US President Donald Trump announced his intention to direct the Department of Defense and other agencies to declassify and release government materials related to unidentified flying objects, extraterrestrial life, and related phenomena. The president posted this statement on his social media account, TruthSocial, on February 20, 2026.

Trump noted that he made this decision "due to the enormous public interest" in this topic and indicated that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other responsible agencies would be involved in the process of publishing the materials.

The statement comes amid comments by former US President Barack Obama, who on February 14th, on the No Lie podcast, admitted to accepting the existence of aliens. Obama said he had been interested in the topic early in his presidency but had found no evidence of covert activity at the Nevada military base known as Area 51. However, he did not rule out the possibility of a conspiracy, information about which he might not have been privy to even as president.

Trump, in turn, regarded his predecessor's words as a disclosure of classified information, calling what happened a "big mistake."