CBS News⁠39%

Pentagon releases new batch of UFO files: "Did you see that?" ⁠24%

By Stefan Becket⁠17%

8/7/2026, 1:38:00 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 22 faulty reasoning types, including Ambiguity (Equivocation), Appeal to Authority, and Anecdotal, with Confirmation Bias as the most egregious example at 13% saturation with 108 hits. Analysis detected 951 faulty-reasoning hits from 831 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 29.5% and a BS Rank of ⁠24% (23,369 of 30,584 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 76.40% of the article peer group.

Washington — The Pentagon on Friday released a new batch of documents and images related to UFOs, also known as unidentified anomalous phenomena or UAP, including a military pilot's recollection of a huge, strange triangle that blocked out the stars over Afghanistan in 2002. 
The 41 new files, posted on the Pentagon's UFO website, include a mix of documents, images and videos. 
The records come from the Pentagon, FBI, CIA, State Department and Executive Office of the President, with the oldest being from 1950 and the most recent being from this year. 
The disclosure is the fifth release under an executive order President Trump signed in January directing the military and other agencies to produce more documents related to UFOs. 
What's in the new UFO files? 
The bulk of Friday's release includes the type of grainy videos that have been the hallmark of past disclosures, showing flying objects captured by military sensors and cameras. 
Six of the videos show different versions of the same incident — an encounter over the Gulf of Oman by Special Operations forces on an AC-130J gunship in September 2021. 
The clips are cellphone videos of screens on the gunship, showing objects picked up by its infrared and other sensors. 
An accompanying intelligence report sheds more light on the footage. 
The report said the forces onboard the gunship "observed approximately 25 instances of UAPs while conducting a live fire exercise in the Gulf of Oman." 
"The UAPs were observed as cold orbs flying at lower altitudes between 250 to 1300 MPH in different formations as well as maneuvering aggressively. 
UAPs also appeared to react to the aircraft firing its main cannon," the report said. 
The encounter could not be resolved by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, the Pentagon's UAP investigative arm. 
One clip submitted by U.S. 
Central Command shows footage captured by a military aircraft over a populated area in the Middle East in 2025. 
The video shows what appears to be an object zooming across the screen. 
The incident also remains unresolved. 
Another video shows footage captured by a "U.S. 
Government Special Agent" in the western U.S. this year. 
The Pentagon said the video "features two, slow-moving 'black-hot' areas of contrast, visible in infrared imaging." 
A partially redacted report about that encounter said the agent received a report about a radio frequency being detected and soon pointed a handheld infrared sensor in its direction. 
"He saw a black object in the sky. 
It was not moving fast. 
He took pictures using the optical device. 
While observing he saw a second object to the right of the first and took additional photos/videos. 
The objects were moving together at the same speed," the FBI report said. 
"Both were black hot. 
He lost view of the objects when they traveled a distance out of view. 
Total observation time was approximately 5 - 10 minutes." 
Friday's release includes eight 302 forms, which the FBI uses to record the details of witness interviews. 
All eight include redactions to shield confidential information, and most are paired with artist renderings from the bureau showing the objects that the witnesses described. 
Others were released along video footage that the interviewees captured, showing what appear to be orbs and other light sources in the sky. 
One noteworthy 302 report records an interview with a former military pilot in 2024. 
The pilot told an agent that military pilots began seeing strange lights in the sky between midnight and 3 a.m. the year before. 
The pilot said he first saw the lights during a flight from Massachusetts to Ireland in October 2023. 
"[Redacted] was at an elevation of 37,000 feet and believed the lights were higher than him, probably at 50,000 feet or higher. 
The lights were white in color, would start out as dim, and get brighter before they eventually faded out," the report said. 
"The full cycle of the lights would range from 10 seconds to one minute." 
The pilot said he saw the lights roughly 10 times after that first experience. 
He also told the agent about something he saw while serving in Afghanistan in 2002. 
"At approximately 4:30 AM local time, [redacted] noticed that the stars were getting blacked out over Bagram. 
It appeared as if something huge went overhead, from west to east, and was an equilateral triangle shape. 
