Dr. Phil McGraw is taking aim at the Pentagon, accusing officials of misleading Americans “straight to our face” while brushing aside a huge volume of UFO sightings reported by everyday people — even though civilians account for much of the unexplained activity seen in the skies.
In a forceful statement Wednesday, the well-known television personality claimed the public has been kept in the dark for generations, alleging there has been “a conscious, policy-driven decision to deceive the American people about what was going on in the skies” and insisting that “we’re not getting the truth from our government.”
“[The government] has turned a blind eye to sightings by most Americans,” McGraw said in a video shared on his X account.
According to McGraw, the Pentagon has failed to seriously address more than 1,800 credible UAP reports — short for unidentified aerial phenomena — filed by members of the public.
He argued that while many civilian UFO reports may ultimately have ordinary explanations, dismissing them wholesale is unfair to witnesses whose experiences may be legitimate.
“If 99% prove to be nothing to see here… fine. What about the 1%?” he said.
McGraw also criticized the federal government’s broader approach to UFO transparency, including how records tied to UAP investigations and potential alien life have been declassified and released.
“Most of you are as angry as I am that the government has lied straight to our face,” he said.
“This is what really pisses me off. There is not one government agency that lets everyday Americans report UAPs.
“And the overwhelming majority of sightings come from the general public and the government never investigates them.”
McGraw pointed out that pilots and military members have direct channels to report UAPs to the government — but cited FAA stats claiming there are “fewer than 900,000 active pilots in the entire country.”
“That means roughly 93% of Americans have no official way of reporting a UAP sighting,” he said.
The only options available to the public are two private, non-government databases — the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) and the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) — that allow anyone to submit reports about UFOs and unexplained encounters, he said.
Through NUFORC’s catalog of data, more than 1,800 UFO reports were classified as “Tier 1,” meaning they represented the most credible sightings on record, McGraw pointed out.
“Can some of those be explained away? I’m sure they can — maybe all of them, I don’t know,” he said.
“The point is that no one in the government is even looking at these things,” he said.
McGraw said if the government is serious about transparency and disclosure, it needs to be “cross-checking what civilians are reporting against what the military already knows.”
“Not thanks but no thanks, don’t call us, we’ll call you,” he said. “They should be saying ‘Here’s how to submit that report through the proper channels.
“But there is no channel — proper or otherwise. Eighty years of trust us has gotten us nowhere.”
The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) — the Pentagon division responsible for examining UFO sightings — has repeatedly promised to begin accepting public reports, but has yet to do so.
AARO said on its website that “reporting is limited at this time to current or former US Government employees, military personnel, or contractor personnel with direct knowledge of US Government programs or activities related to UAP dating back to 1945.”
“AARO is NOT currently accepting reports of UAP sightings/encounters from the general public. In the future, reporting eligibility will be expanded to the general public and include reports of any event related to UAP.”
The issue has gained renewed attention under the Trump administration.
Trump, who ordered the rolling disclosure earlier this year, has said repeatedly that he is skeptical about the existence of alien life, but mandated transparency about UFOs after former President Barack Obama said of aliens during a February interview: “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them.“
The Trump administration’s most recent UFO files release revealed that government employees witnessed a triangle UFO near Colorado Springs in 2023.
On July 21, the administration announced it would waive non-disclosure agreements for former government employees and contractors with information on UFO programs — in an effort to draw out details on any highly secretive operations.
