The secret UFO files
From Apollo astronauts' dispatches to modern military footage, newly released files by the Trump administration reopen the debate over unidentified flying objects and other anomalous phenomena
Disclosure Day is the title of the new sci-fi film directed by Steven Spielberg, slated for release on June 12. But even before Hollywood’s latest brush with extraterrestrial intrigue arrives in theatres, the United States government has staged a disclosure event of its own, triggering a fresh wave of fascination around the subject. On May 8, Washington released the first tranche of previously classified records linked to what officials now call Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, or UAP—the contemporary and more scientific term for incidents once commonly described as UFO, or Unidentified Flying Object, sightings. The release, part of a newly created Pentagon portal called the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters, or PURSUE, has so far included 220-plus declassified documents, videos and images across two tranches, the second released on May 22. The material ranges from Cold War-era eyewitness accounts of “flying discs” to infrared footage captured by sensors on modern military platforms.