The Department of Defense (DOD) on June 12 released a third batch of declassified unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) files as part of the administration’s broader effort to increase transparency around government investigations of UAPs.
While commonly known as unidentified flying objects (UFOs), more broadly, UAPs are observed objects or events in the air, sea, or space that cannot be immediately identified or explained.
The latest disclosure brings the total number of released files to nearly 300. The current release includes 72 files consisting of video, audio, documents, and images spanning decades of reported encounters, including firsthand testimony from civilians and military personnel.
The disclosure follows two earlier releases last month of 222 previously secret or rarely seen UAP-related files. According to the DOD, the government website established to house the materials, WAR.GOV/UFO, has received more than 1.7 billion hits worldwide since launching on May 8, 2026.
Under the Trump administration, the DOD was rebranded as the War Department.
The DOD said it will release additional files on a rolling basis.
What’s in the files?
MeriTalk reviewed the newly released files and found several videos and documents that stand out for their unusual imagery and detailed eyewitness testimony.
The latest batch includes 53 documents, 10 images, six videos, and three audio recording from the CIA, FBI, NASA, DOD, and other unspecified agencies. Several videos show orb-like objects in the sky, and a set of images and clips provide what the files describe as “artistic interpretations” of reported sightings.
While the materials provide dramatic visuals and detailed accounts, they do not offer confirmation of extraterrestrial life.
One encounter documented in the files occurred in July 2025. A video titled “Northeastern Orb Sighting” shows two bright lights moving through the sky.
“The witnesses described the orbs’ motion as silent and smooth, and as moving in tandem as though they were flying in formation or tethered together,” the video description said, citing FBI interviews.
As the orbs moved out of sight, both eyewitnesses saw them appear to merge. The eyewitnesses estimated that the orbs moved from their initial position before disappearing from view at an estimated distance of 75 yards. This sighting occurred within 25 miles of other reported sightings.
The files also include a July 2008 CIA report describing a UFO sighting above Harare International Airport in Zimbabwe that was transmitted to the White House Situation Room and the intelligence community. Individuals aware of the incident did not know whether the hovering object was a reconnaissance device of a foreign government or extraterrestrial in nature.
This release also includes files that are not sightings but expert views on the phenomenon of UFOs.
In an audio excerpt from a November 1962 interview, NASA astronaut Gordon Cooper talked about his views on UFOs. Cooper explained that “a large number of exceptionally well-qualified people have seen objects” without a “logical explanation” and speculated on the existence of other planets with “a livable atmosphere.”
Another document from a panel convened by the CIA in 1952 and 1953 known as the Scientific Advisory Panel on UFOs concluded that the panel found no evidence that these phenomena were attributable to hostile foreign artifacts or indicated a need to revise existing scientific concepts.
But the panel did warn that a “morbid national psychology” surrounding UFOs could be exploited by adversaries to incite “hysterical behavior and harmful distrust of duly constituted authority.”
The panel recommended that an official debunking policy be established to “strip the UFO subject of its mystery.” They also recommended a training initiative for military personnel to better recognize and filter out misidentified objects, thereby reducing communication “noise” and allowing the national security apparatus to focus on more “legitimate defense concerns.”