Government and military
What presidents and the White House said and did about UFOs and UAP. 46 events, newest first.
Select any year above to see what happened that year.
Open Presidents and the White House as a timeline
Government23 Oct 2026
The Department of War posted its seventh batch of records under PURSUE, the program it says is releasing unresolved UAP files on a rolling basis after a presidential directive. Items include 1950s Air Force reports and a 2010 Utah ranch investigation report.
Photo: United States Department of War, Public domain
Government8 May 2026
The Department of War posted a first tranche of declassified UAP videos, photos and documents on war.gov/UFO under the interagency Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE), saying more would follow on a rolling basis. It noted many items had not been analyzed.
GovernmentMar 2026
In an interview with commentator Benny Johnson, Vice President JD Vance said he had been 'obsessed' with the government's UFO files on taking office but got busy with other issues. He said he did not think UFOs were aliens but 'demons', and that a release of files was being worked on.
Photo: Emily J. Higgins, Public domain
GovernmentFeb 2026
President Trump said in a Truth Social post that he was directing the Secretary of War and other agencies to begin identifying and releasing government files on alien and extraterrestrial life and UAP. The Department of War cited this direction when it began PURSUE releases in May 2026.
Photo: Daniel Torok, Public domain
Government6 Jun 2025
President Trump signed Executive Order 14305, creating a federal task force on unauthorized drones and directing FAA flight limits over sensitive sites, wider drone detection and counter-drone capacity. It addresses drones and unidentified drone incursions; it does not mention UAP.
Photo: Daniel Torok, Public domain
Government11 Feb 2025
Rep. Tim Burchett introduced H.R. 1187 in the 119th Congress. It would have the President direct agencies to declassify and post their UAP records online within 270 days, with progress reports to Congress. It repeats a bill he first filed in May 2024 and was referred to the Oversight Committee.
Photo: U.S. House of Representatives, Public domain
Government28 Jan 2025
At the first press briefing of President Trump's second term, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the drones seen over New Jersey were authorized by the FAA for research and other reasons, with many flown by hobbyists. She gave no details on who operated them.
Photo: The White House, Public domain
Government13 Dec 2024
President-elect Donald Trump posted on Truth Social about drone sightings around the country, asking whether this could happen without the government knowing and saying the drones should be shot down unless officials told the public. Some Republican lawmakers made similar calls.
Photo: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0
Government13 Dec 2024
Gov. Phil Murphy wrote to President Biden asking for more federal resources to find out what was behind weeks of drone reports over New Jersey, and urged him to keep directing the federal agencies involved to work together until they had answers.
Photo: Montclair Film, CC BY 4.0
Government12 Dec 2024
At a White House briefing, national security spokesman John Kirby said there was no evidence the New Jersey sightings posed a security or safety threat or had a foreign link. He said many appeared to be lawful manned aircraft and urged Congress to expand counter-drone authority.
Photo: The White House, Public domain
Government3 Dec 2024
The FAA confirmed it had issued two temporary flight restrictions at the request of federal security partners after drone reports in New Jersey: one over President-elect Trump's Bedminster golf club, the other over the Army's Picatinny Arsenal, until Dec. 26.
Photo: United States Army Picatinny Arsenal Precision Armaments Laboratory, Public domain
Government3 Sep 2024
Asked on the Lex Fridman Podcast whether he would help push the Pentagon to release more UFO footage, presidential candidate Donald Trump said he would and would love to, then turned to the pressure he faced over the JFK files.
Photo: lexfridman, CC0
Government17 May 2024
Tennessee Republican Tim Burchett filed a House bill directing the president to have all federal agencies release their UAP records within 270 days, with quarterly progress reports to the House.
Photo: U.S. House of Representatives, Public domain
Government16 Feb 2023
After U.S. jets downed three objects over Alaska, Canada and Lake Huron, President Biden said they were most likely private or research balloons. He ordered an inventory of airborne objects, better detection and new classified rules on when to shoot.
Photo: U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Chloe Shanes, Public domain
Government13 Feb 2023
Opening a briefing after U.S. jets downed three objects, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said there was no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity. NSC spokesman John Kirby added that Americans did not need to worry about aliens.
Photo: The White House, Public domain
Government13 Feb 2023
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Feb. 13, 2023 that U.S. high-altitude balloons had entered China's airspace more than ten times since early 2022. The White House National Security Council called the claim false.
Photo: China News Service, CC BY 3.0
Military12 Feb 2023
At a Pentagon briefing on the objects downed over North America, a reporter asked Gen. Glen VanHerck whether aliens had been ruled out. He said he would leave that to intelligence agencies and had not ruled anything out. The White House said the next day there was no indication of aliens.
Photo: U.S. Northern Command, Public domain
Military10 Feb 2023
Days after downing a Chinese balloon, U.S. fighters shot down unidentified objects off northern Alaska (Feb. 10), over Canada's Yukon (Feb. 11) and over Lake Huron (Feb. 12). President Biden later said they were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research.
GovernmentFeb 2023
After an F-22 downed the Chinese balloon off South Carolina, recovered debris went to the FBI laboratory at Quantico, where officials said specialists in 20-plus forensic disciplines focused on its electronics. The White House said the debris included electronics and optics from the payload.
Photo: U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Public domain
Government21 Oct 2022
NASA named 16 people to its independent UAP study team, chaired by Simons Foundation president David Spergel, with work starting Oct. 24, 2022. The nine-month study was limited to unclassified data and aimed to recommend how NASA could collect and analyze UAP data.
Photo: NASA Headquarters / NASA/Joel Kowsky, Public domain
MediaMay 2021
In May 2021, former President Barack Obama said officials could not explain how some objects seen in the sky moved or what their trajectories were. The remarks drew wide attention weeks before the ODNI preliminary UAP assessment.
Photo: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza, Public domain
Government15 Jun 2019
President Trump told ABC News's George Stephanopoulos he did not particularly believe in UFOs. Asked whether he thought he would know of any case of extraterrestrial life, he said 'our great pilots would know.'
Photo: Shealeah Craighead, Public domain
Media14 Mar 2017
To The Stars Academy's 2017 SEC offering filing lists physicist Harold Puthoff, known for SRI remote viewing research, as a director from 14 March 2017 and its vice president for science and technology. The company later released Navy UAP videos.
MediaOct 2016
Emails to Clinton campaign chair John Podesta, published by WikiLeaks, included messages from musician Tom DeLonge seeking a private meeting on a 'sensitive topic' and from astronaut Edgar Mitchell on extraterrestrial disclosure. Whether any meeting took place is unclear.
Photo: NHD-INFO, CC BY 2.0
Government24 Mar 2016
Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told Jimmy Kimmel on ABC that, if elected, she would go into the government's UFO and Area 51 files and make as much public as possible, saying people should be told if there was nothing there.
Photo: United States Department of State, Public domain
