“Aliens” have once again become a topic of discussion as former U.S. President Donald Trump plans to disclose classified documents held by the American government. On February 23, 2026, Trump instructed various government agencies, including the Department of Defense, to identify and begin the process of releasing secret files related to extraterrestrial beings.
Former President Barack Obama had previously stated in an interview that “aliens are real,” a statement that Trump criticized by accusing Obama of leaking classified information. Following this, Trump announced on his social media platform, Truth Social, his intent to publish all available public information related to aliens, UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena), UFOs, and other complex but intriguing subjects.
Public interest in aliens and UFOs has increased in the United States in recent years. Pilots and U.S. military officials have confirmed sightings of unusual objects in the sky, leading the Pentagon in 2017 to acknowledge and establish a secret program to investigate these phenomena.
In 2022, after 50 years, the U.S. Congress held its first-ever parliamentary hearing on UFOs, and the Pentagon committed to greater transparency on the matter. A year later, a committee from the House of Representatives was unable to confirm definitively whether UFOs exist in its report. Furthermore, a 2024 Pentagon report indicated that the U.S. government has no credible evidence of encounters with aliens and that most incidents labeled as UFOs were identified as ordinary objects.
