What became of NASA's UFO unit? Three years from promises to declassified files
In September 2023, NASA very publicly appointed its first director of UAP research and promised to put the study of UFO phenomena on a scientific footing. A long silence followed. In 2026, the new NASA chief is now saying that the agency has unexplained footage, but according to critics, disclosure is still incomplete.
The big 2023 announcement
On September 14, 2023, Bill Nelson, then head of NASA, presented at a press conference the report of a 16-member independent study team on UAP sightings. The team was led by astrophysicist David Spergel, and former astronaut Scott Kelly was also a member. The 33-page report recommended that NASA also deploy its existing tools, such as its Earth-observing satellites and modern data analysis methods, to investigate the phenomena.
Nelson said they wanted to steer the topic toward science instead of sensationalism. He stressed that the study team had found no evidence that UAP are extraterrestrial in origin, but added that they also don't know what they are. NASA wanted to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to search for anomalies in the sky, and the idea of a smartphone app was also raised, which anyone could have used to report a sighting.
The most tangible step was the creation of a new post: NASA's director of UAP research. The news often presented this as a "new unit," but in reality it was a single leadership position. At first, the agency even kept the name of the person filling it secret, because several members of the study team had received harassment and threats. Eight hours later, however, it was announced: Mark McInerney became the director, who had previously been NASA's liaison to the Pentagon on UAP matters. His main task would have been to create a comprehensive UAP database.
Then silence
The momentum quickly ran out. According to an analysis tracking NASA's UAP activity, in 2024 the agency did not issue a single official statement, press conference or release on the subject. McInerney's assignment expired in September 2024, and since then he has been working in a different leadership role at NASA.
Mike Gold, a member of the 2023 study team, wanted NASA to set up a small but permanent UAP office. According to him, McInerney had plans for collecting reports from the public, but these could not be realized once the post ended.
2026: new leadership, new tone
NASA has been led by Jared Isaacman since December 18, 2025. This year, President Donald Trump initiated the release of UFO and UAP files, and the Department of War (formerly the Department of Defense) launched a program called PURSUE to declassify old records. According to Isaacman, NASA is also taking part in this.
At the end of May, Isaacman said that the declassified files do indeed contain unexplained phenomena recorded by military sensors, but no alien bodies or crashed vehicles were found. In an interview in the summer, he confirmed that NASA also has footage where they don't know what it shows. And in early October, he said that one must remain open-minded, and if UAP turned out to be extraterrestrial, NASA should also have a role in the investigation. He added that natural phenomena and advanced human technology could also be behind them.
Dispute over completeness
In an interview published on October 12, Isaacman said that NASA had handed over all of its material as part of the PURSUE program. These include photographs from the Apollo 17 mission, in which three blue lights can be seen.
According to investigative journalist Ross Coulthart, this is not enough. He believes NASA has not yet released space mission footage going back nearly 60 years. About the Apollo images, he said that nothing can be known until the original film is examined and it is determined whether the spots are actually on it. Coulthart stressed that he does not consider Isaacman a liar, but in his view the NASA chief does not understand exactly what UAP data means.
The timing of the dispute is no coincidence: this week saw the publication of a book by Jay Stratton, former head of the Pentagon's UAP task force, in which he makes far more serious claims. We wrote about it here.
The sober take
NASA's official position has essentially not changed since 2023: there is no evidence that any UAP is extraterrestrial in origin. What has changed is the tone and the degree of openness.
That a piece of footage is "unexplained" usually means there is not enough data to identify it, not that it shows something extraordinary. The term UAP itself does not imply any origin either. According to the 2023 study team, most cases can be explained by aircraft, drones, balloons or weather phenomena. The team worked only with unclassified data, which critics have held against it ever since.
Spots seen in old photographs can often be attributed to the film, the camera or light reflection. That is exactly why what Coulthart is also asking for matters: an examination of the original Apollo 17 film. Until that happens, the three blue lights remain, for now, only an unanswered question, not evidence.
The Pentagon's UAP office (AARO) likewise found no verifiable evidence of alien technology in its 2024 report.
What was that?
- A bright sphere hanging motionless in the sky? Party and weather balloons mistaken for UFOs
- Drone or UFO? How to recognize drones at night – and what only looks like a drone
Sources
- Telemundo 47 / EFE – NASA anuncia la creación de un nuevo departamento para investigar los ovnis (2023)
- NPR / Michigan Public – New NASA report lays out roadmap for studying UFOs (2023)
- ExecutiveGov – NASA Makes Mark McInerney Director of UAP Research
- University of Portsmouth – UFOs: how NASA plans to get to the bottom of unexplained sightings
- NASA’s UAP Efforts: the hope of 2023 vs. the reality of 2024
- NASA chief pulls back curtain on Trump UFO files after bizarre finds surface in buried fed records
- NASA Chief Jared Isaacman Publicly States That if It Is Aliens We Should Have a Seat at the Table
- Why Ross Coulthart says NASA’s UAP disclosure isn’t complete