Trump says US government will declassify its UFO files. Will we actually learn anything this time, or is this a distraction?

a man in a blue suit with a yellow tie speaks into a microphone in a richly decorated room — U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a Black History Month reception in the East Room of the White House on Feb. 18, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump has issued a statement that he will instruct the federal government to begin releasing all of its files related to UFOs, or UAP, as they're now known.

Just days after former president Barack Obama told podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen that he saw "no evidence" of alien life or a conspiracy to hide it while in office, Trump took to social media to make the announcement. "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), and any and all information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important matters," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

While many believers are hailing the announcement as another step toward disclosure, more skeptical observers point out that this is not the first time Trump has made similar promises,, nor is it the first time members of the federal government have called for the release of UFO files specifically. Will this finally be the time we learn what alien skeletons are in the U.S. government's closet? Don't count on it.

The move from Trump follows many of the promises his administration campaigned on, including promising greater transparency from the federal government. Trump's administration has even gone so far as to call itself "the most transparent administration in history" in promotional videos on the White House website.

To that end, Trump has previously promised to release U.S. government files about some of the most conspiracy-theory-laden topics out there. Just last year, for example, Trump issued an executive order calling for the release of all of the files the U.S. government has on the assassinations of President John. F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In November 2025, Trump also signed into law the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which called for the release of all unclassified records and documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, the financier indicted in 2019 for child sex trafficking.

But longtime observers point out that those moves by Trump came up short in terms of what was promised.

"Even if an official declassification order is issued regarding UAP/UFOs, what we learn from past releases like the JFK files and, more recently, Department of Justice files related to Jeffrey Epstein, is that much of the documentation will likely be released with significant redactions," Micah Hanks, a longtime researcher into the history of UFOs with relation to the U.S. intelligence community, told Space.com. "Further, some of the documentation may still be withheld altogether, based on national security concerns, which we have also observed in past releases."

We've seen such information withheld in the name of national security before. The U.S. government has routinely blocked the release of documents, images and videos of alleged or reported UFOs due to the fact that releasing them could reveal sensitive capabilities of satellites, aircraft sensors, or other technologies.

The federal government has also declassified and released large tranches of UFO files before. But none of them contained a "smoking gun" that proved the existence of extraterrestrial visitation or that the U.S. government has concealed an alien presence on Earth.

"While the President's announcement is promising for those who have advocated for broader U.S. government transparency on such issues, it remains to be seen whether anything significant will result from this," Hanks said. "And as past releases have shown, we still have every reason to anticipate that the most sensitive information currently held by the U.S. intelligence community will remain secret."

Other skeptics say there could be an ulterior motive behind Trump's announcement. "I'd be delighted if some interesting UFO files get released, especially if those files contain evidence of aliens. It would be a huge step for science and our understanding of the universe," Mick West, a science writer who has published books on how to debunk sensational claims, told Space.com. "However, I suspect this is largely performative."

West said that leaked UFO videos and other historical documents show little more than ambiguous or misinterpreted data, or even the U.S. government's "embarrassing missteps" into researching pseudoscience or paranormal topics.

a man in a suit points at a video screen in a wood-paneled room — U.S. Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray explains how a video of reported unidentified aerial phenomena was actually a misinterpretation during testimony before a House Intelligence Committee subcommittee hearing at the U.S. Capitol on May 17, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Image credit: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

But many believers and UAP disclosure proponents remain optimistic.

"It would be fantastic if President Trump could provide us with more details on anomalous objects and how they might related to aliens, and I would be delighted to be involved in any further studies related to this topic," Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb said on his YouTube channel. Loeb has previously claimed that interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS could be an alien spaceship visiting our solar system.

Some members of Congress even took to social media to praise Trump's announcement. Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who chairs the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, thanked Trump in a post on X.

"As the Chairwoman of the Task Force that investigates these subjects, we are incredibly grateful for you doing this! I look forward to going through all the footage, photos, and reports with the public!" Luna wrote.

Many critics and skeptics are likewise pointing out the timing of Trump's announcement. It coincides not only with Obama's statement about aliens earlier this week, but also with increased scrutiny on the president due to his former ties with Epstein and his appearance in documents in the U.S. Department of Justice's latest release of files related to the indicted sex trafficker.

One such critic, the comedian and talk show host Seth Meyers, called his shot last year. "We're just one Epstein story away from Trump announcing that UFOs are real," Meyers said in July 2025.

Brett is curious about emerging aerospace technologies, alternative launch concepts, military space developments and uncrewed aircraft systems. Brett's work has appeared on Scientific American, The War Zone, Popular Science, the History Channel, Science Discovery and more. Brett has degrees from Clemson University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In his free time, Brett enjoys skywatching throughout the dark skies of the Appalachian mountains.

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