Meanwhile, the Department of Defense established the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office in 2022. And NASA commissioned an independent study on UAPs.<\/p>\n
Ryan Graves, a former Navy fighter pilot and the founder of Americans for Safe Aerospace, testified at a congressional hearing on UAPs<\/a> in the summer of 2023. Friday, he expressed cautious excitement for what the release of government documents could bring.<\/p>\n \u201cI wonder if we’re not going to see what people have been suggesting the government has been working on for many decades,\u201d Graves said. \u201cI think we need to be perhaps a bit cautious in our expectations. There was no discussion of declassifying any information, just releasing (it). So, I wonder if this will remain only a release of information that is really hard for us to even make out what’s happening. So, are we really going to get the goods or not? I think that’s what everyone’s wondering. I’m wondering that, too.”<\/p>\n Graves called Trump\u2019s announcement a big moment. And he said it could go a long way in destigmatizing UAP reporting.<\/p>\n Graves started Americans for Safe Aerospace<\/a> to raise awareness about UAPs as a matter of national security, aerospace safety and scientific inquiry.<\/p>\n \u201cThere’s been an incredible swell of reports from pilots on this issue, (but) they still don’t feel comfortable reporting,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd if the United States government, the president himself, has validated this as an issue, I think the market has no choice but to react and start to integrate this information. And I think we’re going to learn a lot about what’s been happening up there.\u201d<\/p>\n The congressional hearings have only touched on a \u201ctiny sliver of what’s going on,\u201d Graves said.<\/p>\n The latest AARO report on UAPs, which was released in late 2024, touched on hundreds of cases, including some the Pentagon couldn\u2019t explain<\/a>.<\/p>\n But the report said there was no evidence of extraterrestrial life, activity or technology on Earth. And the cases that were resolved involved commonplace objects such as balloons, birds, drones, satellites and aircraft.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the airspace gets more complicated, it’s going to be harder for us to maintain authority over our airspace, and we need to have the systems in place to be able to not just quickly detect something but identify what it is and make a decision on how to act,\u201d Graves said.<\/p>\n Trump cited the \u201ctremendous interest\u201d in aliens and UAPs<\/a> as a reason he was ordering the release of government files.<\/p>\n But Trump himself doesn\u2019t proclaim to be a believer in alien visitors.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I don’t know if they’re real or not,\u201d Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump talks to reporters on board Air Force One on February 19, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n \u201cI don’t have an opinion on it,\u201d he continued. \u201cI never talk about it. A lot of people do. A lot of people believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump was asked about Obama\u2019s recent comments to podcast host<\/a> Brian Tyler Cohen, in which the former president said aliens are real, but he hasn\u2019t seen them.<\/p>\n Obama was asked about the existence of aliens during a rapid-fire question segment toward the end of the podcast.<\/p>\n Obama later clarified<\/a> that the universe is so vast that the odds are good there\u2019s life out there somewhere. But he said he saw no evidence during his presidency that extraterrestrials made contact with us.<\/p>\n![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/89cdd6df-6800-471c-99f1-c15c3039b3b3-GettyImages2262520297.jpg\"\/)
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