19 Feb – Oct 2026 Washington, D.C. official
Presidential directive and PURSUE file releases
On 19 February 2026 the President directed agencies to identify and release UFO/UAP files; the Department of War began publishing unresolved records on war.gov/UFO on 8 May 2026, with a seventh tranche on 23 October. Releases include military IR video and FBI files; none establishes non-human origin.
war.gov/UFO
9 September 2025 Washington, D.C. official
House task force hearing on UAP transparency
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna’s declassification task force heard military veterans and journalist George Knapp; Rep. Burchett showed a 2024 MQ-9 video of an “orb” off Yemen.
Transcript
13 November 2024 Washington, D.C. official
House hearing “UAP: Exposing the Truth”
Luis Elizondo, Tim Gallaudet, Michael Shellenberger and Michael Gold testified; claims included an alleged “Immaculate Constellation” imagery program, which DoD said does not exist.
Congress.gov
8 March 2024 Washington, D.C. official
AARO Historical Record Report, Vol. I
AARO reported finding no verifiable evidence that any UAP sighting represented extraterrestrial technology or that the government had reverse-engineered such technology. Critics called it selective.
AARO
14 September 2023 Washington, D.C. official
NASA UAP Independent Study report
NASA’s independent team found no evidence of extraterrestrial origin but said better data was needed, and NASA named a UAP research director. Critics, including me, argue NASA has not opened its own archived imagery.
My article: NASA Did Not Lose the File · NASA report
26 July 2023 Washington, D.C. official
Grusch House hearing
Former intelligence officer David Grusch testified under oath that the U.S. has a decades-long crash-retrieval program and “non-human biologics,” citing others’ accounts. The Pentagon denied it, and he presented no documents publicly.
Congress.gov event
20 July 2022 Washington, D.C. official
AARO established
The Pentagon created the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office to study UAP across domains, following the 17 May 2022 House hearing, the first open one in over 50 years.
AARO
25 June 2021 Washington, D.C. official
ODNI Preliminary Assessment
The Director of National Intelligence reported 144 UAP reports from 2004–2021, only one explained (a deflating balloon), and said UAP pose a flight-safety issue. It found no evidence they were foreign or non-human.
ODNI report (PDF)
27 April 2020 Washington, D.C. official
Pentagon releases three Navy videos
The Department of Defense formally released the FLIR1, GIMBAL and GOFAST videos and labelled the objects “unidentified.” Analysts such as Mick West argue the motion in GIMBAL and GOFAST can be explained by camera behaviour and geometry.
DoD release
16 December 2017 New York official
New York Times reveals AATIP
The New York Times reported the secret Pentagon program and published the Nimitz and GIMBAL videos. The story restarted official and public interest in the subject.
FY2008–2012 Washington, D.C. official
AAWSAP / AATIP
The Defense Intelligence Agency funded the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (about $22 million, FY2008–2010), contracted to Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies; AATIP was a related effort. Its exact scope and ending remain disputed.
The Black Vault: AATIP
8 January 2008 Stephenville, Texas sighting
Stephenville lights
Residents including a pilot and police reported a very large array of bright lights followed by jets. The Air Force later said F-16s had been training in the area.
7 November 2006 Chicago O’Hare Airport sighting
O’Hare disc sighting
United Airlines employees reported a dark metallic disc hovering below the clouds over a gate, then shooting up and leaving a hole in the overcast. The FAA attributed it to a weather phenomenon; no photo or radar data was produced.
14 November 2004 off San Diego, California radar-visual
Nimitz “Tic Tac”
USS Princeton radar tracked unusual targets and Navy F/A-18 pilots including David Fravor reported a white, wingless oblong object that rapidly accelerated away; a later sortie recorded the FLIR1 infrared video. Skeptics argue the video is consistent with a distant aircraft.
Navy video release
13 March 1997 Phoenix, Arizona sighting
Phoenix Lights
Thousands saw a V-shaped formation of lights cross Arizona around 8 p.m., and a separate set of hovering lights later that night. An amateur astronomer saw the V as separate aircraft through a telescope; the later lights were identified as military flares.
