The Disclosure Ledger
Every official UFO and UAP event since 1947, newest first. Each line links to the source it rests on and carries a verdict on how far that source goes.
- 59 official events since 1947
- Verified48
- Partly11
- 5 circulating claims checked
The short answer
The US government has looked at UFO reports, on and off, since 1947. The record runs from the Air Force projects Sign, Grudge and Blue Book, through the 2017 reveal of a Pentagon program, to hearings under oath, a records law and, in 2026, the Department of War’s PURSUE file releases.
None of the official reviews listed here found evidence of extraterrestrial technology. What changed is the venue: the question moved from late-night radio into sworn testimony, federal law and government archives. Where a popular claim gets the record wrong, the ledger says so in claims that do not hold up.
Every official event, 1947 to 2026
One line per event, the source it rests on, and a verdict on how far that source goes. Filter by type or verdict, search the text, or flip the order. Every term on the ledger is defined in the UFO and UAP glossary.
Take the data
Showing all 59 entries, newest first.
Entry 059
ReleaseThe Department of War published the sixth PURSUE release of UAP files on war.gov/UFO.
war.gov (source, opens in a new tab)cbsnews.com (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 058
StatementThe Department of War issued a legal waiver letting current and former personnel and contractors share UAP information with PURSUE representatives without breaching nondisclosure agreements.
war.gov (source, opens in a new tab)defensescoop.com (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 057
ReleaseThe Department of War published the fifth PURSUE release of UAP files on war.gov/UFO.
war.gov (source, opens in a new tab)cbsnews.com (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 056
StatementThe Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence signed guidance waiving earlier nondisclosure agreements for people sharing UAP information with AARO or the PURSUE Task Force.
We read the signed memo as posted by Rep. Burlison’s office. We found no copy on dni.gov.
VERIFIED
Entry 055
LegislationThe House added Rep. Eric Burlison’s UAP Disclosure Act to its FY2027 defense bill and passed the bill 216 to 212. It is not law: it still needs the Senate and a final agreement.
burlison.house.gov (source, opens in a new tab)clerk.house.gov (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 054
ReportAARO’s FY2025 annual report counted 319 new UAP reports, resolved 114 of them, and said every resolved case came down to ordinary objects such as balloons, satellites, birds, aircraft and drones.
Partly:The report’s text is confirmed from AARO’s own PDF. The publication day comes from DefenseScoop, which said the report came out that week.
aaro.mil (source, opens in a new tab)defensescoop.com (source, opens in a new tab)
PARTLY
Entry 053
ReleaseThe Department of War published the fourth PURSUE release of UAP files on war.gov/UFO.
war.gov (source, opens in a new tab)cbsnews.com (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 052
StatementThe President directed agencies to let people with UAP information speak to AARO or PURSUE despite earlier nondisclosure agreements, according to senior officials.
Partly:Rep. Eric Burlison’s office confirms the directive existed. Its exact date and form are unconfirmed.
PARTLY
Entry 051
ReleaseThe Department of War published the third PURSUE release of UAP files on war.gov/UFO.
war.gov (source, opens in a new tab)cbsnews.com (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 050
StatementAn intelligence official said ODNI, the FBI and the Pentagon had formed a UAP Governance Board, advised by outside groups including a new science council.
Partly:Reported by DefenseScoop on June 17, 2026. We found no government announcement, and the date the board was formed is not given.
PARTLY
Entry 049
ReleaseThe Department of War published the second PURSUE release of UAP files on war.gov/UFO.
war.gov (source, opens in a new tab)cbsnews.com (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 048
ReleaseThe Department of War opened war.gov/UFO and published its first batch of declassified UAP files under PURSUE, an interagency effort that includes ODNI, AARO, NASA, the FBI and the Energy Department.
war.gov (source, opens in a new tab)nbcnews.com (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 047
StatementRep. Luna’s House task force asked the Secretary of War for further UAP video records it says AARO holds.
VERIFIED
Entry 046
StatementIn a Truth Social post, the President said he would direct the Secretary of War and other agencies to begin identifying and releasing government files on UAP, UFOs and alien life.
A social media statement. No presidential document on UAP appears in the Federal Register.
war.gov (source, opens in a new tab)nbcnews.com (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 045
HearingRep. Anna Paulina Luna’s Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets held “Restoring Public Trust Through UAP Transparency and Whistleblower Protection.”
