WASHINGTON: The Pentagon on Friday released a first batch of previously secret files documenting reported sightings of unidentified flying objects — some dating as far back as the 1940s — a move sought for decades by some Americans and fanning speculation over whether alien life exists.

“These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fuelled justified speculation — and it’s time the American people see it for themselves,” Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a statement.

More than 160 files were released on Friday on the website of the Defence Department, which officially refers to UFOs as “unidentified anomalous phenomena”, or UAPs.

President Donald Trump hailed the release, posting on social media: “Whereas previous administrations have failed to be transparent on this subject, with these new documents and videos, the people can decide for themselves, ‘WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?’”

Reports of flying saucers and discs, and a sighting of a “Lord of the Rings”- style glowing orange orb, are among the incidents detailed in the files. The documents originate from the FBI, the State Department, NASA, and the Pentagon.

One file from December 1947 contains a series of reports on “flying discs”.

“Continued and recent reports from qualified observers concerning this phenomenon still make this matter one of concern to Headquar­ters, Air Material Command,” a document in the file stated.

An Air Force intelligence report marked “top secret” from November of the following year features information on reported sightings of “unidentified aircraft” and “flying saucers”.

“For some time, we have been concerned by the recurring reports on flying saucers,” a document in that file said.

Another file summarises statements from seven federal government employees who separately reported “several unidentified anomalous phenomena” in the United States in 2023.

“The reporters’ credibility and the potentially anomalous nature of the events themselves combine to make this report among the most compelling within AARO’s current holdings,” a description of the file said, referring to the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office.

In one incident, three teams of federal law enforcement special agents independently described “seeing orange ‘orbs’ in the sky emit/launch smaller red ‘orbs’.”

In another incident, two federal special agents witnessed “a glowing orange orb ... perched close to a rock pinnacle”. That account included an artist’s rendering of a red-orange circle with a streak of yellow in its lower third. The object was described as looking “similar to the Eye of Sauron from The Lord of the Rings, except without the pupil”.

Trump directed US federal agencies in February to begin identifying and releasing government files related to UFOs and aliens.

The Republican president also claimed the same day he issued the release order that one of his Democratic predecessors, Barack Obama, had revealed “classified” information in viral podcast remarks about the existence of extraterrestrial life.

“They’re real, but I haven’t seen them, and they’re not being kept in ... Area 51,” Obama told host Brian Tyler Cohen, referring to the top-secret US military facility in Nevada at the heart of many UFO conspiracy theories.

Trump told reporters at the time that Obama “gave classified information; he is not supposed to be doing that”, while saying of his own beliefs: “I don’t know if they are real or not.”

No evidence of intelligent life beyond Earth has been produced. Interest in UFOs has been renewed in recent years as the US government probes numerous reports of seemingly supernatural aircraft amid worries that adversaries could be testing highly advanced technologies.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2026