Hegseth doubles-down on Trump’s UAP disclosure promise as AARO’s caseload exceeds 2,000

Hinting that the White House could soon issue an official directive to compel a new surge for disclosure, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon is poised to deliver on President Donald Trump’s pledge to release U.S. government records about unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) and aliens.

“We’re going to be in full compliance with that executive order, [and we’re] eager to provide that for the president. So, there’ll be more coming on that, as far as the process of what we’ll do,” Hegseth said.

His response to questions this week from Endless Void Studios founder and former network correspondent Kristin Fisher during a stop on his “Arsenal of Freedom” tour in Colorado, marked the first time the secretary publicly discussed ongoing Pentagon pursuits associated with UAP transparency in his official government capacity.

“We’ve got our people working on it right now. I don’t want to oversell how much time it will take, right? [But] we’re digging in,” he said. 

The Defense Department’s teams that investigate UAP incidents — the modern term for UFOs and transmedium objects — have taken different forms over recent decades. 

The All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), its contemporary iteration, launched under the Biden administration in 2022 to fulfill a mandate in that year’s National Defense Authorization Act. Congress made the directive partially in response to mounting concerns that some UAP could be high-tech drones or other next-generation military platforms produced by U.S. adversaries.

More recently, this latest resurgence in anticipation for government-led UAP disclosure comes at a time when AARO officials have been noticeably tight-lipped recently about their ongoing projects and existing investigations. The office has not published its 2025 annual report or second volume of reports on government involvement with UAP.

In response to questions from DefenseScoop Wednesday, Pentagon spokesperson Sue Gough said that “AARO has been examining over 2,000 UAP cases.”

“AARO has approximately 1,000 reports that lack sufficient data for analysis and are retained in AARO’s Active Archive that may be reopened and resolved should additional information emerge to support analysis,” she noted.

Based on that disclosure, AARO’s caseload appears to have grown by at least 400 since its last public update — in late 2024 — when officials reported that it had received more than 1,600 UAP reports to date.

When asked why the office has not disseminated unclassified reports or briefed reporters on its efforts in more than a year, Gough said: “We have nothing to announce at this time.”

AARO’s insiders have steadily maintained that its experts have not uncovered any proof that demonstrates any UAP reports involve extraterrestrial activities or technologies.

Responding to questions from reporters about recent comments made on a podcast by former president Barack Obama suggesting that aliens are real, but he hasn’t seen them, Trump said on social media last week that he would direct Hegseth and other agency leaders to “begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, [UAP and UFOs], and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters.”

It’s unclear how this direction will be different from or expand on similar endeavors that kicked off in recent years. But the post prompted a renewed surge of public and congressional interest in the topic. 

While Hegseth wouldn’t offer a timeframe for the fresh disclosure process that he mentioned would be initiated by the president, he said DOD will work closely with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to implement the efforts.

“President Trump has been just committed to disclosure on lots of levels, and he’s made it clear that he wants answers on this. He’s given us a responsibility to do it. We’re going to be a part of delivering that. It’ll be a deliberative process,” Hegseth said. “Expectations are going to be high, right? I don’t want to over-promise and under-deliver. So, we’re going to take a little time to make sure we assess what this should look like and deliver for the president and for the American people.”

On Wednesday, a White House spokesperson declined DefenseScoop’s request for more information about the possibly forthcoming executive order based on Hegseth’s reference. They referred questions to the Department of War. 

(Formally changing the department’s name requires an act of Congress, but Trump last year signed an executive order rebranding DOD as the DOW.)

In response to that referral, a source who requested to be attributed as a War Department official said that AARO “is working in close coordination with the White House and across federal agencies to consolidate existing UAP records collections and facilitate the expeditious release of never-before-seen UAP information.”

“Since the office was established, AARO has made progress to make UAP information available and transfer those records to the National Archives in accordance with federal law,” the official told DefenseScoop. “We welcome the president’s initiative to supercharge these efforts and make more UAP information available to the public as soon as possible.”

Jordan Flowers, executive director of the Disclosure Foundation — a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting whistleblowers and advancing UAP transparency and oversight through legal action, policy and education — encouraged the Pentagon to move quickly.

“Trust is earned. And if AARO wants to earn the public’s trust, then it should move expeditiously to release its trove of unclassified videos and photos. By failing to meet its statutory obligations, AARO has not helped its image,” he said. 

Pointing to AARO’s “long-overdue” annual and historical reports, anticipated UAP classification guide, and vacant deputy director role, he said “this isn’t a fact pattern that has earned the public’s trust.” 

However, in Flowers’ view, Hegseth’s comments indicate that he is taking Trump’s directive seriously.

“The Disclosure Foundation is cautiously optimistic about these steps, but we remain concerned about the potential for efforts by the administration to be stymied by classification nuances that may result in misleadingly partial or incomplete disclosures,” he told DefenseScoop. “We encourage Congress to support the administration’s intent by enacting a legislative framework that concretely structures, authorizes, and directs a comprehensive disclosure process.”

Flowers also urged Pentagon leaders to pinpoint and release certain UAP records in the U.S. government’s files that he said could go back 80 years “and pose no conceivable threat to national security if they were made public.”

“Such records likely include hundreds if not thousands of photographs and videos that AARO, the DOD, and the [Intelligence Community] have collected of UAP. Congress already has passed laws establishing a public UAP records collection at the National Archives,” he said. “While far from perfect, the existing statutory framework for declassification and disclosure to the American public provides the administration a path — right now — to show that they’re committed to pursue this process in good faith.”