The launch of PURSUE: 162 files from the FBI, NASA, the State Department and U.S. military commands, all in one public portal.
On May 8, 2026, the Department of War launched WAR.GOV/UFO, following a February 19 presidential directive to release government files on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). The program is called PURSUE, the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters.
What was in it
The first release held 162 files: 28 videos, 14 images and 120 PDFs, published together from the FBI, NASA, the State Department and U.S. military commands across multiple theaters. Highlights included NASA material from Apollo 12, where astronaut Alan L. Bean described flashes of light, an Apollo 17 photograph showing three dots in a triangle above the lunar horizon, and an Indo-Pacific Command report from 2024 describing a football-shaped object near Japan.
Why it matters
For the first time, the public can review these records directly, without a security clearance, in one place. The Department committed from day one to adding more files on a rolling basis.
Source: Department of War news release, May 8, 2026; WAR.GOV/UFO.