PURSUE UAP Files: How to Search the Official Archive

Quick answer

PURSUE stands for Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters. Its official archive is at war.gov/ufo. It publishes records concerning unresolved reports; an entry is not a certification that the reported object had extraordinary capabilities or an extraterrestrial origin.

Where the official files are published

Start with the PURSUE portal linked below, rather than a reposted bundle. The page identifies the Department of War, supported by ODNI, as coordinating the release effort. Its first tranche was released on 8 May 2026; at our 26 October review, its announcement identified Release 07 as 23 October 2026. These are publication milestones, not encounter dates. The archive describes a rolling process, so this guide is a dated reading aid rather than a live release counter.

Sources: PURSUE: directive, releases and searchable official records (checked 26 October 2026)

Search once, then narrow the catalogue

The released-records table provides a search box and filters for agency, release and type. Our suggested workflow is to search a distinctive place or document identifier first, then change one filter at a time. If a result disappears, remove the last filter before concluding the record is absent. Open the detail view and use its download control to reach the original file. Save the title and identifier as well as the link, because a link to the portal alone does not identify which document you read.

Sources: PURSUE: directive, releases and searchable official records (checked 26 October 2026)

A worked example: DOW-UAP-D176

The D176 catalogue entry is titled “Triangular UAP AARO Memorandum for Record, 2026.” It lists Release 07, 23 October 2026, but gives the incident date only as June 2026 and the location as the western United States. Its description identifies a witness debrief, not an instrumented flight test. When citing it, write that the catalogue describes an interview record. Do not turn estimates reported in that description into measured speed, or invent a precise day or facility from the broad location field.

Sources: DOW-UAP-D176: official catalogue description and download

Keep the record separate from its interpretation

The portal explains that unresolved status can result from insufficient data. NASA separately says there is no evidence that UAP are extraterrestrial. For a useful reading note, make three short entries: what someone reported, what surviving material lets you inspect, and what the analysis concludes. A drawing can preserve a description without being a photograph. Two agencies repeating the same account are not automatically two independent observations. Keep missing sensor data and unresolved identification visible instead of treating either as evidence for a preferred explanation.

Sources: PURSUE: directive, releases and searchable official records (checked 26 October 2026) · UAP FAQs: observations, data and extraterrestrial claims

PURSUE, NARA and annual UAP reports

PURSUE is a release portal. NARA is an archival research route: its UAP page describes Record Group 615 and points to other historical holdings. An AARO or ODNI annual report instead assesses a defined reporting population. These resources are complementary, not interchangeable totals. Our practical suggestion is to use PURSUE for a released item, NARA for archival context and an annual report for its stated assessment period. Do not add file counts to report counts or assume that one file equals one distinct encounter.

Sources: UFO and UAP records: RG 615 and other collections · PURSUE: directive, releases and searchable official records (checked 26 October 2026)

Build a citation another reader can reproduce

Our citation checklist is: issuing agency; exact file title and identifier; release number and date; separately labelled incident date; document page, or recording timecode; official item link; and your access date. Preserve the document’s own date if it differs from the catalogue. Note redactions without guessing the missing names. For the D176 example above, cite the catalogue description if that is all you consulted; cite a PDF page only after reading that page. This prevents an official summary from silently becoming a claim of first-hand document examination.

Sources: DOW-UAP-D176: official catalogue description and download · UFO and UAP records: RG 615 and other collections

What to do when a search returns nothing

Try spelling variants, remove date or agency filters and search the identifier without punctuation. Then check NARA’s other collections and the relevant agency’s published material. This is a research sequence, not proof that a missing result is classified, destroyed or deliberately withheld. A zero-result search tells you only what that query retrieved from that interface at that time. Record the failed search and its filters so another reader can repeat it, and leave the underlying record’s availability as unknown unless a source establishes more.

Sources: UFO and UAP records: RG 615 and other collections