FBI Modern UAP Files
The FBI was already the second-largest contributor to the PURSUE disclosure through its 1947-1968 central case file. Release 03 (June 12, 2026) added 29 more FBI files - and these are different: they pull the Bureau's UFO record into the present. A 2022 interview with a military witness in Colorado Springs, a cluster of eyewitness orb videos from the northeastern United States that the FBI collected and the U.S. Government authenticated, and a handful of historical field-office records - including a 1949 letter signed by J. Edgar Hoover.
Colorado Springs, February 2022
The cluster's anchor document is FBI-UAP-D001, an FD-302 (the FBI's interview-record form) summarizing a March 2025 interview with a U.S. military service member about a February 2022 incident. The witness described the object as "bean shaped," "matte white" or "off-white," with a surface of "intersecting lines or ridges which formed an abstract polygon pattern." It was "motionless," and "no sound could be heard coming from it." The file carries an FBI note that AARO (the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office) has since conducted follow-up interviews to inform its analysis - so this is an open, actively-reviewed case, not a closed one.
D001Military-witness account of a motionless, bean-shaped, off-white object with a polygon-patterned surface. Accompanied by an FD-1057 (D002) and a digital rendering (D003). AARO is conducting follow-up interviews.
The Northeastern orb sightings (2021-2025)
The most striking part of the FBI's Release 03 is a set of eyewitness videos of luminous orbs, all from the same sparsely-populated area of the northeastern United States, all captured on consumer iPhones, and all - per the released metadata - collected by FBI special agents from witnesses the Bureau "assesses as highly credible." The footage was authenticated by the U.S. Government; per the files, the only alteration was cropping to protect the witnesses' privacy. These score 70 on the open Anomalousness Index - the highest of any FBI file in the disclosure - because of the witness-credibility and authentication chain.
PR003A "plasma-like sphere" hovered above a pond ~2,700 ft away for about 45 minutes, intermittently changing shape and separating into smaller luminous points, silent. iPhone footage, U.S. Government-authenticated, cropped only for privacy.
Two witnesses (an eyewitness and spouse) saw a "brilliant red sphere" ~1 m across with a white-plasma core, then a second identical orb; the two moved in tandem "as though flying in formation" before appearing to merge. iPhone 14 Pro Max, within 25 miles of the other sightings.
A single intense light resolved into multiple lights in erratic rotational motion, ~2,000 ft from the witness, drifting laterally. iPhone 12 Pro; the FBI assessed the witness as highly credible.
Two stationary red luminous sources ~2,500 ft out; the lower rotated slowly around the upper, from a 6 o'clock to past a 9 o'clock position. Silent. iPhone 12 Pro.
The video set is backed by paperwork and reconstructions: FD-1057 investigative-activity records (FBI-UAP-D004 through D008) documenting how agents collected each clip, FD-302 interview forms for the 2026 reports (D009-D010), and a series of digital renderings and recreations of the witness narratives (D014-D023 images, plus PR005-PR006). The files explicitly cross-reference one another as originating from "the same general area."
The historical field-office files (1949-1967)
Three older records round out the contribution. The standout is FBI-UAP-D011: 1949 correspondence between FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and Rev. Charles Barnes, who reported "four beams of light converging in the Cascade Mountains" at ~10,000 feet with a "great explosion" visible at the convergence point for at least ten minutes. Hoover thanked Barnes and forwarded the account to the Atomic Energy Commission, noting Barnes believed it might relate to a military or scientific experiment.
D011Director J. Edgar Hoover's exchange with Rev. Charles Barnes over converging light beams and an explosion in the Cascades, referred onward to the Atomic Energy Commission. Joined by Newark (D012) and Washington State (D013) field-office files, 1952-1967.
What this FBI contribution does NOT establish
- It does not establish that any of these objects were extraterrestrial. The FBI's role here is to collect and document eyewitness reports and assess witness credibility - not to determine the nature of what was seen.
- "Authenticated by the U.S. Government" means the footage was checked for tampering and found unaltered (beyond privacy cropping) - it does not mean the government identified the object. The Colorado Springs and orb cases are unresolved.
- "Highly credible witness" is an assessment of the person, not proof of the phenomenon. Sincere, credible witnesses can still misperceive lights at distance and at night.
- The orb videos cluster in one small area known to the witnesses; that consistency is interesting but is not, by itself, evidence of origin.
How to verify everything on this page
- Each featured file links above to its page on this site, where you can view the document or play the video, download the original (SHA-256 verified against war.gov), and click through to the war.gov source URL.
- Every detail here - the Colorado Springs description, the per-video specifics, the "highly credible" assessments, the Hoover/AEC referral - is quoted or paraphrased from the released file summaries.
- For all FBI files in a browsable grid, see /fbi-ufo-files/. For the Bureau's historical central case file, see the 62-HQ-83894 deep dive.
Bottom line
The FBI's Release 03 files are the disclosure's clearest example of the modern UAP-reporting pipeline at work: civilians capture something on a phone, the FBI interviews them, assesses their credibility, and the footage is authenticated for tampering - and the cases stay open. The Colorado Springs object and the northeastern orbs are unexplained, not identified, and the rubric scores them on that evidentiary chain rather than on any claim about what they are. For anyone tracking how present-day UAP reports actually enter the federal record, this is the cluster to read.