Headline Roundup • May 8th, 2026
Pentagon Releases "Never-Before-Seen" UAP Files
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The Pentagon Friday, at the direction of President Donald Trump, began releasing "never-before-seen" unidentified anomalous phenomenon (UAP) files.
The Details: The Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE) is an interagency effort that will release UAP files on a rolling basis at war.gov/ufo. The initial release includes 162 files; some containing photos and stills from videos along with intelligence reports and FBI case files with eyewitness testimonies. Some of the files are from NASA astronauts, containing transcripts and images from the Apollo moon missions.
For Context: Former President Barack Obama said in February that aliens were "real" during an interview with Brian Tyler Cohen. Days after this statement, Trump, while saying Obama should not have said this, also informed the public that he will instruct the government to declassify files related to the subject. There has been a bipartisan push for transparency around the topic, and a House panel has investigated claims from whistleblowers who claimed the US has obtained "nonhuman" materials. The White House has also recently started investigating the mysterious deaths and disappearances of several scientists tied to advanced research and technology.
How The Media Covered It: The New York Times (Lean Left bias) highlighted in coverage that the commitment to transparency comes from the same department that "kicked out reporters earlier this year." The New York Post (Lean Right) mentioned that Trump also mandated the release of records related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. Fox News (Right) highlighted Trump's statement following Obama's interview with Cohen, saying "He gave classified information. He's not supposed to be doing that."
Written by the AllSides staff (of humans). Learn more. Support our mission. Suggest an improvement to this summary.
Featured Coverage of this Story
The Pentagon released what it called "new, never-before-seen" files on U.F.O.s on Friday, hailing the step as an example of the commitment of the department, which kicked out reporters earlier this year, to transparency.
The Pentagon has begun releasing never-before-seen files containing unidentified anomalous phenomenon, or UAPs, on a dedicated website, the agency announced Friday morning.
Department of War
The War Department released more than 160 files Friday related to sightings of UFOs dating back nearly 80 years, two days after President Trump predicted, "I think some of it's going to be very interesting to people."
