Update (May 8, evening): As details emerged throughout the day, several standout items came into focus. The White House shared an FBI 302 interview with a senior U.S. intelligence official describing a first-hand UAP encounter at a military facility. A separate FBI memo describes beings “three and a half to 4 feet tall” wearing “space suits and helmets.” NewsNation detailed a composite photo based on 2023 eyewitness reports of a 130–195-foot bronze metallic ellipsoid that “materialized out of a bright light” and “disappeared instantaneously.” A 2023 Greece clip shows a UAP making multiple 90-degree turns at roughly 80 mph over open water. Infrared stills from September and December 2025 show unidentified objects over the western United States – among the most recent cases in the release. The Gemini 7 audio captures astronauts reporting “a bogey at 10 o’clock high” during the 1965 mission. Rep. Eric Burlison warned that if certain videos – including footage of “UAPs flying around Russian submarines” – are not declassified, he will use the Speech or Debate Clause to release them himself. Meanwhile, Rep. Lauren Boebert said the answers may be in the Old Testament, pointing to fallen angels and the Nephilim, while Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene dismissed the release as “shiny object propaganda.” Later that evening, David Grusch said the CIA and DIA are actively blocking the President’s team from accessing files – raising the question of whether PURSUE’s releases are limited to what agencies allow through. Full Grusch article →
The White House has launched the first public release under PURSUE – the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters – saying the Department of War has declassified and released unresolved UAP records at war.gov/UFO.
The announcement is the first concrete fulfillment of President Trump’s promise to identify and release government files related to UFOs, UAP, alien life, and extraterrestrial matters. It is also the clearest sign yet that the disclosure push has moved from campaign-style rhetoric into an official public records process.
“Per President Trump’s directive, the @DeptofWar has declassified & released unresolved UAP records. This is an unprecedented level of transparency, no other admin has gone this far.”
The release is not the full answer to the UAP question. It is a first tranche: videos, photos, Apollo-era imagery, FBI material, audio, and source documents, with additional releases promised on a rolling basis.
What PURSUE Is
The official release page identifies PURSUE as the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters. The Department of War describes it as a government-wide effort to find, review, identify, declassify, and publicly release unresolved UAP-related records and historical documents.
The White House and Department of War are framing the portal as a transparency mechanism: one place where the public can see released UAP videos, photos, and documents without needing a clearance.
According to Fox News, the White House said:
“The latest UAP videos, photos, and original source documents from across the entire United States government are all in one place – no clearance required.”
That matters. For years, the public UAP record has been split across AARO reports, congressional testimony, FOIA releases, National Archives holdings, leaked or semi-official video, and scattered agency statements. PURSUE gives the administration a single branded channel for future releases.
What Was Released
The first public batch includes newly visible Department of War and AARO material hosted through DVIDS, the military’s public media distribution system.
The DVIDS index lists DOW/AARO videos including DOW-UAP-PR43 through DOW-UAP-PR49, along with earlier unresolved reports from the Middle East, INDOPACOM, Europe, Syria, Greece, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates.
NewsNation reports that the broader release also includes:
- U.S. military report images of UAP
- Apollo 12 and Apollo 17 lunar images with unidentified objects or highlighted areas of interest
- A Gemini 7 audio excerpt in which astronauts report a “bogey”
- FBI photos from New Year’s Eve 1999 showing UAP in images with U.S. aircraft
- Original source documents tied to the released cases
One video cited by NewsNation is a 2013 U.S. Central Command infrared clip showing a UAP resembling an eight-pointed star. Other clips include Middle East footage, Greece footage over water, and 2024 Syria material showing a misshapen ball of white light with a glare effect.
The Apollo Material
The most immediately striking historical material comes from NASA-era imagery.
Fox News reports that the release includes Apollo 12 and Apollo 17 photos showing unusual objects or lights near the lunar surface. One Apollo 17 image shows three dots in the lunar sky. NewsNation says the Department of War has opened a case to investigate the accompanying Apollo 17 photograph from December 1972 and has obtained the original film for a fuller NASA and DOW analysis.
The Apollo 17 transcript excerpt is equally notable. Fox quotes operators describing bright fragments or particles passing the window:
“Now we’ve got a few very bright particles or fragments or something that go drifting by as we maneuver.”
Another operator reportedly said:
“There’s a whole bunch of big ones on my window down there – just bright. It looks like the Fourth of July out of Ron’s window.”
The release does not settle what those objects were. But placing the material inside a presidential UAP declassification system changes the public context: these are now part of a government-indexed UAP release, not just old mission curiosities circulating among researchers.
What Officials Are Saying
The administration is presenting the release as a whole-of-government transparency effort.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said, according to Fox:
“The Department of War is in lockstep with President Trump to bring unprecedented transparency regarding our government’s understanding of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.”
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard described the release as ongoing:
“Today’s release is the first in what will be an ongoing joint declassification and release effort.”
FBI Director Kash Patel called it “unfettered access” to declassified UAP files:
“For the first time in history, the American people have unfettered access to declassified government files on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon.”
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman also backed the effort, saying NASA will “follow the data” and remain candid about what is known and what remains unknown.
That language is important because the release is not being framed as a one-off dump. It is being framed as an interagency process.
The 40-Plus Videos Are Still Pending
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who has led the House task force push for UAP transparency, said more files are coming.
“There will be more files released. To include our request of the 40+ files. I talked to the Pentagon last night.”
That appears to refer to the 46 classified military UAP videos Luna demanded from the Pentagon in March and April. Those videos include specific military-recorded cases over the Middle East, INDOPACOM, U.S. waters, and other operational environments.
The first PURSUE release does not appear to satisfy that full congressional request. Instead, it opens the channel through which future tranches may arrive.
Rep. Tim Burchett reportedly called the first release “just a drop in the bucket” and said the “holy crap” part is still on the way. That fits what Burchett told Just the News before the drop: he expected the first batch to include “some stuff” from pilots and “maybe one video,” with releases coming in waves.
What This Means
This is not final disclosure. It is the beginning of an official release architecture.
That distinction matters. The first tranche includes real government UAP material, but it also includes cases that remain unresolved because the government says it cannot make a definitive determination. NewsNation notes that many materials were reviewed for security, but not necessarily analyzed to final resolution.
The public should expect a mixed record: some cases may become more interesting under outside analysis; some may be explained; others may remain ambiguous because the underlying data is incomplete.
But the political significance is already clear. A sitting White House has now announced a named UAP release system, the Department of War has posted unresolved UAP records publicly, and senior officials across defense, intelligence, FBI, and NASA are on record supporting a rolling declassification process.
For years, disclosure advocates asked for a public channel. PURSUE is now that channel. The next question is whether it becomes a serious pipeline for the strongest records, including the 40-plus congressional videos, or a controlled release of lower-risk material around the edges.
Either way, the process has started.
Sources: White House announcement · PURSUE official site · DVIDS UAP release index · Fox News · NewsNation · Just the News · Luna’s 46-video demand · Trump UFO files background