The PURSUE UFO files
The PURSUE files are six batches of real government UAP records, released by the Department of War since May 2026. Each release below has its own case file and a verdict on the claim it drew.
The short answer
PURSUE is the Department of War’s program for releasing government UAP files. Since May 8, 2026 it has published six batches at war.gov/UFO. The files are real government records. None of them is an official finding that anything was non-human.
PURSUE stands for Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters. The releases follow the President’s February 19, 2026 statement that he would direct agencies to find and release their UAP files. It was a statement, and no executive order started these releases. Every event here also sits in the Disclosure Ledger, with its verdict.
What PURSUE is
- Full name
- Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters
- Run by
- The Department of War, with support from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The first release named the White House, ODNI, the Energy Department, AARO, NASA and the FBI among the partners.
- First release
- Where
- war.gov/UFO, searchable by release, agency and file type, with downloads for each release
- Pace
- Rolling, with new batches posted every few weeks, according to the department
The department says the archive holds unresolved cases: reports where the government could not determine what was seen, often for lack of data. Cases AARO resolves are reported separately, in its annual reports.
A PURSUE Task Force also exists. A law firm summary dates its start to May 1, 2026. We could not confirm that date in any government or major news source, so we do not use it.
war.gov/UFO (source, opens in a new tab)war.gov, release 1 (source, opens in a new tab)burlison.house.gov (source, opens in a new tab)
The six releases so far
Each date is confirmed on war.gov. File counts are news tallies, credited to the outlet that made them. No seventh release had been published as of .
Entry 048
Release 1The 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.
NBC News counted more than 160 files covering more than 400 incidents.
war.gov (source, opens in a new tab)nbcnews.com (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 049
Release 2The Department of War published the second PURSUE release of UAP files on war.gov/UFO.
CBS News counted 64 files, most of them videos, including footage of the object shot down over Lake Huron in February 2023.
war.gov (source, opens in a new tab)cbsnews.com (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 051
Release 3The Department of War published the third PURSUE release of UAP files on war.gov/UFO.
CBS News counted 53 documents, 10 images, six videos and three NASA audio recordings, including several reported orb sightings from 2008 to 2025.
war.gov (source, opens in a new tab)cbsnews.com (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 053
Release 4The Department of War published the fourth PURSUE release of UAP files on war.gov/UFO.
CBS News counted 40 files from the Pentagon, NASA, the CIA, the FBI and the Energy Department, including a 1949 transcript on the Los Alamos “green fireballs.”
war.gov (source, opens in a new tab)cbsnews.com (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 057
Release 5The Department of War published the fifth PURSUE release of UAP files on war.gov/UFO.
CBS News counted 41 files from the Pentagon, the FBI, the CIA, the State Department and the Executive Office of the President.
war.gov (source, opens in a new tab)cbsnews.com (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Entry 059
Release 6The Department of War published the sixth PURSUE release of UAP files on war.gov/UFO.
CBS News counted 71 files, many of them reference papers from the Defense Intelligence Agency’s AAWSAP study.
war.gov (source, opens in a new tab)cbsnews.com (source, opens in a new tab)
VERIFIED
Exhibit · Read before sharing
What the files do and do not show
The files are worth reading. They are also easy to oversell. This is what the department and the record actually support, and every common claim about them is checked in did the UFO files confirm aliens?
What they show
- Real government records: documents, photos, videos and audio from the Pentagon, NASA, the FBI, the CIA, the Energy Department and other agencies.
- Decades of reports. The sixth release alone holds records dated from 1952 to 2025, according to CBS News.
- Cases the government says it could not resolve, often because there was not enough data.
What they do not show
- Any official finding that an object was non-human or extraterrestrial. No release statement makes that claim.
- Finished analysis. The department said many of the materials had not yet been analyzed for resolution.
- Proof of origin for every file. The Pentagon said many second-release materials lacked a substantiated chain of custody, and that sixth-release reference papers should not be read as current validation, according to CBS News.
PURSUE is not the National Archives collection
The two get mixed up constantly, and a lot of wrong headlines start there. The May 8, 2026 release was the Department of War. The National Archives runs a separate UAP Records Collection that Congress created in 2023.
| PURSUE | Record Group 615 | |
|---|---|---|
| Run by | Department of War, with ODNI | National Archives |
| Basis | The President’s February 2026 directive | FY2024 defense law, sections 1841 to 1843 |
| Where | war.gov/UFO | National Archives Catalog |
| What goes in | Unresolved UAP cases declassified across agencies | UAP records agencies must transfer under the law |
| First public release |
For how the Archives collection works and what its bulk downloads hold, read the UAP Records Collection explained.
archives.gov, RG 615 (source, opens in a new tab)archives.gov, 2025 release (source, opens in a new tab)
How to read a released file
- Check both dates. The date of the incident and the date of the document are different things. A 2026 release can hold a 1952 record.
- Find who wrote it. A pilot’s report, an analyst’s note, an FBI interview summary and a reference paper are different kinds of evidence.
- Separate the report from the finding. A file that records what a witness saw is a record of the report, not proof of the thing.
- Look for what is missing. Redactions, missing sensor data, no chain of custody.
- Rule out the ordinary first. Balloons, satellites, aircraft and drones. AARO’s FY2025 report resolved 114 new reports that way.
- Check the claim before you share it. The Disclosure Ledger marks what the record confirms and what it does not.
For a full field method, use the UFO evidence checklist.
Files are not the first minute.
If something shows up over your street tonight, no archive will tell you what to do. Ten questions find your role.