Domains come soon after Trump’s promise to release files about ‘extraterrestrial life’
The creation of the government website domains comes less than a month after President Donald Trump said he would order Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and other agencies to release government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) and unidentified flying objects (UFOs).
Trump’s comments were made after former President Barack Obama said on a podcast with Brian Tyler Cohen that he believes extraterrestrial life exists, but has never seen evidence of it. The comments drew much attention and Trump criticized Obama for releasing “classified information.”
Some UAP documents have already been released
Some government documents related to UAPs have been made publicly available. In 2023, former President Joe Biden signed a bill that required the National Archives and Records Administration to create a collection of government files about UAPs. Some of these records are available for viewing on the National Archives website.
Under the law, the National Archives must also gather information about “technologies of unknown origin and nonhuman intelligence.” However, the measure still allows government agencies to keep records classified.
If a president determines the public release of certain records would pose a threat to U.S. intelligence operations and military defense, declassification could be postponed under language in the bill. However, the potential harm of releasing the records must outweigh the public interest of disclosure, according to the legislation.