Donald Trump’s top intelligence chief has declared she believes in aliens and vowed to “share the truth” about UFOs, as newly released footage shows one of the most famous unidentified objects ever caught on camera by the US military.
Tulsi Gabbard, serving as Director of National Intelligence under Trump’s administration, said she holds personal convictions about the existence of extraterrestrials but is restricted in what she can disclose while in office. Speaking on the Pod Force One podcast with Miranda Devine, Gabbard was asked outright whether she believes aliens and UFOs are real. Her response was unequivocal: “Yes.”
While Gabbard said she currently has “nothing to share with the public about aliens and UFOs today,” she promised that, when the opportunity comes, she will reveal the truth. “We’re continuing to look for the truth and share that truth with the American people,” she added.
Her comments come at a time of growing public fascination with unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), fuelled by a wave of whistleblower testimony, declassified documents, and previously unseen military footage. Just last year, a Pentagon whistleblower told Congress that the US is in possession of advanced technologies not originating from any known nation.
Former counterintelligence officer Luis Elizondo, who investigated UFO incidents while working for the Department of Defense, has claimed that America is holding UAP materials of non-human origin. In written testimony, he alleged that some of these advanced technologies defy conventional explanation and have been observed worldwide.
Trump himself has repeatedly signalled his willingness to lift the lid on the subject. During an interview with podcaster Lex Fridman, he pledged to push the Pentagon to release more classified UFO footage if re-elected, saying: “I’d love to do that. I have to do that. People begged me not to do it but I’ll be doing that very early on.”
That push for transparency coincides with the release of one of the most talked-about UFO videos in recent memory: the so-called “Mosul Orb.” Filmed in 2016 by a US MC-12 surveillance aircraft over Mosul, Iraq, the newly declassified four-second clip shows a metallic spherical object moving steadily across the sky without losing altitude. The UFO drifts in and out of the camera’s view, its movements seemingly unaffected by wind or gravity.
The footage was obtained by investigator Dustin Slaughter through a Freedom of Information request and released publicly by UFO researcher Jeremy Corbell. The Pentagon had previously declassified a still image from the same video two years ago, but this is the first time the moving footage has been shown to the public.
Remarkably, the Mosul Orb isn’t an isolated case. Other declassified videos have captured similar metallic spheres over the Middle East and South Asia, many recorded by US military drones. These objects, often described as travelling at unusual speeds or hovering in place, have left defence experts baffled.
The US government has increasingly shifted its stance on UFOs in recent years. What was once dismissed as conspiracy theory is now treated as a legitimate national security issue, with the Pentagon acknowledging that UAPs exist and that some cannot be explained by current technology.
In 2022, the Department of Defense released more than 1,500 pages of documents from its secretive UFO programme. The haul included research on the biological effects of close encounters, categorisations for paranormal experiences, and studies into speculative technologies once confined to science fiction.
Internationally, interest in extraterrestrial life has surged. Last year in Mexico, alleged “non-human” mummified bodies were presented to Congress, with doctors later confirming they were once-living organisms — though their origins remain hotly debated.
Back in Washington, the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) has set up a public reporting service for UFO sightings, admitting it has uncovered “some things” and warning of suspicious activity “in our backyard.”
For Gabbard, the issue is no longer a matter of belief but of timing and classification. While she remains bound by security protocols, her willingness to go on record about her belief in alien life marks one of the most direct statements yet from someone at the highest levels of the US intelligence community.
With Trump promising swift declassification if he returns to the White House, and investigators continuing to pry loose long-hidden files, the coming years could prove decisive in answering one of humanity’s oldest questions: are we alone in the universe?