The domains were made public less than a month after President Donald Trump announced he would order federal agencies to release government files related to “extraterrestrial life.”
President Trump orders release of government files on aliens and UFOs
President Donald Trump says he will order the release of alien and UFO files after comments by Barack Obama sparked renewed interest.
Two new (otherworldly) government-run website domains created this week have caused a stir.
Alien.gov and Aliens.gov were both registered on Tuesday, March 17, by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, according to get.gov, a registry where CISA manages the request, approval, and management of government websites.
Both domains are hosted on Cloudflare, an internet management company that hosts countless mainstream websites, including Amazon, Spotify, Zoom, DoorDash, OpenAI, and more.
As of March 19, neither website is up and running. When I access the URL, I just get an error message.
Here’s what we know about the mysterious new domain.
Why did the federal government create Alien.gov and Aliens.gov?
As of March 19, the federal government has not provided any information about why the two domains were created.
In a statement provided to USA TODAY on March 19, White House Chief Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said, “Stay tuned!” with an alien emoji following the message.
When USA TODAY contacted the Department of Defense on March 19, it did not respond to a request for comment regarding the domain.
Neither website is published
As of March 19, neither Alien.gov nor Aliens.gov direct online users to the completed website.
Domain introduced shortly after President Trump’s promise to release files on ‘extraterrestrial life forms’
The creation of the government website domain comes less than a month after President Donald Trump announced he would order Army Secretary Pete Hegseth and other agencies to release government files related to aliens, extraterrestrials, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs).
President Trump’s comments came after former President Barack Obama said on a podcast with Brian Tyler Cohen that he believes in extraterrestrial life but has never seen evidence of it. The comment attracted a lot of attention, with President Trump criticizing President Obama for releasing “classified information.”
Some UAP documentation has already been released
Several government documents related to UAP are publicly available. In 2023, former President Joe Biden signed a bill requiring the National Archives and Records Administration to create a collection of government files on UAPs. Some of these records can be viewed on the National Archives website.
Under the law, the National Archives must also collect information on “technology and non-human intelligence of unknown origin.” However, this measure allows government agencies to keep records confidential.
Under the bill’s language, declassification could be delayed if the president determines that the release of certain records poses a threat to U.S. intelligence or military defense. However, the law states that the potential harm from releasing the records must outweigh the public interest in the disclosure.
Congress to hold UFO hearings starting in 2023
In recent years, Congress has held several hearings related to UFO and UAP sightings.
Most recently, in September 2025, four witnesses testified about their first-hand experiences with what they believed to be UAPs. Officials also said they knew the federal government may be illegally concealing the phenomenon from lawmakers.
This hearing will be the third on this topic since 2023.
Contributed by: Cybele Mayes-Osterman, Zac Anderson, Kinsey Crowley, Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY Network
Greta Cross is USA TODAY’s national trends reporter. Story ideas? Email her at gcross@usatoday.com.
