The Infinite ArchiveTHE INFINITE ARCHIVEHISTORY · SCIENCE · MYSTERY
A U-2 spy plane in flight against a blue sky
A U.S. Air Force U-2. CIA U-2 and OXCART flights accounted for many UFO reports in the 1950s and 1960s. U.S. Air Force · Public domain · source · via Wikimedia Commons
IS IT TRUE?

Is the government hiding UFOs?

Verdict · Speculative

It has hidden UFO secrets before, mostly its own spy planes. No public evidence yet shows alien craft.

Speculative: A hypothesis with little direct evidence so far.

The short answer

The government has kept UFO-related secrets. The CIA later admitted its U-2 and OXCART spy planes explained many 1950s and 1960s sightings it let stay mysterious. Records tied to Roswell were destroyed without authority. But the claim that the government holds alien craft or bodies rests on testimony, not documents or physical evidence, and the Pentagon's 2024 review found none.

What the record shows

  1. From 1947 to 1969, the Air Force's Project Blue Book logged 12,618 UFO sightings. 701 remained "unidentified" when it closed. 1
  2. A CIA history concluded that U-2 and OXCART reconnaissance flights accounted for many UFO reports in the late 1950s and 1960s. The secrecy around those planes meant the explanations were not shared. 2
  3. The GAO found in 1995 that some Roswell Army Air Field administrative records had been destroyed without proper authority. 3
  4. In April 2020 the Defense Department released three Navy videos of unidentified objects, from 2004 and 2015, to clear up whether circulating footage was real. 4
  5. In 2023, former intelligence officer David Grusch told Congress he had been told of a crash-retrieval program and "nonhuman biologics." He was not speaking for the government, and the Defense Department said it had no verifiable information supporting the claims. 5
  6. A 2024 Pentagon review found no evidence that the U.S. government had recovered or reverse-engineered extraterrestrial technology. 6
  7. Congress is still pushing: a House task force has held a UAP hearing with whistleblower testimony. 7
  8. In a July 2026 Gallup poll, 78% of Americans said the government knows more about UFOs than it is telling, while 37% said at least some UFOs are alien spacecraft. 8

Where the claim comes from

The idea grew from real secrecy: classified aircraft, a balloon program at Roswell explained only decades later, and Air Force studies that left hundreds of cases open. Recent congressional hearings and whistleblower claims have revived it. 237

What would change our verdict

Documents, physical material or verifiable data, made public and independently examined, showing a non-human craft or recovered remains.

Go deeper in the archive

Area 51: The Secret Base in the DesertExplorer dossierRoswell: The Crash of 1947Explorer dossier

Sources

Checked 2026-11-02.

  1. INSTITUTION
    “Project BLUE BOOK: Unidentified Flying Objects.” National Archives. https://www.archives.gov/research/military/air-force/ufos
  2. PRIMARY SOURCE
    “CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947–90.” Central Intelligence Agency, Center for the Study of Intelligence. https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/cia-role-study-UFOs.pdf
  3. PRIMARY SOURCE
    “Results of a Search for Records Concerning the 1947 Crash Near Roswell, New Mexico (GAO/NSIAD-95-187).” U.S. General Accounting Office. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-95-187/html/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-95-187.htm
  4. PRIMARY SOURCE
    “Statement by the Department of Defense on the Release of Historical Navy Videos (April 27, 2020).” U.S. Department of Defense. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/
  5. JOURNALISM
    “Former officer, not US agency, said government has UFOs.” PolitiFact. https://politifact.com/factchecks/2023/jul/28/lizzo/truth-hurts-fact-checking-lizzos-incorrect-claim-a/
  6. PRIMARY SOURCE
    “Report on the Historical Record of U.S. Government Involvement with Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, Vol. 1 (2024).” All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, U.S. Department of Defense. https://media.defense.gov/2024/Mar/08/2003409233/-1/-1/0/DOPSR-CLEARED-508-COMPLIANT-HRRV1-08-MAR-2024-FINAL.PDF
  7. JOURNALISM
    “US Congressional Hearing on UAPs (Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets).” Spreaker (hearing recap). https://www.spreaker.com/episode/us-congressinal-hearing-on-uaps--75867149
  8. INSTITUTION
    “Americans Still Skeptical That UFOs Are Aliens.” Gallup. https://news.gallup.com/poll/713765/americans-skeptical-ufos-aliens.aspx

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