Strange and Unexplained · Cristina Gomez

Pentagon Confirms UFO File Release Is Underway

February 24, 2026·12 min·1 clip

The Secretary of War and Director of National Intelligence just confirmed UFO files are coming and said they believe aliens could exist.

1. UFO News Updates host Christina Gomez covers simultaneous public UAP disclosure commitments from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, both made under a directive from President Trump. 2. Christina Gomez is the host of UFO News Updates, a daily news show sourcing all claims through ufonews.com; no guests appear in this episode. 3. The episode's core question is whether these parallel public commitments from the Pentagon and ODNI will produce substantive UAP file releases, and what context surrounds those statements. 4. Pete Hegseth, asked by journalist Kristen Fisher whether he expected to be responsible for potentially declassifying extraterrestrial life to the American people, said 'I did not have that on my bingo card at all.' 5. Hegseth confirmed the Pentagon is 'digging in' and committed to 'full compliance' with the Trump directive, though he offered no timeline and said 'stand by.' 6. Hegseth separately described space as a domain that could 'become kinetic' — military language for offensive or defensive action — and referenced capabilities the Pentagon would not discuss publicly. 7. Tulsi Gabbard, as DNI, oversees the CIA, NSA, Defense Intelligence Agency, and the rest of the U.S. intelligence community; her posted statement said UAP, UFO, and ET life files would 'soon' be released. 8. Gabbard stated her office declassified over 500,000 government documents in a single year under Trump's day-one executive orders, framing the UAP release as part of a broader transparency push. 9. In an August 2025 Pod Force One interview, Gabbard said she personally believes aliens could exist, and said 'the truth is out there.' 10. Gabbard also said she still has 'a lot of questions' about the wave of drone sightings over New Jersey and New York in late 2024, despite knowing the official answer — calling the public explanations unsatisfying. 11. The Space Force, established in December 2019, has seen its budget grow from approximately $15.4 billion in 2021 to nearly $40 billion in 2026, operating the most advanced sensor and detection systems the U.S. military has deployed in the space domain. 12. Gomez raises the question, described as underasked, of whether the Space Force may already hold the most substantial UAP data of any military branch, given its mission and sensor capabilities. 13. AARO — the Pentagon's official UAP investigation office — has 'gone quiet' according to Defense Scoop, with several annual reports overdue and little public activity. 14. Congresswoman Ana Paulina Luna and Congressman James Comer sent formal letters to Hegseth, the CIA director, and the Secretary of State requesting UAP briefings by a specific deadline. 15. Luna posted on X that UAP files at the National Archives website will be released soon, though no timeline was given. 16. Researcher Jeremy Corbell, appearing on Piers Morgan Uncensored, says a real-time debate at the Pentagon and White House has focused on whether 'radical honesty' should be the foundation of future UAP statements. 17. Corbell identified four specific areas under internal debate: a formal admission of what is known about UAP, what remains unknown, a formal acknowledgment that 'we are not alone,' and an explanation for decades of government secrecy. 18. Multiple former officials and congressional witnesses, synthesized by Gomez, point to the same structural explanation for decades of UAP secrecy: the objects have been observed operating over nuclear facilities and other sensitive installations with no U.S. military ability to stop or explain them. 19. The episode is a solo-host news summary format; Gomez narrates and plays audio clips from Hegseth's press appearance, a Gabbard interview, and Corbell's Piers Morgan segment, synthesizing across all three. 20. Listeners who follow UAP congressional developments and want a concise summary of the same week's official statements will find this episode dense with named officials and specific claims; those seeking confirmed disclosures or resolved questions will not find them here.

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