he United States Department of Defense began to disclose documents held by the US government containing information on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP). The Pentagon also published this suggestive “composite sketch.” Credit: www.war.gov/UFO/
The announcement has been more sensationalist and far less revealing. The United States Department of Defense began this Friday to comply with President Donald Trump’s order to disclose documents held by the US government containing information on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP). Although the move reignited a debate that opened back in the 1940s and gave wings to those who defend the idea of extraterrestrial life, so far there has been no surprising revelation about the existence of aliens, and even less any conclusive evidence.
Thus, this Friday dozens of PDF documents, videos and images labeled with the attractive description “never seen before” were released to the public, a label that will always attract curiosity. All of this is enriching the website war.gov/ufo, which will be updated each week with new material. The website features a retro design concept within the technological world, highlighting white text on an overwhelming black background. The shock for the more skeptical has been to encounter blurry photographs that say nothing about the enigmatic and elusive extraterrestrials.
The site war.gov/ufo launched with 161 items, including diplomatic cables, interviews with witnesses describing alleged encounters with UAP, and images captured on film during the Apollo 12 (1969) and Apollo 17 (1972) space missions. It also includes photographs taken from the Moon during that last mission, never seen before, as well as transcripts of communications between the spacecraft’s pilots.
The publication of these documents had been announced by President Trump last February on his social network Truth. There he expressed his desire to release materials such as those published this Friday. “In view of the great interest shown, I will direct the Secretary of War [Pete Hegseth] and other relevant departments and agencies to begin the process of identifying and releasing government files related to extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena and unidentified flying objects, as well as any other information related to these highly complex but extremely interesting and important matters,” he wrote at the time.
UFO squad or Trump smoke screen?
And this Friday, the US president, on the same social network, defended the publication of the documents. He said it is “an effort to achieve total and maximum transparency.” In an additional comment, he sought to draw people’s attention, but also made it clear that he has not seen anything he finds particularly surprising. “With these new documents and videos, people can decide for themselves: ‘WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?’. Have fun and enjoy!” he wrote, as if promoting a movie or television program.
The process of publishing these documents was accelerated after an exchange of statements with Barack Obama, who had said in a podcast that these phenomena “are real,” although he denied having evidence of secret installations. The world was shaken by this statement from the former president, and Trump accused him of revealing classified information. For that reason, he decided to move ahead by publishing the entire catalog in order to demonstrate the supposed “total transparency” of his administration.
The publication of the documents is also seen by Trump’s critics as a smokescreen to distract public attention at a time when the president is recording very low approval ratings, breaking historic lows, due, among other things, to the already prolonged war against Iran, which he promised to end within weeks but which has continued with dangerous consequences not only for the United States (including rising gasoline prices), but also for the global economy.
It also coincides with the lunar mission of the Artemis II spacecraft, which once again placed the United States at the forefront of the space race and reignited enthusiasm for space-related topics. Those who believe in aliens will find in the war.gov/ufo site reasons and clues to reaffirm their convictions. On the contrary, skeptics will continue waiting for that image, that unmistakably clear video, which proves the existence of life in outer space.