VERIFIED
Entry 044
ReleaseThe National Archives released UAP records sent by the intelligence community, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the FAA and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
VERIFIED
Entry 043
HearingAARO director Jon Kosloski testified before a Senate Armed Services subcommittee on the office’s work.
VERIFIED
Entry 042
ReportAARO’s FY2024 annual report counted 757 UAP reports received from May 2023 to June 2024, resolved 118 as ordinary objects, and found no evidence of extraterrestrial technology.
VERIFIED
Entry 041
HearingA second House Oversight hearing, “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth,” heard Tim Gallaudet, Luis Elizondo, Michael Gold and Michael Shellenberger.
VERIFIED
Entry 040
StatementThe National Archives told federal agencies how to find, digitize and transfer their UAP records into the new UAP Records Collection.
VERIFIED
Entry 039
ReportAARO published Volume 1 of its review of government UAP work since 1945. It found no evidence that any sighting was extraterrestrial technology or that the government reverse-engineered alien craft.
VERIFIED
Entry 038
LegislationThe FY2024 defense authorization act became law. Sections 1841 to 1843 ordered agencies to send UAP records to a new UAP Records Collection at the National Archives.
This was a cut-down version of the Schumer and Rounds UAP Disclosure Act. The independent review board and eminent domain powers were dropped.
govinfo.gov (source, opens in a new tab)archives.gov (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 037
StatementAARO opened a secure online form for current and former government staff, service members and contractors who say they know of government UAP programs going back to 1945.
defensescoop.com (source, opens in a new tab)media.defense.gov (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 036
ReportNASA’s independent study team published its final report. It asked for better data and real scientific method, and found no evidence that UAP are extraterrestrial.
science.nasa.gov (source, opens in a new tab)nasa.gov (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 035
StatementThe Department of Defense launched AARO’s public website to share declassified case resolutions, images and reporting trends.
defense.gov (source, opens in a new tab)cbsnews.com (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 034
HearingDavid Grusch, David Fravor and Ryan Graves testified under oath before a House Oversight subcommittee. Their claims entered the public record. The hearing did not settle them.
VERIFIED
Entry 033
HearingAARO director Sean Kirkpatrick testified before a Senate Armed Services subcommittee on the office’s mission, oversight and budget.
VERIFIED
Entry 032
ReportThe intelligence community’s 2022 annual UAP report covered 366 new reports. It put 195 down to balloons, drones or clutter and left 171 uncharacterized.
archive.dni.gov (source, opens in a new tab)npr.org (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 031
LegislationThe FY2023 defense authorization act became law. Section 1673 created a protected way for people to report UAP events and any government or contractor UAP programs.
VERIFIED
Entry 030
StatementThe Department of Defense set up the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, AARO, replacing the earlier group, and named Sean Kirkpatrick its director.
VERIFIED
Entry 029
StatementNASA announced an independent study team to examine unidentified aerial phenomena from a scientific point of view.
nasa.gov (source, opens in a new tab)science.nasa.gov (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 028
HearingA House Intelligence subcommittee held an open hearing on UAP with Pentagon officials Ronald Moultrie and Scott Bray, the first public congressional UFO hearing in more than 50 years.
congress.gov (source, opens in a new tab)cbsnews.com (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 027
LegislationThe FY2022 defense authorization act became law. Section 1683 required the Pentagon, with the intelligence community, to set up an office to handle UAP.
VERIFIED
Entry 026
StatementDeputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks set up the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group to take over from the Navy’s UAP Task Force.
VERIFIED
Entry 025
ReportThe Office of the Director of National Intelligence released its Preliminary Assessment on UAP. It reviewed 144 government reports from 2004 to 2021 and explained one of them, as a large deflating balloon.
VERIFIED
Entry 024
LegislationThe Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 became law. Its intelligence section adopted Senate report language directing the intelligence community to give Congress a UAP report within 180 days.
govinfo.gov (source, opens in a new tab)govinfo.gov (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 023
StatementThe Department of Defense announced a Navy-led Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force to detect, analyze and catalog UAP that could threaten national security.
VERIFIED
Entry 019
StatementThe New York Times revealed the Pentagon’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program. The Defense Department acknowledged the program and said it had shut down in 2012.
