Process guide
How to Read the Pentagon's PURSUE UAP Files
Short answerPURSUE, the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters, is the Pentagon program that has been publishing declassified UAP records to the public at war.gov/ufo since May 8, 2026. Six batches have been released so far, on May 8, May 22, June 12, July 10, August 7, and September 18, 2026, with more promised on a rolling basis. The files are free to download and searchable on the site. Read on their own, most are a blurry object and a redacted paragraph. Read against the century of history they belong to, they start to form a pattern.
In this guide
What PURSUE is
PURSUE is a government wide effort, run by the Department of War with support from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, to find, review, declassify, and publish UAP related records held across federal agencies. Records have come from the Pentagon, NASA, the CIA, the FBI, and the Department of Energy.
The site launched May 8, 2026 with more than 160 files. It passed one billion visits by the second release and 1.7 billion by the third. On September 14, 2026 the Department issued a legal waiver allowing current and former employees bound by nondisclosure agreements to share UAP related information with the PURSUE office, which is expected to widen what future batches contain.
What has been released so far
Six batches to date. Each is searchable and downloadable at war.gov/ufo.
- Release 1, May 8, 2026: more than 160 files, including Cold War era reports and Apollo mission accounts.
- Release 2, May 22: 64 files.
- Release 3, June 12: dozens of documents, images, and videos including orb footage reported by a federal agent.
- Release 4, July 10: 40 files, including a silent diamond shaped object over the Pantex nuclear facility in Texas in 2015, Project Sign records from 1948, and a 1949 transcript on green fireballs over Los Alamos.
- Release 5, August 7.
- Release 6, September 18: 72 files, 56 documents, 15 videos, one audio. Standouts include a 1952 Project Blue Book audio presentation, Kodachrome footage of objects in formation near Tremonton, Utah, from 1952, studies commissioned by a military program into warp drives and wormholes, and reports of injuries linked to encounters.
| Release | Date | Notable contents |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | May 8, 2026 | 160+ files, Cold War reports, Apollo accounts |
| 2 | May 22, 2026 | 64 files |
| 3 | June 12, 2026 | Orb videos, federal agent report, same day Disclosure Day opened |
| 4 | July 10, 2026 | 40 files, Pantex 2015 object, Project Sign 1948, Los Alamos fireballs 1949 |
| 5 | August 7, 2026 | Additional records |
| 6 | September 18, 2026 | 72 files, 1952 Blue Book audio, Tremonton footage, warp drive studies |
How to read a file without misreading it
Four habits keep you honest.
- Read the date first. A 1952 report and a 2025 report describe different sensors, different vocabularies, and different institutions. Do not compare them as if they were written the same week.
- Separate what was observed from what was concluded. Many files contain a witness account followed by an analyst's assessment. The two often disagree. Both are data.
- Notice what is redacted. Black bars tell you a source or method was protected, not that something sensational is hidden. Treat them as gaps, not as evidence.
- Place it in the sequence. A green fireball report from 1949 means more if you know Project Sign was running in 1948 and Blue Book followed. The files are episodes. The history is the series.
That last habit is the whole reason to read a history alongside the files. The batches arrive as documents. They only become a story when you know what came before and after each one.
Takeaway. A declassified file answers the question it was written to answer in the year it was written. It does not answer yours. To get an answer from a batch of them, you need the timeline they sit on, and that timeline runs from 1942 to 2023 before PURSUE adds a single page.
What people get wrong
- Expecting one file to prove something
- No single PURSUE record contains a conclusion. The value is cumulative and only visible across decades of them.
- Reading a redaction as a cover up
- Redactions protect sources and methods. They are absences, not statements.
- Treating artist interpretations as footage
- Some released videos are labelled artistic interpretations of a reported event. Check the label before you share it as a recording.
- Assuming the files are all recent
- The sixth batch alone spans 1952 to 2025. Most of the archive is Cold War material.
- Confusing PURSUE with AARO
- AARO is the Pentagon office that investigates UAP reports. PURSUE is the program that publishes records. AARO documents appear inside PURSUE releases.
Questions and answers
What does PURSUE stand for?
Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters. It is the Pentagon program, launched May 8, 2026, that publishes declassified UAP records to the public at war.gov/ufo.
How many batches of Pentagon UFO files have been released?
Six as of September 25, 2026: May 8, May 22, June 12, July 10, August 7, and September 18. The Department has said more will follow on a rolling basis.
What was in the sixth PURSUE release?
72 files released September 18, 2026: 56 documents, 15 videos, and one audio recording. Highlights include a 1952 Project Blue Book audio presentation, Kodachrome footage from Tremonton, Utah, studies of warp drives and wormholes commissioned by a military program, and reports of injuries linked to encounters.
Are the PURSUE files free to read?
Yes. Every release is searchable and downloadable at war.gov/ufo at no cost. The sixth release alone is about 2.25 gigabytes of documents and 1.4 gigabytes of video.
What is the UAP whistleblower waiver announced in September 2026?
On September 14, 2026 the Department of War issued a legal waiver allowing current and former employees bound by nondisclosure agreements to share UAP related information with the PURSUE office. It is intended to bring forward accounts that secrecy agreements had kept out of the record.
Do the PURSUE files prove aliens exist?
No. They document that unidentified objects were recorded, investigated, and in some cases never explained. They do not identify what the objects were. That distinction is the whole subject.
Which agencies have contributed files to PURSUE?
The Pentagon, NASA, the CIA, the FBI, and the Department of Energy, coordinated by the Department of War with support from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Does Ancient Aliens to Modern UFOs cover the PURSUE files?
It was published December 19, 2025, five months before the first release, so it does not cover those specific documents. What it covers is the history they belong to, from the 1942 Battle of Los Angeles through Roswell, Rendlesham, the Nimitz encounter, and the 2023 Congressional hearings, which is the context that makes an individual file readable.
What is the difference between PURSUE and AARO?
AARO, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, investigates UAP reports. PURSUE publishes declassified records. AARO material appears inside PURSUE releases, but the two are separate functions.
How often does the Pentagon release new UAP files?
Roughly every four to six weeks since May 2026, though the Department has not committed to a fixed schedule. It describes the releases as rolling.
Is Disclosure Day based on the PURSUE files?
No. Disclosure Day is a fiction film by Steven Spielberg released June 12, 2026, the same day as the third PURSUE batch. The timing was a coincidence. The film's events are invented.
What should I read to understand the PURSUE files?
The files themselves at war.gov/ufo, plus a history that places them in sequence. Ancient Aliens to Modern UFOs: The Disclosure Revolution covers the century of cases the files keep landing in.
Ancient Aliens to Modern UFOs: The Disclosure Revolution
The documented record from Sumerian tablets to the 2023 Congressional hearings, in one volume. Paperback, hardcover, and Kindle.