Documented sightings reporting a unknown-shaped craft.
After retired AFRL commander Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland went missing in February 2026, a months-long social-media narrative tracking deaths and disappearances of ~15 U.S. scientists and adjacent personnel - all loosely connected to classified aerospace, advanced physics, or national-security-adjacent work - escalated into a White-House-level FBI investigation. Individual cases have documented mundane causes; the cluster pattern is unusual enough that the federal probe is underway.
President Trump directed the Pentagon and federal agencies to begin identifying and releasing government files related to UFOs, aliens, and UAP.
The signed FY2026 NDAA required Pentagon briefings on UAP intercepts by NORTHCOM/NORAD since 2004, a classification matrix, and streamlined reporting to AARO.
Military whistleblowers testified about UAP encounters at Vandenberg, aboard USS Jackson, and at Langley, while dramatic Yemen orb video was shown publicly for the first time.
Rep. Burlison's comprehensive UAP disclosure bill proposing a Records Review Board and mandatory declassification was introduced but excluded from the House NDAA.
Legislation to protect UAP whistleblowers from retaliation when reporting to Congress about government UAP research programs and taxpayer fund usage.
Bipartisan bill requiring all federal agencies to declassify and publish UAP records on a public website within 270 days, introduced by Burchett, Moskowitz, and Luna.
The House Oversight Committee created a bipartisan Task Force on Declassification of Federal Secrets, establishing the first standing Congressional body focused on UAP transparency.
The Sol Foundation's second annual academic symposium at Fort Mason brought together scientists, military officials, and investors to advance UAP research and policy.
AARO's annual report logged 757 new UAP cases with 21 'truly anomalous' incidents, as new director Kosloski admitted cases he cannot explain.
A second major congressional UAP hearing featured Elizondo, Gallaudet, and Shellenberger testifying about hidden programs and withheld UAP information.
Joint House hearing featuring Elizondo, Gallaudet, Gold, and Shellenberger testifying about secret UAP programs, classified imagery, and government cover-ups.
A whistleblower alleged the existence of 'Immaculate Constellation,' a secret program serving as a repository for high-quality UAP imagery from military sensors.
Unidentified objects shut down Tianjin's international airport for three consecutive nights, grounding flights and prompting fighter jet scrambles across China.
Former AATIP head Elizondo's NYT #1 bestseller passed Pentagon security review while claiming crash retrievals, non-human bodies, and secret UAP programs.
AARO director Kirkpatrick resigned amid credibility concerns as his office's findings contradicted whistleblower testimony Congress found 'credible and urgent.'
Former intelligence official David Grusch testified under oath to Congress that the US government possesses non-human craft and biologics in a secret retrieval program.
Senate Majority Leader Schumer introduced landmark legislation to force UAP disclosure, but key provisions were stripped amid defense industry opposition.
The New York Times revealed the Pentagon's secret AATIP program and released Navy UFO videos, shattering decades of stigma and launching modern disclosure.
Pentagon intelligence officer Lue Elizondo resigned as AATIP director and became the leading public advocate for UAP disclosure.
Leaked notes allege a DIA Director was denied access to a program reverse-engineering non-human craft — consistent with later whistleblower claims.
Three women encountered a strange being in daylight in Varginha; military reportedly captured creatures, and a policeman who handled one died weeks later.
A photograph taken of a young girl on a marsh appeared to show a figure in a white spacesuit behind her. Kodak verified the negative was genuine and unaltered.
A secret CIA-sponsored panel of scientists met for four days in 1953 and recommended systematic debunking of UFO reports, establishing government policy that shaped the cover-up narrative for decades.