The program’s backers have said the work continued after 2012. That is their claim, not the Pentagon’s.
nytimes.com (source, opens in a new tab)npr.org (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 018
ReportThe Air Force released The Roswell Report: Case Closed, which said accounts of alien bodies likely came from test dummies dropped in 1950s parachute experiments.
Partly:The government record confirms the report and its 1997 publication. The day comes from same-day newspaper coverage.
govinfo.gov (source, opens in a new tab)deseret.com (source, opens in a new tab)
PARTLY
Entry 017
ReportThe General Accounting Office reported on its search for Roswell records and found that some Roswell Army Air Field records from 1945 to 1949 had been destroyed.
VERIFIED
Entry 016
ReportThe Air Force reported that the Roswell debris most likely came from a classified balloon project built to detect Soviet nuclear tests, not from a spacecraft.
gao.gov (source, opens in a new tab)unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 015
StatementNASA turned down a White House suggestion that it take up UFO investigations again, according to NASA’s own chronology of the year.
Partly:NASA’s chronology records the decision by December 1977. The exact date of the decision is not confirmed.
PARTLY
Entry 014
ReleaseProject Blue Book’s records went to the National Archives and opened to researchers on microfilm, with the names of witnesses removed.
Partly:The National Archives confirms the transfer and the removed names but gives no year. The 1976 date comes from the microfilm publication’s own pamphlet.
archives.gov (source, opens in a new tab)fold3.com (source, opens in a new tab)
PARTLY
Entry 013
StatementAir Force Secretary Robert Seamans announced the end of Project Blue Book. It had logged 12,618 sightings from 1947 to 1969, and 701 stayed “unidentified.”
archives.gov (source, opens in a new tab)cia.gov (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 012
ReportThe Colorado study led by Edward Condon concluded that two decades of UFO study had added nothing to scientific knowledge. A National Academy of Sciences panel agreed.
Partly:The Associated Press dates the report to January 9, 1969, but no primary source we read gives the day, and a CIA history says April 1969.
cia.gov (source, opens in a new tab)archives.gov (source, opens in a new tab)
PARTLY
Entry 011
HearingThe House Committee on Science and Astronautics held a one-day Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, taking statements from scientists on whether the subject deserved more study.
VERIFIED
Entry 010
StatementThe University of Colorado accepted a $325,000 Air Force contract for an 18-month scientific study of UFOs, led by physicist Edward Condon.
VERIFIED
Entry 009
HearingThe House Armed Services Committee held a hearing on unidentified flying objects. Air Force Secretary Harold Brown testified that most sightings were easily explained.
govinfo.gov (source, opens in a new tab)cia.gov (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 008
ReportA CIA-sponsored panel of scientists chaired by H. P. Robertson met for four days. It found no direct threat to national security in UFO reports and recommended public education to take the mystery out of them.
VERIFIED
Entry 007
StatementAfter a run of radar and visual sightings over Washington, DC, Air Force intelligence chief Maj. Gen. John Samford briefed reporters at the Pentagon and said the reports posed no threat.
Partly:The National Archives holds film of the statement dated July 31, 1952. The widely repeated date of July 29 is not confirmed by any source we read.
archives.gov (source, opens in a new tab)unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov (source, opens in a new tab)
PARTLY
Entry 006
StatementProject Grudge became Project Blue Book, the Air Force’s main UFO investigation for the next seventeen years.
The National Archives gives the month, March 1952, but not the day.
VERIFIED
Entry 005
StatementThe Air Force announced the end of Project Grudge. Its officials had concluded that UFO reports posed no threat to US security.
VERIFIED
Entry 004
StatementThe Air Force renamed its UFO study Project Grudge. It kept collecting reports while working to persuade the public that the sightings were nothing extraordinary.
archives.gov (source, opens in a new tab)cia.gov (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 003
StatementAn Air Force headquarters memorandum set up Project Sign to study flying disc reports. Air Materiel Command took it on January 22, 1948.
archives.gov (source, opens in a new tab)cia.gov (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 002
StatementLt. Gen. Nathan Twining of Air Materiel Command wrote that the reported flying discs were “something real and not visionary or fictitious.”
