US declassifies UFO archives as Trump faces accusations of diverting attention from Epstein files

As directed by President Donald Trump, the US Department of Defence has initiated an unprecedented declassification of UFO-related archives, though the first tranche of disclosures, including a mysterious triangular formation photographed during the 1972 Apollo 17 mission, remains devoid of definitive evidence concerning extraterrestrial intelligence.

This transparency initiative, intended to illuminate decades of clandestine observation and governmental secrecy, has been accompanied by the launch of a typewriter-styled digital repository serving as the principal conduit for a public increasingly consumed by demands for answers regarding unexplained aerial phenomena.

The Pentagon on Friday released 162 documents spanning several decades, including files originating from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of State and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, while launching a heavily stylised digital archive designed to centralise records related to unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs).

The disclosure, however, stopped short of validating claims of extraterrestrial life or alien technology, although officials acknowledged that several anomalies remained unresolved and had not undergone comprehensive analytical scrutiny.

In a statement accompanying the release, the Department of Defence said numerous files had merely been screened for security sensitivities and “have not yet been analysed for resolution of any anomalies”, thereby leaving open the possibility of continued investigation into unexplained sightings and photographic evidence.

The cache includes an FBI interview documenting the testimony of a drone pilot who reported observing a luminous “linear object” in September 2023, whose radiance was allegedly intense enough to reveal visible bands within the light before it abruptly vanished within seconds.

Another file contains a NASA photograph captured during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, depicting three luminous dots arranged in a triangular formation. Pentagon officials noted that while no consensus existed regarding the anomaly’s nature, preliminary examination suggested the possibility of a “physical object”.

Trump, who announced the disclosure on his Truth Social platform, framed the initiative as part of a broader campaign to dismantle governmental opacity, paralleling his earlier orders concerning the declassification of records linked to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Critics, meanwhile, accused Trump of weaponising sensational disclosures to eclipse mounting political controversies, particularly renewed scrutiny surrounding investigative files connected to financier Jeffrey Epstein. Republican Congressman Thomas Massie had earlier derided the UFO disclosure initiative as the “ultimate weapon of mass distraction”.