{"type":"events","slug":"2026-02-19-trump-uap-disclosure-directive","title":"Trump directs federal release of UAP records on February 19, 2026","url":"https://disclosdex.com/events/2026-02-19-trump-uap-disclosure-directive","description":"President Trump issued a February 19, 2026 directive ordering federal agencies to identify and release government files on UAP, UFOs, and extraterrestrial life, the order that established the PURSUE release system.","date":"2026-02-19T00:00:00.000Z","tags":["Directive"],"disclosureRating":8,"status":"resolved","lat":38.8977,"lng":-77.0365,"connectionCount":3,"content":{"markdown":"On February 19, 2026, President Donald J. Trump issued a public directive ordering federal agencies to identify and release government files related to UAP, UFOs, alien life, extraterrestrial life, and adjacent records. The Department of War cites this directive as the origin of its PURSUE publication system, run with support from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to locate, review, declassify, and release unresolved UAP-related records from across federal holdings.[^1]\n\n## What the directive ordered\n\nThe directive called on federal agencies to search their holdings for UAP-related material and to publish what could be released. The Department of War describes PURSUE — the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters — as the system created to carry out that order, combining older historical holdings with newer military reporting into a rolling, cross-agency release.[^1][^2]\n\n## How it was carried out\n\nThe first tranche under the directive, PURSUE Release 01, was cleared on May 8, 2026 and hosted at WAR.GOV/UFO, followed by additional tranches in the weeks after. Each release links directly to source PDFs, DVIDS-hosted videos, and images at their original locations, and names the contributing agencies for the records in that tranche.[^1][^2]\n\nThe directive itself is the originating order rather than a release of records; the indexed material in this archive comes from the resulting PURSUE tranches. See [PURSUE Release 01](/events/2026-05-08-department-of-war-pursue-release-01), [Release 02](/events/2026-05-22-department-of-war-pursue-release-02), and [Release 03](/events/2026-06-12-department-of-war-pursue-release-03).\n\n## References\n\n[^1]: [Department of War PURSUE page](https://www.war.gov/UFO/#release)\n\n[^2]: [Department of War publishes third release of UAP files](https://www.war.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/4515408/department-of-war-publishes-third-release-of-unidentified-anomalous-phenomena-f/)","readingTime":"2 min read"},"relatedRecords":[{"ref":{"type":"events","slug":"2026-06-12-department-of-war-pursue-release-03","title":"Department of War PURSUE Release 03","url":"https://disclosdex.com/events/2026-06-12-department-of-war-pursue-release-03"},"direction":"outbound","weight":1},{"ref":{"type":"events","slug":"2026-05-22-department-of-war-pursue-release-02","title":"Department of War PURSUE Release 02","url":"https://disclosdex.com/events/2026-05-22-department-of-war-pursue-release-02"},"direction":"outbound","weight":1},{"ref":{"type":"events","slug":"2026-05-08-department-of-war-pursue-release-01","title":"Department of War PURSUE Release 01","url":"https://disclosdex.com/events/2026-05-08-department-of-war-pursue-release-01"},"direction":"outbound","weight":1}],"citation":{"canonicalUrl":"https://disclosdex.com/events/2026-02-19-trump-uap-disclosure-directive","title":"Trump directs federal release of UAP records on February 19, 2026","publisher":"Disclosdex","retrievedFrom":"https://disclosdex.com/api/v1/events/2026-02-19-trump-uap-disclosure-directive","license":"CC-BY-4.0"},"evidence":["Government records","Official statements"]}