My article: The Phoenix Lights UFO Incident
16 September 1994 Ruwa, Zimbabwe abduction claim
Ariel School
Over sixty schoolchildren reported a silver craft landing near the playground and small beings in black; some later described telepathic messages. A bright re-entry fireball had been widely seen over southern Africa two days earlier.
Library verdict: Library: borders on contact claims; testimony only.
September 1994 Washington, D.C. official
Air Force Roswell report (Project Mogul)
Prompted by a GAO inquiry, the Air Force reported that the Roswell debris came from a Project Mogul balloon train; a 1997 follow-up attributed “body” stories to later dummy drops. Critics dispute the timing and fit.
My article: The “Balloon” Explanations
30–31 March 1990 Belgium radar-visual
Belgian wave F-16 night
After months of triangle reports, Belgian F-16s were scrambled and recorded radar locks, while the pilots saw nothing. The Belgian Air Force released the data; analysts later attributed the locks to radar artifacts, and the famous Petit-Rechain photo was admitted as a hoax in 2011.
1987 (film received December 1984) United States official
MJ-12 documents made public
Documents describing a secret “Majestic 12” group managing a 1947 crash recovery were publicized in 1987 after arriving on film in 1984. The FBI and Air Force called them bogus; their authenticity remains disputed among researchers.
My article: The Majestic 12 · FBI Vault: Majestic 12
17 November 1986 Alaska radar-visual
JAL Flight 1628
A Japan Air Lines 747 crew reported lights and a huge object pacing them for about 50 minutes; FAA tapes include some radar returns. The FAA could not confirm the event and attributed its own blips to an uncorrelated return.
Library verdict: Library: moderate, brief radar correlation; the visual sighting was never explained.
My article: Silhouette of a Gigantic Spaceship
19 May 1986 São Paulo & Rio, Brazil radar-visual
Brazil’s “Official UFO Night”
About 21 unidentified radar targets were tracked over southeastern Brazil and fighters were scrambled; the Air Minister held a press conference. No explanation was released.
1982–1986 Hudson Valley, New York sighting
Hudson Valley “boomerang” wave
Thousands reported a huge, silent V-shaped formation of lights. Investigators traced many sightings to pilots flying small planes in tight formation at night (the “Stormy Monday” group); Hynek and others argued some reports did not fit.
8 January 1981 Trans-en-Provence, France physical trace
Trans-en-Provence landing trace
A farmer reported a craft landing briefly on his property; France’s GEPAN analysed soil and plant samples and reported anomalies. It rests on a single witness and GEIPAN still lists it as unexplained.
Library verdict: Library: influential and unresolved; single witness.
GEIPAN
29 December 1980 near Huffman, Texas physical trace
Cash–Landrum incident
Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum and a child reported a flaming diamond-shaped object escorted by helicopters, then suffered burns and illness. A lawsuit against the U.S. government was dismissed; no operation has ever been documented.
26–28 December 1980 Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, UK physical trace
Rendlesham Forest
USAF security personnel reported lights and a craft in the forest; Lt. Col. Charles Halt’s memo records ground marks and radiation readings. Skeptics point to the Orford Ness lighthouse and note the readings were near background.
UK National Archives
21 & 30–31 December 1978 Kaikoura, New Zealand radar-visual
Kaikoura lights
Cargo-plane crews reported lights off New Zealand’s South Island, some on Wellington radar, and a TV crew filmed lights on 30–31 December. Proposed explanations include squid-boat lights, Venus and radar anomalies; government files show officials could not fully explain them.
19 September 1976 Tehran, Iran radar-visual
Tehran F-4 incident
Per a U.S. Defense Attaché message of 23 September, two Iranian F-4s lost instruments or communications near a brilliant light; the second jet’s backseater got a radar lock and its weapons panel failed during an attempted AIM-9 launch. No ground radar saw it; Klass proposed Jupiter and equipment faults.
