UFO files: the Pentagon's seventh batch and a silent black triangle
· BehindLines newsroom
A matte-black triangular object rises above a ridge without making a sound, holds still, then drops into a canyon: that is the most discussed item in the seventh batch of files on "unidentified anomalous phenomena" (UAP, the newer term for UFOs), posted online on Friday 23 October by the US Department of Defense, now also styled the Department of War. The release was announced in an official statement, and the documents were still being combed through over the weekend.
According to the documents as described by The Washington Times and other US media, the sighting took place in June 2026 near a sensitive national security site in the western United States whose location is not given. Two federal special agents described the object; a third official, posted elsewhere, gave a matching account. The versions differ on how long it lasted: one speaks of about three seconds, while the memo from AARO, the Pentagon office that handles these cases, describes a climb of around ten seconds, a hover of about twenty seconds and then a short burst of speed. A search of the canyon the next morning found no debris and no marks on the ground.
The batch holds 28 documents, all written and with no video, making it the smallest so far. According to Turkey's Anadolu Agency, it also includes a report on alleged paranormal activity at Skinwalker Ranch in Utah, sightings from the 1940s and 1950s, and notes on how NASA and the Defense Department dealt with suspected fragments of space vehicles. The Washington Times also points to a 1956 report by an Air Force pilot of a blinking light over Guam, possibly a faulty weather balloon.
The releases follow a presidential executive order issued earlier this year that asked agencies to find and declassify their records on the subject. Spokesman Sean Parnell says more files will follow as they are ready, on the war.gov/ufo site.
These documents should be read for what they are. An "unresolved" case means there was not enough data to reach a conclusion, not that an extraterrestrial origin has been shown. None of the published files offers decisive evidence of that kind, The Washington Times notes, and the image released with the triangle case is not presented as an authenticated photograph. Their value lies elsewhere: for researchers, journalists and the curious, the archive shows how the US government collects, sorts and sometimes leaves open accounts that nobody can explain.