Partly:The memo is known from its reprint in the 1969 Condon Report appendix and from secondary histories. We did not read an archive copy of the original.
project1947.com (source, opens in a new tab)skepticalinquirer.org (source, opens in a new tab)
PARTLY
Entry 001
StatementThe Roswell Army Air Field press office said it had recovered a “flying disc.” The next day the Eighth Air Force commander said the object was a radar-tracking weather balloon.
VERIFIED
No entries match these filters.
Exhibit · Claims checked
Claims that do not hold up
These travel fast. Most start from something real and bend one detail: the agency, the kind of document, or what it actually says. One describes an event we could not find at all.
- FALSE AS WORDED
“Trump signed a UFO executive order in February 2026.”
What the record showsOn February 19, 2026 the President said in a Truth Social post that he would direct agencies to identify and release UAP files. That was a public statement. No presidential document on UAP, UFOs or alien life appears in the Federal Register, and a search of whitehouse.gov found none. What followed was real: the Department of War began releasing files on May 8, 2026.
nbcnews.com (source, opens in a new tab)federalregister.gov search (source, opens in a new tab)
- FALSE AS WORDED
“The National Archives launched UFO bulk downloads on May 8, 2026.”
What the record showsMay 8, 2026 was the Department of War’s first PURSUE release at war.gov/UFO. The National Archives’ UAP bulk download page is older: it was last updated on April 24, 2025, and it covers records the Archives already held.
archives.gov (source, opens in a new tab)war.gov (source, opens in a new tab)
- FALSE AS WORDED
“The UAP Disclosure Act became law.”
What the record showsNot in full. A reduced version became law in the FY2024 defense bill in December 2023: it created the UAP Records Collection at the National Archives, without the review board. A fuller UAP Disclosure Act passed the House inside its FY2027 defense bill on July 22, 2026. As of September 28, 2026 we found no Senate passage and no final law.
govinfo.gov (source, opens in a new tab)burlison.house.gov (source, opens in a new tab)breakingdefense.com (source, opens in a new tab)
- NOT FOUND
“Congress held a UFO hearing on July 17, 2026.”
What the record showsWe found no congressional UAP hearing on that date. The House UAP task force’s only 2026 UAP action we found is its April 1 request for video records. The most recent House UAP hearing we can confirm was on September 9, 2025.
- FALSE AS WORDED
“The released UFO files confirm alien contact.”
What the record showsThe files are real, but no official statement says they show non-human technology. The Department of War describes them as unresolved cases, where the government could not determine what was seen, and says many have not yet been analyzed. AARO’s own reports found no evidence of extraterrestrial technology.
Every claim about the files, checked
war.gov (source, opens in a new tab)cbsnews.com (source, opens in a new tab)media.defense.gov (source, opens in a new tab)
The files behind the ledger
RecordThe PURSUE UFO filesThe six 2026 Department of War releases, what they hold, and what they do not show.Record
File 045The UAP Disclosure Act timelineWhy you will read both “it passed” and “it never passed.”Public record
File 046What is AARO?The Pentagon’s UAP office: what it reports and what it cannot prove.Public record
File 050Project Blue Book explainedThe Air Force case archive, 1952 to 1969, and its limits.Public record
How the ledger is checked
Every row names the event in one plain sentence and links to the source it rests on. We read that source before the row goes in. When an official site blocked our checks, we read an archived copy of the same official page and link the original.
- Verified
- A primary source we read confirms the date and the fact: the agency, the law, the committee record or the report itself.
- Partly
- Confirmed only by a major news outlet or a secondary source, or one detail such as the exact day is unconfirmed. The row says which.
- False as worded
- Something real happened, but the claim as people repeat it gets the event, the agency or the outcome wrong.
- Not found
- We looked in the official record and could not find the event the claim describes.
- Primary sources first: the agency, the law, the committee record, the report.
- A major news outlet only when no primary source can be read, and the row is then marked Partly.
- Encyclopedias and tracker sites help us find sources. They are never the source.
- Claims by witnesses and officials are written as claims. Official findings are written as findings.
- No row is dated to the day unless a source gives the day.
Last reviewed Found an error? team@getdisclosure.app
None of these documents confirm contact.
Knowing the record is half of it.
If something shows up over your street tonight, no archive will tell you what to do. Ten questions find your role.