US President Donald Trump has said he will tell the Pentagon to start releasing files related to aliens, extraterrestrial life and unidentified flying objects, due to “tremendous interest” in the subject.
The announcement came in a post on Truth Social on Thursday, hours after Mr Trump accused former president Barack Obama of disclosing “classified information” when discussing aliens.
“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),” Mr Trump wrote.
Hours earlier, during a gaggle with reporters on Air Force, he said he did not know if aliens were real and claimed Mr Obama had divulged secret information.
“He gave classified information, he’s not supposed to be doing that. I don’t know if they’re real or not. I can tell you, he gave classified information. He’s not supposed to be doing that — he made a big mistake,” he said.
Public interest in the topic has increased this week following a podcast interview with Mr Obama in which he said aliens could be real in a statistical sense.
“They’re real but I haven’t seen them,” he said. “And they’re not being kept in … what is it? Area 51. There’s no underground facility unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States.”
Area 51 is a highly classified US Air Force facility in the Nevada desert associated with secret military aircraft testing. The site has become a focal point for UFO and alien conspiracy theories.
Mr Obama's comments renewed questions about whether the US government was hiding the existence of extraterrestrials. He later clarified to say that he had seen “no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us”.
He has spoken about aliens several times in recent years, usually emphasising scientific possibility rather than any confirmed evidence.
Given the vastness of the universe, he argued, it is statistically reasonable to believe that extraterrestrial life could exist somewhere.
Mr Obama has also noted that during his presidency he reviewed classified information on unidentified aerial phenomena but found no evidence that confirmed the existence of extraterrestrials.
For decades, aliens have been at the centre of conspiracy theories, fuelled by alleged sightings, popular culture and government secrecy surrounding the issue.
From speculation about crashed spacecraft in the Nevada desert to claims of hidden military programmes studying extraterrestrial technology, the idea of concealed alien encounters has persisted in the public imagination.
These theories often resurface whenever officials release new information on unidentified aerial phenomena, reflecting a long-standing fascination with the possibility that humanity is not alone and that authorities might know more than they admit.
Last month, Elon Musk weighed in on the issue, casting doubt on the existence of aliens.
He said that, despite the millions of cameras in people’s pockets and the vast observation capabilities of telescopes and satellites, there is still no clear evidence of alien life.
He has also frequently joked that if aliens were real, he would “know”, given his work in space technology.
