A Timeline of Modern UAP Disclosure

The New York Times published an investigation revealing that the Pentagon had been secretly studying UAP through a program called the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, or AATIP. Luis Elizondo, the program's former director, was the inside source. The article included gun-camera footage of a 2004 Navy encounter with an unidentified object off the California coast, known afterward as the Tic Tac. It was the first time the U.S. government was forced to publicly acknowledge that UAPs were a matter of active military concern.

The Pentagon officially declassified and released three Navy gun-camera videos labeled FLIR, GIMBAL, and GOFAST. The videos had circulated informally for years. The official release confirmed they were genuine recordings of unresolved aerial encounters. No explanation was provided for what the objects were.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a preliminary assessment examining 144 UAP reports from 2004 to 2021. It found explanations for exactly one case. It acknowledged that some UAPs demonstrated flight characteristics that could not be explained with available data.

The National Defense Authorization Act established the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) as the Pentagon's official body for collecting and analyzing UAP reports across all military branches. That same year, the House held its first public UAP hearing in more than fifty years.

Former Air Force intelligence officer David Grusch testified under oath before the House Oversight Committee that the U.S. government possesses recovered non-human craft and biological materials, and that a multi-decade retrieval and reverse-engineering program had been funded with misappropriated public money. He was joined by Navy pilots Ryan Graves and David Fravor, who described firsthand encounters. The Intelligence Community Inspector General had already reviewed Grusch's allegations and found them credible and urgent. The hearing drew the largest public audience of any UAP Congressional event on record.

Senators Schumer and Rounds introduced the UAP Disclosure Act, modeled on the JFK Records Act and calling for a Presidential Review Board to oversee declassification. Key provisions were stripped before passage under reported pressure from the intelligence community. A weakened version became law.

President Trump directed the Pentagon and federal agencies to identify and declassify government records related to UAP, UFOs, and extraterrestrial life. The directive came after former President Obama said publicly that UAPs were real.

The first release included photographs, videos, witness accounts, and military records covering incidents from 1944 to the present. No confirmation of extraterrestrial life was included. Congressional members who had pushed for transparency indicated further releases were expected.