Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon is “working” on identifying and releasing government files related to UFOs and extraterrestrial life following President Donald Trump’s directive.
“We’ve got our people working on it right now,” Hegseth said Monday, when asked by a reporter if he was prepared to potentially declassify such information. “I don’t want to oversell how much time it will take, but we’re digging in.”
He added that his team will be “in full compliance” with Trump’s instructions.
During the visit to Sierra Space, a commercial aerospace company in Colorado, Hegseth admitted to previously not having the task “on his bingo card,” but said there would be more to come, telling reporters to “standby” for updates.
When asked if he thinks aliens exist, Hegseth said: “We’ll see. I get to do the review and find out along with you!”
The Colorado stop was part of Hegseth’s nationwide tour of defense industrial bases.
TIME has reached out to the White House and the Department of Defense for comment.
Trump announced on Feb. 19 that he is instructing federal agencies to begin releasing government files.
“I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant departments and agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters,” he said.
Trump made reference to the “tremendous interest shown” over what information the U.S. government may have on extraterrestrial life. This interest spiked after former President Barack Obama, during a Feb. 14 interview with progressive podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen, said aliens are “real.”
“They’re not being kept at Area 51. There’s no underground facility—unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the President of the United States,” he added.
Area 51 is a highly classified U.S. Air Force facility in southern Nevada that has long been the focus of conspiracy theorists regarding alien life.
The remarks prompted a wave of online speculation, leading Obama to clarify his comments the following day.
“I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it’s gotten attention let me clarify,” he said via social media. “Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there. But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we’ve been visited by aliens is low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!”
In the wake of Obama’s commentary, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that the former President is “not supposed to be” giving classified information.
There’s no indication that Obama revealed any classified information during the podcast.
Meanwhile, Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, said last week in an interview with the New York Post’s Pod Force One that she had asked the President about the topic and claimed he had prepared remarks on extraterrestrial life that would be delivered at the “right time.” But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said “a speech on aliens would be news to me,” when asked about the matter.
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