The Pentagon on Friday released a second tranche of unidentified aerial phenomena files, adding 50 videos and documents that include civilian and military testimony and new footage of objects seen over the Middle East, Syria and off Iran. The release is the latest step in a carefully staged disclosure of material that has fueled public fascination for decades.
Among the newly posted records is a 2019 video from the Middle East showing three UAP flying in formation over the Persian Gulf, a 2022 clip of four unidentified objects moving past vessels on the water off Iran, and footage taken over Syria in 2021 showing a mysterious object racing away at speed. Another clip from October 2022, taken at an undisclosed location, shows a cigar-shaped entity flying over what appears to be a residential area.
The Pentagon said the public “can ultimately make up their own minds about the information contained in these files,” echoing remarks it made on May 8 as it prepared the release. In February, Donald Trump directed the release of government files related to UAP and the possibility of extraterrestrial life, saying he had seen “tremendous interest” in the subject and that he did not know personally if aliens were real or not. The new materials follow the first reveal earlier this month, when 162 files of previously secret or rarely seen accounts of UAP sightings were posted to a government website and drew more than a billion hits.
The files come from multiple sources, including government agencies, several military branches, the FBI, the state department and Nasa, but the Pentagon has said many of the materials lack a substantiated chain of custody. Its all-domain anomaly resolution office has also said it has no evidence to suggest that any of the thousands of objects seen on video or described in written testimony is of extraterrestrial origin.
The release also places new attention on how far the government is willing to go in opening its archives while still resisting the leap some viewers want to make from unexplained to alien. That tension was already present in the old record: in October 1962, Wally Schirra orbited the Earth six times on Mercury-Atlas 8 and reported seeing “little white objects that seem to come from the” near his capsule. The Pentagon said it is working on a third release of UAP files and will announce it in the near future, ensuring the subject stays in the public view even as officials stop short of claiming anything extraterrestrial.
