In February of 2026, President Trump announced that he’d “begin the process of identifying and releasing government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters.” The process is known officially as the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters, or PURSUE.
In the wake of this announcement, which the government referred to as one of “unprecedented transparency”, a new Steven Spielberg movie, Disclosure Day, premiered, and alien aficionados began planning “disclosure parties”. That said, many of the more serious old-school theorists were doubtful. The government is never transparent, especially when it controls the documents. “They won’t show us anything worth seeing” was the common response among those who believe firmly that our government has known about aliens for a very long time.
Disappointed Dreams
So far, the release of these “highly complex, but extremely interesting” documents has been neither complex nor interesting. The sheer amount of blackout text in the documents is enough to spark curiosity and the photos are sometimes exciting. Quite simply, the information itself is nothing you can’t hear from any alien enthusiast on your local greyhound bus.
If you’ve been an alien buff for even a few months, none of the release documents will surprise you. So far, nothing has come out that confirms or denies the existence of extraterrestrial life. Nor have any of the released files commented one way or another on the most well-known and best-documented cases of UFO sightings or UAP experiences.
Maybe, the “real” documents, full of interesting facts, are just waiting to be revealed. What’s more likely is that the trickle of minor documents, highly edited, will continue to offer reminders that government promises are made to be broken.
Disillusionment or Realism
If that sounds like jaded, 90s realism to you, you’re not wrong. When the administration promised “unprecedented transparency”, many people hoped for answers on the most famous UFO and UAP encounters in recent history. But thus far, there has been no new information on Roswell, or Phoenix, or any other well-known US encounters.
Many people wonder if the slow drip of information is designed to bury more interesting information in a sea of banalities. Perhaps it’s so that most researchers will lose interest long before any real revelations happen. Other people wonder if the administration is saving the interesting information for a time when it needs a distraction from something else. If that’s the case, we won’t see anything worth seeing until the next impeachment or pandemic makes life uncomfortable for the people in power.
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A Drop in the Bucket
Members of the administration have referred to the files yet to be released, ungrammatically, as “Holy Crap is coming”. But so far, it’s been more of a “so what?” experience. There are images and reports, some UAP testimonies from eyewitnesses, and videos of UFOs being shot down. The videos and photos are not of the best quality. Many of the photos and testimonies refer to “green orbs” or “green fireballs”.
We are still waiting for the bucket to look like something bigger than a shot glass.
The UAP Cases We’re Waiting For
If the government wants us to take the claim of transparency seriously, it needs to release at least some of the files it has on some of the best-documented cases of the 20th century: Roswell, Rendlesham, Phoenix, and others. Some of these cases took place on US soil. Americans want government transparency about those cases more than any others.
The Roswell Incident
In 1947, the US government announced that it had recovered a crashed flying disc in Roswell, New Mexico. They quickly pivoted to refer to the debris as a high-altitude weather balloon. But all official information has been consistently buried. Roswell is a military compound and closed to civilians.
There are files on Roswell, but whether they back up the weather balloon claim or undermine it remains to be seen. Some of the files in the third release date back to the time and location of the Roswell Incident. That said, they don’t shed any light on the primary incident itself. There are references to sightings of orbs and UFOs in Roswell around the time of the discovery of debris, but nothing direct.
The Phoenix Lights
In 1997, thousands of people in Arizona witnessed a massive, V-shaped light formation passing silently over the city. Some witnesses claim to have seen strange lights the night before the UAP as well, but in smaller numbers. Government officials later claimed the phenomenon was the result of flares during a military training exercise. Many witnesses remain unconvinced, however. The size, silence, and duration of the event did not seem to fit with military claims. No information on the Phonix Lights phenomenon has been released as of yet.
Rendlesham Forest
This event took place in Britain in 1980, on a UK military base being used by the US Air Force. It’s often referred to as the British Roswell. US Air Force personnel saw a triangular craft in the air, witnessed indentations in the ground that indicated the craft landed at some point, and reported elevated radiation levels. Like many other prominent incidents, Rendlesham has not been included in the released documents so far.
Looking Forward
According to President Trump’s public statements, this is a slow process, and the information released is “unresolved”. That means that while they are releasing documents, they are “unable to make a definitive determination on the nature of the phenomena”. It may be that we’re all just a little too impatient. The process of declassifying documents takes time, and much of the redacted information is removed to protect the privacy of the individuals involved.
But if PURSUE is truly interested in pursuing openness and transparency in the discussion of UFOs, UAPS, and extraterrestrial life, it needs to be a little less sluggish in its release of information.
Featured image by Danie Franco on Unsplash