Are aliens real? Donald Trump orders release of 'classified information' on UFOs

US president Donald Trump on Thursday announced that he's ordering the release of classified files on UFOs and aliens, while accusing former president Barack Obama of releasing classified info.

"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), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters. GOD BLESS AMERICA!" said Trump on TruthSocial.

Trump's remarks came hours after he accused former President Barack Obama of disclosing “classified information” over remarks suggesting aliens might be real. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said, “I don’t know if they’re real or not," and added about Obama, “I may get him out of trouble by declassifying.”

Former President Barack Obama, who made the remarks during a podcast appearance over the weekend, later clarified that he had not seen evidence that aliens “have made contact with us.” He added, however, “statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there.”

Trump also addressed the subject on Thursday, telling reporters: “I don’t have an opinion on it. I never talk about it. A lot of people do. A lot of people believe it.”

Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, suggested this week that he may weigh in more directly. Speaking on a podcast, she said the president had prepared a speech on aliens that he would deliver at the “right time.”

That claim drew an amused response from the White House. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt laughed when asked about it on Wednesday, saying, “A speech on aliens would be news to me.”

Public fascination with unidentified flying objects resurfaced after former Pentagon and government officials leaked Navy videos of unknown aerial objects to The New York Times and Politico in 2017. The renewed attention led Congress to hold its first UFO hearings in 50 years in May 2022. Officials later said the objects seen in widely discussed footage, green triangular shapes hovering above a Navy ship, were likely drones.

Amid growing scrutiny, the Pentagon pledged greater transparency. In July 2022, it established the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), tasked with centralising reports of unidentified aerial phenomena.

In 2023, AARO’s then-director Sean Kirkpatrick said he had found no evidence “of any program having ever existed” to conduct reverse engineering of extraterrestrial technology.

Available public data indicates that while many military UFO sightings remain unresolved, identified cases have largely involved routine objects. An 18-page unclassified report submitted to Congress in June 2024 noted 485 reports of unidentified phenomena over the previous year, with 118 attributed to “prosaic objects such as various types of balloons, birds, and unmanned aerial systems.”