UFOs return to the political spotlight: Trump announces the declassification of government documents

President Donald Trump is determined to answer a question that has tormented humanity for centuries: do aliens exist? Millions of answers have been given so far, but things have not been clarified at all. Former President Barack Obama dropped the pigeon on this topic in an interview, and Trump is willing to pluck his feathers. Donald Trump announced that he intends to order federal agencies to identify and release government documents related to unidentified aerial phenomena and the possible existence of extraterrestrial life, AFP reports. The announcement was made on his Truth Social platform, where the Republican leader invoked the huge public interest in these topics. He said he would ask the Secretary of Defense and other agencies involved to begin the process of declassifying files on UFOs, currently known officially as "unidentified aerial phenomena” (UAP). The topic is not new in American politics. In recent years, the Pentagon has acknowledged the existence of unexplained aerial incidents, and the US Congress has even held public hearings on these phenomena.

• Exchange of words with Barack Obama

Trump's initiative also comes amid a new political attack on former President Barack Obama. Trump accused his predecessor of having revealed sensitive information in a recent podcast, in which Obama stated, in a relaxed and ironic tone, that "aliens are real,” while specifying, however, that he had never seen them. In the same interview, the former Democratic leader rejected conspiracy theories about the existence of secret underground bases intended to hide aliens. The statements have reignited the public debate in the US on government transparency in this area, a topic that generates constant interest among public opinion.

• The UFO phenomenon - between science, security and myth

In recent decades, American authorities have adopted a more pragmatic approach to unidentified aerial phenomena. A 2021 Pentagon report concluded that most of the cases investigated cannot be fully explained, but there is no evidence that extraterrestrial technology is involved. Specialists believe that many incidents can be explained by atmospheric phenomena, drones, foreign military technologies or errors of interpretation. Nevertheless, the subject continues to attract public interest, fueled by popular culture, films, but also by numerous alternative theories.

• The Death of Erich von Däniken and the "Ancient Astronauts” Theories

The discussion about aliens was recently relaunched by the death of the Swiss writer Erich von Däniken, famous for his theories about "ancient astronauts”. The author became famous in 1968, with the publication of the book "Chariots of the Gods?”, in which he interpreted the mysteries of ancient civilizations as evidence of extraterrestrial visitations.

Von Däniken claimed, among other things, that the Egyptian pyramids were built with the help of extraterrestrial technology and that religious accounts actually describe contacts with visitors from space. Although rejected by the scientific community, his theories had a major impact on popular culture and inspired numerous media productions.

• Between transparency and political spectacle

Trump's initiative to declassify UFO files is interpreted by analysts as both a gesture of transparency and a political move aimed at capturing public attention. The alien theme remains one of the most persistent fascinations of modern society, situated on the border between science, imagination and geopolitics. Even if concrete evidence of the existence of extraterrestrial life is lacking, public interest continues to grow, and any promise of declassification generates huge expectations.

• Scientific and institutional reactions to the alien theme

Declarations regarding the declassification of UFO files have been received with caution in the scientific community, where specialists insist on the difference between "unidentified phenomena" and evidence of extraterrestrial life. Representatives of the American space agency NASA have repeatedly emphasized, including in reports published in recent years, that there is no credible evidence of the extraterrestrial origin of unidentified aerial phenomena. According to NASA experts, most of the analyzed incidents can be explained by: rare atmospheric phenomena, experimental drones and technologies, errors of military sensors. At the same time, researchers involved in the SETI Institute program, dedicated to the search for intelligent life in the Universe, welcomed the idea of government transparency, but warned that public expectations are often unrealistic. "The lack of an explanation does not automatically mean the presence of aliens "strils", stated SETI specialists, who consider that the probability of the existence of life in the Universe is high, but direct evidence is lacking. At the political and security level, Pentagon analysts have shown that the main interest of UAP investigations remains a strategic one, related to: potential foreign military technologies, vulnerabilities of radar systems, risks to aviation safety. Thus, the scientific community treats spectacular interpretations with skepticism, insisting that, to date, there is no official confirmation of extraterrestrial visits to Earth.

• Famous historical reactions to the idea of the existence of extraterrestrials

Over the past few decades, the topic of extraterrestrial life has generated official positions, cautious statements and sometimes even speculation coming from unexpected areas - from secret services to religious institutions. Representatives of the Vatican Observatory have stated since the 2000s that the existence of extraterrestrial life does not contradict Christian doctrine. One of the Vatican astronomers stated that "it would be limiting to we believe that God created life only on Earth”, a position interpreted at the time as a signal of theological openness.

During the Cold War, numerous reports of UFOs were analyzed by the CIA, especially after the wave of sightings in the 1950s. Later declassified documents showed that most of the incidents were related to: secret military tests, spy planes, weather balloons. The agency's interest was mainly strategic, to avoid that unidentified phenomena were confused with Soviet technologies.

The authorities in the Soviet Union investigated reports of unidentified flying objects. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Soviet military ran similar programs to the American ones, the conclusions being largely identical: the lack of evidence of extraterrestrial origin.

The famous astronomer Carl Sagan formulated one of the most quoted positions: "The universe is too vast to be inhabited by us alone, but extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence". This phrase has become a central tenet of the scientific approach to the field.

Although religious, military, and scientific institutions have analyzed the phenomenon for decades, the global consensus remains unchanged: there is no confirmed evidence of extraterrestrial visitations to Earth. However, public interest in the subject continues to be fueled by mystery, imagination, and periodic promises of declassification.

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The following sources were used in the article: NASA public report - "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Independent Study Report” (2023); US Congressional hearings on UAP; SETI Institute - public statements and research articles; Vatican Observatory; Statements by astronomer Guy Consolmagno and former director Jose Gabriel Funes (2008-2014), interviews published by L'Osservatore Romano and Reuters; Declassified CIA documents - "CIA UFO Files” published between 2014-2017; Soviet military studies "Setka” (1977-1991); the book The Demon-Haunted World (1995), author Carl Sagan.