US President Donald Trump says he is directing federal agencies to begin identifying and releasing government records on UFOs and extraterrestrial life, a move that follows a fresh surge of public interest triggered by comments from former president Barack Obama.
“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),” Trump wrote late on Thursday.
He did not clarify whether the material would include classified documents or how much of it would ultimately be made public.
The announcement lands in a political and media environment already primed for the topic. In recent days, Obama had gone viral after suggesting in a podcast interview that aliens are “real” in a statistical sense, only to later walk the claim back in a more precise formulation.
“Since it’s gotten attention let me clarify. Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there,” he said.
“But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we’ve been visited by aliens is low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!”
Trump, who earlier criticised Obama for the initial remarks, framed the disclosure push as a response to public demand rather than a validation of extraterrestrial claims.
The institutional backdrop remains far more cautious. A Pentagon assessment released in 2024 found no evidence that unidentified aerial phenomena were linked to alien technology, attributing most cases to terrestrial explanations such as surveillance aircraft, satellites and weather balloons.
That gap — between political messaging, viral culture and the slow, methodical pace of official investigations — helps explain why the issue repeatedly resurfaces. For lawmakers, the subject offers a rare bipartisan talking point: Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, who leads a congressional task force on UAPs, welcomed the decision, while Democratic Senator John Fetterman also voiced support.
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