Pentagon Unveils Third UFO File Release With New Details on Mysterious Orb Sightings

Washington — The Pentagon on Friday published another set of documents and videos tied to UFOs, also known as UAPs, marking the third such release since the government began a broader push for new disclosures last month.

This latest release features 53 documents and 10 images sourced from the CIA, FBI, NASA, the Defense Department and other unnamed agencies, as well as six videos and three NASA audio files. The videos depict orb-like objects in the sky, while some of the images and clips are labeled as “artistic interpretations” of reported sightings.

Several documents describe incidents reported by federal law enforcement officers in 2023, including one case in which five agents said they spotted unusual orbs on the horizon. In one account, an agent said their partner reacted by asking, “Are you seeing this?” as a glowing orb illuminated the sky.

What’s in the latest files?

The Pentagon posted the material to its UFO website. Four of the videos contain eyewitness footage of unexplained encounters, a notable change from earlier releases that leaned heavily on military recordings. According to the Pentagon, the newly added videos were gathered by the FBI and include information drawn from witness interviews.

One of the reported incidents took place in July 2025. A video titled “Northeastern Orb Sighting” appears to show two bright lights traveling across the sky.

In the video description, citing FBI interviews, officials said witnesses characterized the objects’ movement as silent, smooth and synchronized, as if the two orbs were flying in formation or connected to one another.

Another video, called “Orbs Over the Pond,” shows an encounter from October 2024, which occurred within 25 miles of the Northeastern Orb Sighting. The footage shows “a light source below the horizon, hovering above a pond at an estimated distance of 2,700 feet,” the Pentagon’s description said.

“The luminous object resembled a ‘plasma-like sphere’ intermittently changing shape and luminosity. At times, the primary light source appeared to separate into smaller luminous points,” the Pentagon said. “A luminous point below the primary source hovered just above the water and did not appear consistent with a surface reflection. The object remained generally stationary for approximately 45 minutes before disappearing.”

One of the files includes documents from a panel convened by the CIA in 1952 and 1953, dubbed the “Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects.” The panel concluded that flying saucers did not pose a physical threat, but recommended an official policy of “debunking” the issue to “strip the UFO subject of its mystery.” The group warned that a “morbid national psychology” around UFOs could be exploited by adversaries.

Another intriguing disclosure centers around a series of strange events in the Western U.S. that occurred over the course of two days in October 2023. Five “federal law enforcement special agents” provided their accounts to the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, and each narrative is included in the files.

One agent said the sightings began with “weird lights moving along in groups miles away.” Another said red lights “accelerated instantly and maneuvered with perfect, smooth coordination into a horizontal formation.” A person identified as Witness 4 described smaller orbs “being hatched from the larger very bright orange light” multiple times, losing count “after five occurrences.” Witness 3 said the discharged orbs were like “grapes being expelled from a basketball,” and recalled their partner saying, “Are you seeing this?”

The FBI produced digital renderings of the agents’ accounts to recreate the sightings. The Pentagon said that the renderings were prepared in 2026:

The files also include a July 2008 CIA report of a UFO sighting above the Harare International Airport in Zimbabwe that was transmitted to the White House Situation Room and the intelligence community. Individuals aware of the incident didn’t know if the hovering object, which appeared to emanate “beams,” was a reconnaissance device of a foreign government or extraterrestrial in nature.

According to observers, “the object was disc-like in shape with a hollow center, and had a series of rotating lights on the underside of the airframe.” Its presence put the area on high alert.

A more recent sighting in 2022 near Colorado Springs, Colorado, describes a “potato”-shaped object that appeared painted in a “creamy/whitish opalescent color” that was “somewhat translucent with a slight shimmer.” The FBI created an artistic interpretation based on the description:

After the object was reported to the Defense Department, an intelligence partner conducted an analysis that assessed with “low confidence” the sighting could have been attributed to “sunlight backscattering,” where sunlight reflecting from snow on Cheyenne Mountain illuminated the underside of low-altitude clouds. Even with that analysis, the case remains unresolved as of this month.

The recent releases of files were prompted by an executive order President Trump signed earlier this year mandating the Pentagon to disclose more documents related to UFOs. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the move “demonstrates the Trump Administration’s earnest commitment to unprecedented transparency.”