A series of newly declassified government files describes federal agents encountering mysterious glowing orbs and other unexplained aerial phenomena over multiple days and locations, deepening questions about what exactly is traversing American airspace.
According to the Daily Caller, the Department of War (DOW) on Friday released its third tranche of declassified records on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), a term that has largely replaced UFO in official parlance. The documents, which include videos, sketches and sworn statements, detail encounters in both the western United States and the Northeast, and feature testimony from at least six federal law enforcement special agents and intelligence officials who say they witnessed objects that defied easy explanation and appeared to outpace U.S. aircraft.
The most dramatic accounts come from an operation in the western United States in October 2023, when a ground team and helicopter crew reported multiple close-range sightings over two consecutive days. As we headed through an alley area, we suddenly noticed a large glowing ball to our right 90 degrees from where we were, one officials testimony states, noting that the orb hovered for several minutes before vanishing, only to reappear roughly 20 minutes later in a similar position.
The same official described the object behaving in ways that do not match conventional aircraft or drones. While it was lit, it appeared three red lights flew out of and away from it. They seemed evenly spaced apart and moved pretty fast, quickly disappearing from sight. At the same time the orange light lit up, there appeared to be a flash from over the horizon to the left. The flash lit up the sky pretty well, though very briefly, the testimony continues, suggesting a coordinated or at least highly unusual pattern of movement.
The witness further recounted that the phenomenon repeated itself yet again that night, but with a different configuration. About twenty minutes later, the experience repeated, except this time the orange ball appeared to the front and slightly to the left this time. This time, however, the red lights appeared to leave in a different pattern as one flew straight out, one appeared to fly up horizontally, and another flew down horizontally, appearing to fly away in a vertical alignment of three lights, the testimony goes on, indicating that the lights seemed to maneuver with deliberate precision.
Other agents deployed on the same mission in the same general area corroborated the account, reporting that they too saw the glowing orb and the strange red lights. Their statements, included in the DOW files, describe similar vantage points and timing, reinforcing the impression that multiple trained observers were witnessing the same event rather than a solitary misperception.
On the second day in that same sector, the agents reported an entirely different anomaly: a floating cobweb drifting in the air. While the phrase might evoke something mundane, the description in the files suggests the object did not behave like ordinary debris, and its inclusion in official documentation underscores how seriously the agents took the incident.
To support the written testimony, the FBI commissioned professional sketches based on the officers recollections of what they had seen. Several of these drawings appear in the newly released files, including one sequence that strings together multiple images to illustrate how the orbs appeared to move across the mountain backdrop, changing formation and intensity as they went.
The first major sighting in that western operation reportedly began after the ground team noticed something lifting off from the terrain below. According to their account, the object rose from the ground, closed distance toward the helicopter, and then accelerated away at a speed the crew could not match, prompting immediate concern about both safety and national security.
We briefly pursued but broke off, unable to match its speed. At one point, the JOC informed us that several fighter jets had launched on a training mission in our operating area and requested their assistance in identifying the UAP, the intelligence officials testimony states, referring to the Joint Operations Center (JOC) that was monitoring the mission and coordinating air assets in the region.
Following that initial encounter, radar operators on the ground directed the helicopter crew to additional contacts in the vicinity. Minutes later, the JOC directed us to nearby radar detections. We took up a hovering position at approximately 700 feet above ground level (AGL). In the distance, we saw countless orange orbs swarming in all directions against the backdrop of the mountain. The display lasted several minutes before fading, the official writes, describing a scene that sounds more like a science fiction film than a routine federal operation.
The JOC then relayed new coordinates after another radar hit, leading to what appears to be the closest and most unnerving encounter of the mission. Through NVGx [night vision goggles], the pilots and I (using the naked eye) observed two large orbs flare up side-by-side, close to the helicopter stationary and just above the rotor disk to our right. They were oval-shaped, orange with a white or yellow center, and emitted light in all directions, the testimony reads, indicating that the objects were within a range that would normally allow for clear identification.
The same official recounts that the display escalated rapidly. After a few seconds, a third orb flared up below the pair, followed by a fourth below that, forming a total of four or five in a T formation under the original two. Moments later, they dimmed in reverse order, remaining stationary until they vanished from view. The entire event lasted 10-15 seconds. I didnt take photos, as I was focused on assessing what it was and whether it posed a threat, the testimony continues, underscoring the tactical mindset of the crew in the moment.
