ongoing operations against Isis.

The debate rages on, but meanwhile no evidence of alien technology

Before preparing for first contact, it is good to keep one's feet on the ground. "What Trump has made public is an archive of unresolved anomalies, not a dossier on extraterrestrials," said Adam Kovac of Scientific American, who adds that experts in the field are not surprised by any of the declassified documents and that indeed, declassification could increase speculation.

In fact, the AARO's first official report, published two years ago, had already analysed hundreds of sightings without finding any evidence that the US government had ever recovered technology of non-human origin, nor any confirmation of the existence of extraterrestrial life. In short, Mulder wanted to believe. We, for now, can only continue to watch the sky.