Library verdict: Library: a strong but second-hand report; the anomaly is unresolved.
My article: The 1976 Tehran Iran UFO Incident · The Black Vault: DIA document
25 July 1976 Cydonia, Mars photo
Viking “Face on Mars”
A Viking 1 orbiter frame showed a mesa resembling a face, noted by NASA itself as a trick of light and shadow. Higher-resolution images from Mars Global Surveyor (1998, 2001) show an eroded hill.
My article: The Face on Mars
5 November 1975 Snowflake, Arizona abduction claim
Travis Walton disappearance
Logger Travis Walton was missing for five days after co-workers said a beam from a glowing object struck him. Polygraph results are disputed (Klass), and the case has no physical corroboration.
October–November 1975 Northern-tier U.S. bases official
Base overflights (Loring, Wurtsmith, Malmstrom)
Military logs and messages released under FOIA record unidentified aircraft or helicopters over nuclear-weapons bases, sometimes on radar. They were never identified in the released record.
The Black Vault
18 October 1973 near Mansfield, Ohio sighting
Coyne helicopter incident
An Army Reserve UH-1H crew reported a gray cigar-shaped object that stopped over them and swept the cockpit with green light, after which the helicopter climbed though the controls were set to descend. Philip Klass proposed a bright meteor; ground witnesses later came forward.
NICAP
11 October 1973 Pascagoula, Mississippi abduction claim
Hickson–Parker abduction claim
Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker said they were taken aboard a craft while fishing; a secretly recorded tape of the two alone in a sheriff’s office is cited as sincere. There is no physical corroboration.
17 December 1969 Washington, D.C. official
Project Blue Book closed
Air Force Secretary Robert Seamans announced the end of Blue Book, which had logged 12,618 reports, 701 of them “Unidentified.” An October 1969 Air Staff paper noted national-security sightings were reported through other channels.
NARA: Project Blue Book
January 1969 Boulder, Colorado official
Condon Report
The Air Force–funded University of Colorado study concluded further study “cannot be justified,” a finding endorsed by the National Academy of Sciences. Critics noted that roughly a quarter to a third of its in-depth case studies remained unexplained.
Full text
24 October 1968 Minot AFB, North Dakota radar-visual
Minot B-52 radar–visual case
Missile-site personnel watched glowing objects for over three hours while a B-52’s radar showed a target pacing the bomber, with UHF radio problems. Blue Book suggested plasma and stars; the explanation is widely considered weak.
Library verdict: Library: one of the best-documented radar-visual nuclear-base cases.
Case file (Tulien)
4 October 1967 Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia physical trace
Shag Harbour
Witnesses including RCMP officers saw lights descend into the harbour; a search found a patch of yellowish foam but no wreckage. Canadian government documents record it as unidentified.
NICAP chronology
20 May 1967 Falcon Lake, Manitoba physical trace
Stefan Michalak / Falcon Lake
Prospector Stefan Michalak said a landed craft’s exhaust burned a grid pattern on his chest. Canadian authorities investigated; hospital radiation tests came back negative and elevated soil radiation at the site was later traced to a natural radium vein.
16 March 1967 Malmstrom AFB, Montana official
Echo Flight missile shutdown
All ten Minuteman missiles of Echo Flight went “No-Go” within seconds, an event recorded in unit histories. Later testimony by Robert Salas links a UFO to a similar event at Oscar Flight; the Echo crew have disputed a UFO connection.
Library verdict: Library: the shutdown is documented; the UFO link is testimonial and contested.
NICAP
17 April 1966 Portage County, Ohio → Pennsylvania sighting
Portage County police chase
Deputies Dale Spaur and Wilbur Neff chased a bright domed object about 85 miles into Pennsylvania, with other officers joining. Blue Book attributed it to the Echo satellite and Venus, an explanation the officers rejected.
NICAP case directory
6 April 1966 Westall, Melbourne, Australia sighting
Westall school sighting
Students and staff at Westall schools reported a silvery saucer-shaped object descend toward a nearby paddock and depart, with some reporting a flattened circle of grass. No contemporaneous official explanation was released; a balloon from a research program has been proposed.