In the aftermath of that close pass, the pilots debated whether to land the helicopter immediately, concerned about the proximity and unknown capabilities of the orbs. As they weighed their options, fighter jets that had been vectored into the area streaked past the helicopter and toward the lights, and from their vantage point the crew watched the orbs react in apparent coordination with the incoming aircraft.
From the helicopter, the official says they observed the orbs flare up one by one and shift into a horizontal line, apparently pacing the jets. The lights were matching the jets speed and flight path; then they dimmed and disappeared, according to the account, a detail that raises obvious questions about whether these objects were simply atmospheric anomalies or something far more sophisticated.
The intelligence official wrote that his impression, based on the timing and movement, was that the orbs were actively pursuing or shadowing the fighter jets. At one point during this sequence, the objects reportedly formed a triangle, a configuration that has been reported in other UAP cases and that has long fueled speculation about advanced craft operating in U.S. airspace.
After landing, I briefly spoke with them mostly to express thanks. We were virtually speechless after these observations, the official writes of his conversation with the fighter pilots, before noting that he then debriefed the ground team and returned home, still without any clear explanation for what they had encountered.
The DOW release does not limit itself to the western incidents; it also includes videos and analyses of UAP sightings in the northeastern United States from 2021 and 2022, as well as a more recent case from 2025. These files, prepared by the FBI, focus heavily on detailed descriptions of light sources, distances, motion patterns and recording conditions, reflecting an effort to treat the reports with forensic rigor rather than dismiss them as mere curiosities.
In November 2021, at approximately 0500 local time in the northeastern United States, an eyewitness observed a bright light source near the horizon at an estimated distance of 2,000 feet. The light source initially appeared as a single intense luminous object before resolving into multiple lights exhibiting erratic rotational motion relative to one another. The object slowly moved laterally from left to right during the encounter. The eyewitness captured the video with a hand-held iPhone 12 Pro, resulting in unintended camera movement. The location was well known to the eyewitness and is sparsely populated, the FBI writes in its narrative of one such video, emphasizing both the isolation of the area and the unusual behavior of the lights.
A similar event occurred in March 2022 in the same general region, again documented on a smartphone and again involving multiple luminous objects. At approximately 1920 local time in the northeastern United States, an eyewitness observed two bright red luminous light sources hovering near the horizon at an estimated distance of 2,500 feet. Both luminous objects maintained generally stationary positions throughout the encounter. The lower light source appeared to rotate slowly relative to the upper light source, moving from an apparent 6 oclock position to slightly beyond the apparent 9 oclock position. The eyewitness did not hear any sounds from the light sources. The eyewitness captured this video using an iPhone 12 Pro at a location well known to them, which is sparsely populated, the FBI documents state, again stressing the lack of obvious conventional explanations such as aircraft noise or dense urban lighting.
Perhaps most striking, the files reach into the near-present, with a case dated July 2025 in the same northeastern corridor. In that incident, the FBI records suggest that the object was not a distant light in the sky but a low-altitude presence in a residential backyard, close enough for two witnesses to describe its apparent size and internal structure.
An eyewitness observed an intense bright light in their backyard as they parked their car upon returning home from work. The light was hovering approximately 25 feet off the ground, below a tree line near the center of their backyard, at an estimated distance of 90 feet. The eyewitness exited their vehicle briefly before retrieving their phone to record the event. The spouse of the eyewitness came outside to assess the situation. The spouse also witnessed the light, describing it as a brilliant red sphere about one meter in diameter. The center of the red sphere appeared to be a white plasma sun about the size of a basketball. The orb slowly rose and moved to the left, and both eyewitnesses observed a second, identical orb, hovering above the other orb, FBI documents state, adding yet another layer to a pattern of reports that increasingly defy easy dismissal.
For Americans who believe in a strong national defense and a competent, transparent government, these accounts raise obvious concerns that go beyond science fiction or pop-culture fascination with UFOs. When multiple federal agents, intelligence officials and ordinary citizens describe objects that outrun helicopters, pace fighter jets and hover silently over private property, the question is not whether Washington can spin the story away, but whether the federal bureaucracy is prepared to confront whatever is intruding into U.S. airspace and to level with the public about what it knows.
The newly unsealed files underscore that, despite years of official reluctance and partisan distractions in Washington, UAP encounters are being documented, analyzed and quietly archived by the very agencies tasked with protecting the homeland. This is a breaking news story and will continue to be updated, but for now the record shows that those on the front linesfrom special agents in the field to pilots in the cockpitare seeing something, and the American people are still waiting for their government to explain what it is.
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