Has the FBI released UFO files?
“Yes — the FBI has released hundreds of UFO files via The Vault and contributed multiple memos to the 2026 PURSUE release, including the 1947 Dallas hexagonal-object memo and the 2023 'Eye of Sauron' case.”
The FBI has released UFO records through two main channels. The first is The Vault, the FBI's public records reading room, which contains hundreds of pages of historical UFO files dating to the 1940s — most famously the 1947 "Hottel memo" describing a balloon-suspended hexagonal object recovered in New Mexico. The second is contribution to PURSUE Release 01 in 2026: the FBI provided the 1947 Dallas field memo (DOC-001 / PURSUE-001), a 1950 Idaho memo expressing concern about "hysteria, or panic" from unexplained sightings, FBI photographs from New Year's Eve 1999 showing UAP framed alongside a U.S. aircraft, and the 2023 "Eye of Sauron" agent-witness case. The FBI's role in PURSUE is primarily as a witness-statement custodian for U.S.-soil incidents involving federal personnel.