14–21 March 1966 Dexter & Hillsdale, Michigan sighting
Michigan “swamp gas” sightings
Dozens of witnesses reported glowing lights over swamps and a college campus. J. Allen Hynek suggested marsh gas might explain some reports; the ridicule that followed prompted Rep. Gerald Ford to call for hearings, held 5 April 1966.
NICAP chronology
3 September 1965 Exeter, New Hampshire sighting
Exeter incident
Teenager Norman Muscarello and two police officers saw a row of pulsing red lights move silently over a field. The Air Force first proposed aircraft or stars, then acknowledged it could not identify the object.
NICAP chronology
24 April 1964 Socorro, New Mexico physical trace
Lonnie Zamora landing
Police officer Lonnie Zamora reported an egg-shaped craft on legs with two small figures nearby, which then rose with a roar and flame. Imprints and burned brush were found; Blue Book could find no explanation and listed it as Unidentified.
Library verdict: Library: unexplained — a real physical event that fits no identified prosaic source.
My article: Socorro, NM UFO Landing · NICAP
19–20 September 1961 New Hampshire abduction claim
Betty and Barney Hill
The Hills reported a light following their car and later, under hypnosis with Dr. Benjamin Simon in 1964, recalled being taken aboard a craft. It became the first widely publicized abduction account; there is no physical corroboration.
Library verdict: Library: treated as an abduction/fringe claim; rests on hypnotic recall.
NICAP chronology
November 1959 Malton, Ontario / USA official
Avrocar flight tests
The Avro Canada VZ-9 Avrocar, a U.S.-funded saucer-shaped vehicle, began tethered hover tests in late 1959. It never flew stably above ground effect and was cancelled in 1961; it is often cited as proof that militaries explored saucer designs.
My article: The Avrocar Project
16 January 1958 Trindade Island, Brazil photo
Trindade Island photographs
Photographer Almiro Baraúna, aboard the Brazilian Navy ship Almirante Saldanha, took a series of photos of a Saturn-shaped object; the Navy released them. Skeptics argue Baraúna, who had published trick photographs before, faked them; no hoax has been proven.
NICAP case directory
2–3 November 1957 Levelland, Texas sighting
Levelland vehicle stoppages
Multiple drivers reported a glowing egg-shaped object near roads, with engines and headlights failing as it approached. Blue Book sent one investigator and concluded ball lightning or storm effects; critics noted the weather records show drizzle, not thunderstorms.
NICAP chronology
17 July 1957 South-central United States radar-visual
RB-47 electronic-intelligence case
An RB-47 crew detected a radar-like signal near 2,800 MHz that moved with the aircraft for about 1.5 hours, sometimes seen as a large light and reportedly painted by ground radar. Explanations ranging from an airliner and a ground radar have been argued since.
Condon Report, Case 5
3 May 1957 Edwards AFB, California photo
Gordon Cooper / Edwards film account
Astronaut Gordon Cooper later said a camera crew at Edwards filmed a saucer landing on the dry lakebed and that the film was sent to Washington. The film has never surfaced; the account rests on Cooper’s later retellings.
My article: Real UFO Evidence Exists
13–14 August 1956 Lakenheath–Bentwaters, England radar-visual
Lakenheath–Bentwaters radar case
Ground radars at two RAF/USAF bases tracked fast and abruptly stopping targets, and an RAF Venom night fighter reported a lock before the target apparently got behind it. The Condon study listed it as unexplained.
Condon Report, Case 2
14–17 January 1953 Washington, D.C. official
CIA Robertson Panel
A CIA-convened panel of scientists reviewed about 75 cases, found no threat or evidence of anything beyond conventional causes, and recommended a public education (“debunking”) effort and monitoring of civilian UFO groups. Its report was fully declassified in 1975.
