Barack Obama appeared to make a startling admission on Brian Taylor Cohen's podcast last week when, in response to a question as to whether he personally believes in alien life, "They're real," Obama said, "but I haven't seen them, and they're not being kept in Area 51. There's no underground facility unless there's this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States."
Obama later clarified his statement on Instagram by saying, "Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there's life out there," Obama said. "But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we've been visited by aliens is low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!"
Donald Trump then took Obama's careless remark about alien life and (jokingly?) suggested that Obama should be arrested for sharing "classified information." He couldn't be arrested because he didn't share anything classified, but that didn't stop the media from pretending that Trump was going to try to arrest the former president.
Nevertheless, on Thursday night, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Pentagon and other federal agencies to identify and release all government files related to "alien and extraterrestrial life" and Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP).
“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 other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters,” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social.
This is actually a first for the government. In November 2024, the House Oversight Committee held a joint hearing titled "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth." During this, witnesses like former DoD official Louis Elizondo testified under oath that the U.S. has conducted secret UAP crash retrieval and reverse-engineering programs.
A newer UAP Task Force, chaired by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, has been pushing for the declassification of specific videos and files, accusing the Pentagon of a "lack of transparency."
Rep. Nancy Mace previously released a document referencing a secret data retrieval program allegedly called "Immaculate Constellation," which the Pentagon has denied.
Following a 2024 hearing, the Pentagon said it received hundreds of reports on UAPs and 21 that merited “further analysis” because of “anomalous characteristics and/or behaviors” — but found no evidence of extraterrestrial activity.
Responding to Trump’s directive Thursday night, Hegseth posted a screenshot of Trump’s post with an alien emoji and a saluting emoji.
Some lawmakers reacted to Trump's announcement Thursday. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said in an interview on Fox News, "If he’s going to release all of the X-Files, I think that could be a bipartisan thing," referring to the 1990s television show about FBI agents investigating — among other things — government conspiracies about aliens, which Fetterman said he "grew up watching."
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., thanked Trump, writing: "Looks like we are about to have a ton of hearings on this :)!"
No congressional hearing or investigation has ever released UFO files, with the exception of some declassified memos and reports from "Project Blue Book," the effort by the Pentagon to throw shade on the media and individual investigators looking into reports of UFOs.
That's why I think Trump will be backtracking on this release order before long. Too many of these reports were from classified missions or used classified "sources and methods."
In the intelligence community, this refers to the specific ways information is gathered (sources) and the technical or human processes used to get it (methods). Under the National Security Act of 1947, the Director of National Intelligence has a legal obligation to protect these from unauthorized disclosure.
Other reasons that even the president is unable to release UFO reports and documents include the use of high-resolution satellite photos, which might show exactly how powerful our spy cameras are, which is information adversaries could use to hide from us.
Also, releasing radar logs could reveal the specific frequency ranges or blind spots of our defense systems. There's also a danger of revealing Human intelligence (HUMINT): Documents might inadvertently identify a specific individual or foreign contact who provided the tip.
It would be fascinating reading and, like the Pentagon Papers released by the Washington Post in book form, probably become a runaway bestseller.
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