What the UAP files release does and does not include

On May 8, 2026, the U.S. Department of War opened a public portal at war.gov/ufo and released its first tranche of declassified UAP records through the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE).

The first tranche includes more than 160 records spanning roughly 1948 to 2026: video files from military sensor systems, still imagery, and PDF reports and slide decks including eyewitness transcripts. Additional files are expected on a rolling basis.

According to public reporting and statements from former officials, the released video footage came largely from tactical military systems with lower security classifications.

Material collected by national systems controlled by the NRO and CIA — deployed in sensitive areas — was not part of this release. The public archive should therefore be treated as a subset, not the complete record.

Separately, on February 20, 2026, nearly 3.8 million files were removed from the Black Vault archive — a long-running independent FOIA document collection — hours after a declassification order.

The hosting provider stated the removal was deliberate rather than an error. This concerned a different, independent collection, not the war.gov/ufo release, but it is part of why a stable, citable mirror of public records matters.

Treat every case page as a pointer to a primary record: follow the source link to war.gov/ufo or DVIDS before citing.

Separate the file from the interpretation — a video or document is a primary record; a summary or analysis is not. And note that some released material has circulated for decades, which does not make it new evidence.