Is the Pentagon’s UFO dump a political distraction?
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 747 Ratings
🗓️ 12 May 2026
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The US Department of Defense released 162 files on unidentified flying objects (UFOs), following an order from President Donald Trump. The files included documents from the FBI, NASA, and the US State Department. As conspiracy theories soar all over the internet, what’s really in the files, and how significant is the release?
In this episode:
- Anthony Lappe (@anthonylappe), Television producer and investigative reporter
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by David Enders and Chloe K. Li with Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Tuleen Barakat, Catherine Nouhan and our guest host, Kevin Hirten. It was edited by Tamara Khandaker.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer.
Connect with us:
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Today, the U.S. government releases previously classified files related to unidentified flying objects. |
| 0:19.0 | The Pentagon releasing photos, videos, and reports of some 400 unresolved UFO sightings |
| 0:25.3 | from the past 80 years. |
| 0:28.0 | Hundreds of images, videos, and documents will talk about what they really reveal. |
| 0:35.8 | I'm Kevin Horton, and this is the take. |
| 0:46.1 | Before we continue with today's show, remember to leave us a comment telling us what you think |
| 0:50.5 | about this episode. |
| 0:51.8 | Do you think this is all a big distraction by the Trump administration? |
| 0:55.2 | Do you think this might get us closer to understanding whether or not extraterrestrials are real? |
| 0:59.8 | Do you want to believe? |
| 1:02.1 | And remember, if you're on your favorite podcast app, leave us a review and a five-star rating as well. |
| 1:07.5 | It really does help the show. |
| 1:11.7 | My name is Anthony LePay. I am a television producer and investigative reporter based in New York City. |
| 1:18.7 | Okay. Anthony, welcome to the take. So I'm going to jump right in with kind of the top line, |
| 1:24.7 | the headline. On Friday, May 8th, by order of the President of the United States of America, the Pentagon, |
| 1:31.6 | aka the Department of War, released its first tranche of previously classified material |
| 1:37.0 | regarding what I think most people call UFOs, but what experts like you might call |
| 1:42.9 | UAP, unexplained aerial phenomena. |
| 1:46.0 | The official site is war.govs backslash UFO, |
| 1:50.0 | and it's now live. |
| 1:52.0 | And it's being branded as something called Pursue, |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 3 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Al Jazeera, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Al Jazeera and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.