Pentagon Admits to Tracking UFOs, Releases Navy Videos at the Heart of the UAP Disclosure Debate
It was in 2017 that the world was shocked with the Pentagon publicly acknowledging the presence of a clandestine program focused on researching Unidentified Flying Objects, or UFOs. The report, coupled with the release of groundbreaking video footage, brought the world’s focus to the idea of extraterrestrial activity and government concealment of the same again.
The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP)
The Pentagon confirmed operating a covert UFO study program known as the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) from 2007 to 2012. The $22 million program was initially funded on the insistence of then-Senate majority leader Harry Reid. Luis Elizondo, the then-head of AATIP, was quoted during a CNN interview as stating, «My personal belief is that there is very compelling evidence that we may not be alone.»
The Release of UFO Videos
In 2017 and beyond, the Pentagon published a string of videos recorded by Navy pilots that depicted apparent unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). Perhaps the most well-known clip, which has been dubbed the «Tic Tac» video, was captured by Navy pilots aboard the USS Nimitz in November 2004. Three Navy videos were officially posted by the Pentagon in April 2020.
From AATIP to AARO
In 2022, NASA established a dedicated scientific study team to examine UAP, and the Pentagon stood up the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) to standardize reporting and analysis. In March 2024, AARO published the first volume of a congressionally mandated historical review covering 1945 to the present. It concluded there was no empirical evidence that any sighting represented extraterrestrial technology and no proof that the government had recovered or reverse-engineered alien craft. Director Jon Kosloski told senators the office had found no verifiable evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity, or technology.
The PURSUE Dumps
AARO’s fiscal 2025 consolidated annual report, released in July 2026, logged 319 new or previously unreported cases and resolved 114 of them as balloons, drones, satellites, and similar objects. Nine cases merited deeper analysis. Kosloski’s finding did not change: no verified alien craft.
Separately, acting on a February 2026 directive from President Trump, the Department of War began posting declassified UAP records through the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE) at war.gov/ufo. Five tranches went public between May 8 and August 7, 2026 — the largest dump of U.S. government UAP material to date. Transparency advocates welcomed the releases. Unexplained still does not mean alien.
On July 31, 2026, Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Aaron Lukas issued preliminary guidance that goes further than a file dump. Current and former government employees and contractors with UAP information may now speak to AARO or the PURSUE Task Force even if they signed NDAs that used to gag them. Intelligence Community agencies were told to name a PURSUE designee within 30 days and tell their workforces the old silence contracts do not bind those interviews. Disclosure, in that narrow official channel, is no longer optional. The files still have not produced a verified alien craft.
The 2017 AATIP leak and the Tic Tac videos forced the subject into the open. AARO, NASA, congressional hearings, and now PURSUE have institutionalized the hunt. Conclusive proof of an alien encounter remains out of reach. The files keep coming anyway.
For more of our coverage of unexplained government programs, see Jimmy Carter’s UFO encounter, the Real Mutant Story, and The Unexplained Or Unconfirmed.
