WASHINGTON — The Department of War published its sixth batch of unidentified anomalous phenomena files on Sept. 18, according to a statement from chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell. The centerpiece is a set of 37 Defense Intelligence Reference Documents produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program, a Defense Intelligence Agency effort that ran from 2008 to 2012.
The files are posted at WAR.GOV/UFO under the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters, or PURSUE. Parnell’s statement said the department and its agency partners are already working on the next release.
What the batch contains
CBS News counted 71 files: 55 PDFs, 15 videos and one audio file. Of those, 67 came from the Defense Department and four from local law enforcement in Colorado. CBS reported that 64 of the 71 files carry redactions. The documents span 1952 to 2025. Other outlets reported slightly different totals; the department’s own statement did not give a count.
The 37 reference documents, known as DIRDs, cover speculative propulsion and materials topics. Reported subjects include warp drives, traversable wormholes, antigravity, negative-mass propulsion and invisibility cloaking. One paper, dated March 11, 2010, examined field effects on human biological tissue. The batch also includes a July 18, 2008 statement of objectives for the program.
Not new documents, but fewer redactions
The DIRDs themselves are not new to the public. The Defense Intelligence Agency released 37 of them under the Freedom of Information Act in March 2022. According to ClearanceJobs, the versions posted Sept. 18 restore some details the earlier release withheld, including the names of the agency offices that produced them.
The department attached a caveat to the set. CBS reported that the Pentagon describes the DIRDs as reference and synthesis products that “should not be read as implying current validation.”
Older and newer material
The oldest item is Project Blue Book material from 1952. It includes the July 2, 1952 film shot near Tremonton, Utah by Navy Warrant Officer Delbert C. Newhouse, and a 1952 presentation transcript by Air Force Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt, who then led the Air Force’s UFO investigations. The government’s Robertson Panel later concluded the Tremonton objects were most likely birds.
The newest material includes military mission reports from the Middle East dated 2022 and 2025. ClearanceJobs reported that a 2025 U.S. Central Command report describes six small spherical objects moving in a group at about 480 mph.
Release schedule
The Pentagon launched the release series on May 8. Further batches followed on May 22, June 12, July 10 and Aug. 7. The sixth release came two days after the department announced a legal waiver allowing personnel to report UAP information to PURSUE, which Declassified Now covered separately.
Filed under: Department of War / Defense Intelligence Agency
Sources
- Department of War — WAR.GOV/UFO, PURSUE file collection (Release 06)
- Department of War — “Department of War Publishes Sixth Release of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Files on WAR.GOV/UFO,” statement by Sean Parnell, Sept. 18, 2026 (mirror)
- Defense Intelligence Agency — FOIA Electronic Reading Room (AAWSAP DIRDs, 2022 release)
- CBS News — Pentagon releases more UFO files, including documents on secretive military program
- ClearanceJobs — What’s inside the Pentagon’s latest UAP files, Sept. 22, 2026