(WASHINGTON) — After generations of stigma and secrecy around sightings of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), or what the public calls UFOs, investigators probing hundreds of unsolved cases say the second Trump administration could be a turning point for transparency.
“We’re trying to get as much of the raw evidence out as we can without putting our partners’ equities at risk,” said Jon Kosloski, director of the Pentagon’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, the government-wide task force leading research into mysterious sightings.
“The office has hired additional personnel and we’re investing in automated security review software that can redact the sensitive information from videos,” he said of an effort to release more currently classified material related to the probes.
Congress established the Resolution Office in 2022 to “detect, identify and attribute” mysterious objects of interest in the air, outer space, and underwater, with special focus on mitigating potential threats to military operations and national security.
More than 1800 cases have been reviewed by the Pentagon so far, with the vast majority ultimately resolved as likely balloons, drones, debris or animals based on a comprehensive review of available data.
Kosloski says “several dozen” cases remain anomalous even after rigorous analysis of evidence. They continue to receive new reports of anomalies by military service members and the general public every month.
“It’s a potential problem, a national security problem, safety of flight issue,” Kosloski told ABC News. “We seem to have the full support of the administration” in pursuing answers.
Trump vows greater transparency
President Donald Trump has famously been a UFO skeptic. “It’s never been my thing. I have to be honest,” he told podcaster Joe Rogan in an October 2024 interview. “I have never been a believer.”
But the president, who has full access to all government secrets as commander in chief, has also hinted on several occasions that there may be more information than has previously been revealed about alleged extraterrestrial life and unusual technological capabilities.
“I won’t talk to you about what I know about it but it’s very interesting,” Trump told his son, Donald Trump Jr., in an online video during the 2020 campaign. “But Roswell’s a very interesting place with a lot of people that would like to know what’s going on.”
Since taking office a second time, Trump has vowed “radical transparency” across government. Last month, he ordered the release of all remaining classified files related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy Jr.
Some UFO enthusiasts across the political spectrum are pushing for a similar release of government files related to extraterrestrial mysteries.
“When you have only certain information that’s shared with the American people, that’s when conspiracy theories happen. And it’s, in my opinion, that conspiracy theories can be detrimental,” said Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., in April as she opened the House Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets.
Lawmakers from both parties have proposed legislation to force government agencies to disclose more information on UAPs, but Congress has yet to pass it.
“The issue is when we mix secrecy with a stigma, and that we create such a stigma around a phenomenon that it becomes difficult, if not impossible, for agencies, for people to look at the issue seriously,” said former Associate NASA Administrator Mike Gold, who served on the agency’s UAP Independent Study Team.
Gold, who is now part of the UAP Disclosure Fund, an independent group of scientific and national security experts, says Congress must fund more aggressive analysis of troves of existing government data.
“If we study UAP, not only can we help with national security,” Gold said, “but even if we don’t discover something exotic, what’s the worst case scenario? We discover an incredible new physical phenomenon?”
Whistleblowers, advocates allege secret evidence long denied
Critics of the Pentagon effort led by Kosloski say it has been hobbled by “staffing shortfalls,” bogged down by “bureaucratic confusion,” and mired in “excessive secrecy.”
In recent testimony before Congress, whistleblowers insist the government is still hiding evidence of non-human intelligence, which top officials have long denied.
Kosloski has accelerated the release of intensive investigations, publishing unclassified resolution reports for some of the most high-profile cases, detailing the technical and intelligence analysis behind the conclusion.
“Our hope is to be able to triage them, identify those that have the best scientific data, the nexus with national security interests and the true anomalies behind them, and focus our attention on those really anomalous cases,” Kosloski said.
Last year, the Pentagon completed a historic review of 80 years of records related to unidentified anomalous phenomena, concluding there is “no evidence that any U.S. government investigation, academic-sponsored research, or official review panel has confirmed that any sighting of a UAP represented extraterrestrial technology.”
“That stands true,” said Kosloski.
Government and private UAP investigators say it will take substantially more data to resolve the most persistent mysteries on file.
As for whether he can categorically rule out the existence of an intact spacecraft or part of a spacecraft in government possession, Kosloski said he has not been able to corroborate any claims but promised to push for public release of any likely findings of non-human intelligence.
“There’s no precedent for that, obviously, but I think that we would take that up through the Secretary of Defense and allow him to make that decision.”
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