CIA Reading Room
19–20 & 26–27 July 1952 Washington, D.C. radar-visual
Washington National radar–visual flap
Controllers at Washington National and Andrews tracked unknown radar targets over the capital on two weekends, some seen visually by pilots; jets were sent up. At a 29 July press conference Maj. Gen. Samford pointed to temperature inversions, an explanation still debated.
My article: The 1952 Washington UFO Flap · Samford press conference transcript
14 July 1952 near Norfolk, Virginia sighting
Nash–Fortenberry sighting
Two Pan American DC-4 pilots, William Nash and William Fortenberry, reported six to eight glowing red-orange discs below them that flipped on edge and changed course abruptly. Menzel proposed an optical effect; no conventional source was confirmed.
NICAP case directory
7 April 1952 United States (national press) official
Life: “Have We Visitors From Outer Space?”
Life magazine ran a cover story arguing that the best saucer reports could not be explained, written with Air Force cooperation. It helped trigger the record flood of reports that summer.
My article: Life, April 1952
25 August 1951 Lubbock, Texas photo
Lubbock Lights
Texas Tech professors saw arcs of lights pass overhead on several nights, and Carl Hart Jr. photographed a V of lights. Ruppelt’s Blue Book investigation suggested birds (plovers) reflecting new streetlights; the professors disagreed.
NICAP
11 May 1950 McMinnville, Oregon photo
Trent photographs
Paul Trent took two photographs of a disc-shaped object over his farm; they were published in Life in June 1950. The Condon study left them unexplained, while later analysts argue the object hangs under a power line and may be a small model.
Library verdict: Library: genuine negatives; contested, leaning toward a suspended model (best-cases score −1).
Condon Report, Case 46
1 October 1948 Fargo, North Dakota sighting
Gorman “dogfight”
National Guard pilot George Gorman chased a small flashing light for about 27 minutes and felt it was intelligently controlled. Project Sign later attributed it to a lighted weather balloon.
NICAP
24 July 1948 near Montgomery, Alabama sighting
Chiles–Whitted sighting
Two Eastern Air Lines pilots described a cigar-shaped object with rows of lighted “windows” rushing past their DC-3. Hynek and Menzel concluded it was a bright meteor; the 1968 Zond IV re-entry, which drew similar “windows” descriptions, supports that reading.
Library verdict: Library: the meteor explanation is strong.
NICAP chronology
7 January 1948 Godman Field, Kentucky sighting
Capt. Thomas Mantell crash
Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell climbed his F-51 after a large bright object, passed 20,000 ft without supplemental oxygen, and crashed fatally. The object is generally identified as a classified Navy Skyhook balloon, possibly combined with Venus.
NICAP chronology
23 September 1947 Wright Field, Ohio official
Twining memo
Lt. Gen. Nathan Twining of Air Materiel Command wrote that “the phenomenon reported is something real and not visionary or fictitious” and recommended a formal study. The same memo notes a “lack of physical evidence in the shape of crash recovered exhibits.” It led to Project Sign (1948).
NICAP 1947 chronology
8 July 1947 Roswell, New Mexico physical trace
Roswell “flying disc” press release
Roswell Army Air Field announced it had recovered a “flying disc”; within a day Eighth Air Force in Fort Worth identified the debris as a weather balloon and radar reflector. Interest revived in 1978–80 with Jesse Marcel’s account, and the Air Force’s 1994 report attributed the debris to a Project Mogul balloon train.
Library verdict: Library: the 1947 record fits balloon debris; the later crash-and-bodies testimony is contested and largely unverified.
My article: The 1947 Roswell UFO Incident · My Roswell timeline · My Roswell witness list · FBI Vault: Roswell
24 June 1947 Mount Rainier, Washington sighting
Kenneth Arnold sighting
Private pilot Kenneth Arnold reported nine bright, thin objects flying in a chain from Mount Rainier toward Mount Adams, which he estimated at well over 1,000 mph. Press coverage of his description gave rise to the term “flying saucer.” Proposed explanations include birds such as pelicans or a mirage; none is settled.
NICAP case file
