Well, the title says it all - can we really be near something definitive? There's been a lot of noise in the press recently starting with the Trump administration's announcements from the Dept of War and some more initial analysis here. Nevertheless, the first point to call out is that there are no references to the terms of “UFOs” (other than a small tag) or “extraterrestrials” in the government release notes. All text points to UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) - which implies the releases are still in the realm of anomalous objects that could originate anywhere. The primary quote being:
"The American people can now access the federal government's declassified UAP files instantly. The latest UAP videos, photos, and original source documents from across the entire United States government are all in one place – no clearance required. While past administrations sought to discredit or dissuade the American people, President Trump is focused on providing maximum transparency to the public, who can ultimately make up their own minds about the information contained in these files."
Granted, you can search the released declassified documents for those terms. As far as I’ve been able to tell - nothing earth shattering has appeared. Both The Conversation and The Skeptic did a nice job reviewing this early release (from which I have to quote one author noting - “...absolutely nothing stands out beyond the usual blurry photographs, grainy videos, artist reconstructions, and countless stories about weird things in the sky and in space.”) Scientific American also did a short overview noting a statement from Sean Kirkpatrick, "There’s nothing unexpected in their release. And without any analysis or context, [it] will only serve to fuel more speculation, conspiracy and armchair pseudoscience, particularly from the playhouse politics theater company..."
No matter your political affiliation it is readily apparent that the administration is attempting to appease critics complaints about not following through on some of the early campaign promises. This doesn’t imply, however, that national security would be compromised in any way if the US or any government entity had some strategic advantage from anything technological be it from other countries or extraterrestrial in origin - this being the most problematic part of disclosure.
So here we sit again with just as much (if not more) speculation regarding extraterrestrial life. It's difficult to note whether this stands in Level 3 or Level 2 of the exoastronomy categorization - but, it mostly fits in Level 2 due to government classification and documentation.
You can go out and download the released material directly (as have thousands on social media that are full of speculation). I’m sure there’s more to come.