The object was moving silently, at a consistent speed and altitude, possibly 150 knots, with no lights visible," the agent wrote. 
The pilot "estimated it was 500 feet in size, but he could not fully see the shape of the object." 
He reported that the pilot he was with "also observed the triangle, and when it passed over stated, 'did you see that?'" 
The FBI produced this artist's rendering of the object: 
The Pentagon said that Friday's document disclosure won't be the last under Mr. 
Trump's executive order, with a spokesman saying the department "will release additional files on a rolling basis." 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 13.0%Stefan Becket: 3.2%CBS Los Angeles: 2.0%Confirmation Bias13.0%This article: 7.8%Stefan Becket: 2.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.5%Anchoring Bias7.8%This article: 6.7%Stefan Becket: 2.5%CBS Los Angeles: 2.1%Availability Heuristic6.7%This article: 4.9%Stefan Becket: 1.2%CBS Los Angeles: 0.6%Representativeness Heuristic4.9%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.4%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 5.2%Stefan Becket: 1.3%CBS Los Angeles: 1.3%Overconfidence Bias5.2%This article: 5.3%Stefan Becket: 1.3%CBS Los Angeles: 4.5%Framing Effect5.3%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.2%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 6.4%Stefan Becket: 1.6%CBS Los Angeles: 0.5%Status Quo Bias6.4%This article: 1.6%Stefan Becket: 0.4%CBS Los Angeles: 0.1%Sunk Cost Effect1.6%This article: 1.6%Stefan Becket: 0.4%CBS Los Angeles: 1.8%Optimism Bias1.6%This article: 0.6%Stefan Becket: 0.2%CBS Los Angeles: 1.0%Pessimism Bias0.6%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 5.8%Negativity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 1.6%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 1.8%Stefan Becket: 0.5%CBS Los Angeles: 0.6%Fundamental Attribution Error1.8%This article: 2.8%Stefan Becket: 0.7%CBS Los Angeles: 0.1%Actor-Observer Bias2.8%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.7%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.2%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 1.5%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.1%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 5.9%Stefan Becket: 1.5%CBS Los Angeles: 1.0%Recency Bias5.9%This article: 2.4%Stefan Becket: 0.6%CBS Los Angeles: 0.2%Primacy Effect2.4%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.8%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.2%Straw Man0.0%This article: 9.7%Stefan Becket: 2.4%CBS Los Angeles: 3.3%Appeal to Authority9.7%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.8%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.4%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 2.1%Hasty Generalization0.0%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.1%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.3%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 4.1%Stefan Becket: 1.0%CBS Los Angeles: 3.3%Appeal to Emotion4.1%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.6%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 1.7%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.1%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 9.6%Stefan Becket: 2.4%CBS Los Angeles: 0.4%Burden of Proof9.6%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.1%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.1%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 9.7%Stefan Becket: 11.1%CBS Los Angeles: 1.1%Anecdotal9.7%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.0%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 9.9%Stefan Becket: 2.5%CBS Los Angeles: 1.4%Ambiguity (Equivocation)9.9%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 1.7%Stefan Becket: 0.4%CBS Los Angeles: 0.1%Middle Ground1.7%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.0%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.1%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.1%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.3%CBS Los Angeles: 1.7%Unattributed Quote0.0%This article: 0.7%Stefan Becket: 1.2%CBS Los Angeles: 0.8%Quote-first Misdirection0.7%This article: 3.0%Stefan Becket: 0.8%CBS Los Angeles: 1.3%Biased Writer Voice3.0%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.7%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.4%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.2%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Stefan Becket: 0.0%CBS Los Angeles: 0.6%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

831 words analyzed.

Speakers

3speakers8.2%attributed speech763writer words
100%flagged-word coverage
17 attributed words25% of attributed speech81% writer coverage
0%2.5%5.0%Biased Writer Voice-3.3 ptsWriter: 3.3%Trump's executive order: 0.0%0.0%Quote-first Misdirection-0.8 ptsWriter: 0.8%Trump's executive order: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.