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What will happen to the UFO files after the election?

3 min read

The November midterm election may also decide the future of UFO transparency in the United States. According to Republican Representative Eric Burlison, the work would stop under a Democratic majority, but there are also supporters of the subject among Democrats: André Carson objects precisely that the Trump administration is moving too slowly.

What did Burlison say?

Eric Burlison, a Republican representative from Missouri, is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives' Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets. Alongside unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), the task force also examines records on, for example, the Kennedy assassination and the CIA's (Central Intelligence Agency) MK-Ultra program.

On the podcast Rebelliously Curious with Chrissy Newton, Burlison said that if Republicans lose the midterm election, the work will stop completely. He added that he is not saying this for political reasons but because he really believes it. He cited two reasons:

The Democratic Party has made it clear that it will focus on investigating the Trump administration.
The administration, which has so far generously provided resources for the subject, would redirect them toward defending against those investigations, so priorities would change completely.

Who will remain in the UAP caucus?

The House UAP caucus was founded in 2023 by Republican Representative Tim Burchett of Tennessee, after David Grusch's congressional hearing. Besides Burchett and Burlison, its members are Anna Paulina Luna (Florida), Nancy Mace (South Carolina) and Andy Ogles (Tennessee), all Republicans. Its only Democratic member is Jared Moskowitz (Florida).

The caucus may be weakened after the election:

Nancy Mace is retiring.
Andy Ogles lost in the August Republican primary.
Jared Moskowitz faces a difficult reelection fight because Florida Republicans redrew the congressional districts.

The caucus would also like to extend its activities to the Senate. It also keeps track of "honorary" supporters: lawmakers who are not officially members but help advance its goals.

What are the Democrats saying?

According to an October 23 analysis by The Hill, Democrats are likely to regain control of the House. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democrats' expected candidate for Speaker, said in 2023 that he supports releasing information where possible, because it could also dispel some conspiracy theories.

André Carson, a Democratic representative from Indiana, is a member of the House Intelligence Committee and one of the UAP caucus's honorary supporters. In a statement sent to The Hill, he accused the Trump administration of slowing transparency on UFO reports and investigations. He demanded the immediate release of a historical UAP report. It would reveal how the military and intelligence agencies investigated past cases and what role classified programs played in this. It would also reveal whether Congress was properly informed.

Carson is not new to the subject. In 2022, under a Democratic majority, he chaired the intelligence subcommittee hearing that was the first public congressional UFO hearing in more than fifty years. There he argued that reports from pilots and service members should not be surrounded by stigma.

Background

Since May 2026, the Trump administration has released UAP files in seven batches through the PURSUE (Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters) system. The most recent batch came out on October 23. According to The Hill, the administration has also created a new governing body to coordinate the investigation of reports.

The sober take

Burlison's statement is a prediction and a political argument, not a fact. Democrats have not announced that they would stop investigating UAP matters, and the subject has so far been bipartisan: the first public congressional UFO hearing was held in 2022 precisely under a Democratic majority, chaired by a Democratic representative. Moreover, releasing the files is the task not of Congress but of the administration, based on a presidential directive, so the election result does not directly stop it. Burlison's argument is rather that under a new majority priorities would change and fewer resources would go to the subject. This is a realistic possibility, but only after the election will it become clear to what extent. What is already certain, however, is that the UAP caucus is losing members, and its only Democratic member also faces a difficult election.