2025 orb incident: witnesses could even go before Congress
During a West Coast military mission in late 2025, several intelligence officials saw a series of orange orbs from a helicopter. Republican Rep. Eric Burlison told the New York Post that he would look into whether Congress could hear them publicly, but in his view this could be risky.
According to the paper, US intelligence officials saw the phenomenon near an undisclosed West Coast military base during a mission in late 2025. According to an FBI report released by the Trump administration in May and cited by the paper, multiple orange orbs flew alongside the helicopter, and “countless” smaller objects swarmed in all directions against the mountains. They claimed that the smaller objects emerged from a giant “mothership” orb.
According to the account, one of the smaller, oval, orange, white and yellow orbs approached the helicopter and then split in two. The article is accompanied by digital renderings released by the Department of War, one of which is based on a first-hand description by a federal law enforcement special agent. These are not footage, and the paper does not make clear whether both depict this event.
Avi Loeb, head of the UAP Scientific Advisory Council created by Trump, told the paper that neither he nor the council has seen the footage allegedly collected during the mission, and that they have not met with the witnesses either, though they would welcome the chance to interview them. In his view, the witnesses only need to be concerned about classified information relating to human-made technologies that are sensitive for national security. He said that information related to technologies of non-human origin is protected by President Trump's declassification directive and by the NDA waiver issued by the ODNI and the Pentagon, and that the significance of uncovering them overrides any concerns. The New York Post did not verify Loeb's legal interpretation.
What do we know, and what don't we know? The description of the incident is among the documents released in May 2026 under the Trump administration's PURSUE program. Steve Scalise, the House Republican Majority Leader, confirmed that Congress was briefed on the helicopter incident in a closed session. Burlison and Loeb spoke to the New York Post. We do not know the nature of the orbs, and the videos recorded during the mission are not public either. It is also not known whether the witnesses will appear before Congress. No independent analysis or debunking has been published so far.
The sober take
The New York Post article does not address mundane explanations. According to the released documents, the investigators themselves initially looked for mundane causes, such as rocket debris. Near military installations, a common mundane explanation for orange orbs is flares, but drones, other aircraft or optical phenomena could also be considered. The source does not refer to these, so they can only be mentioned as possibilities. Eyewitness accounts and digital renderings of the event are known; there is no measurement data or public footage.
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