The federal government registered two extraterrestrial-themed .gov domains this week, but neither site is live, a funding freeze is blocking new domain requests at the agency that registered them and the White House offered only a “Stay tuned!” paired with an alien emoji when asked about the timeline and contents.
The White House registered the two new government domains, alien.gov and aliens.gov, according to publicly available federal records. The registration was handled through the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security that oversees the federal .gov domain system.
The domains’ arrival follows a viral podcast moment that spurred renewed public interest in extraterrestrials. During a Feb. 14 interview with progressive podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen, former President Obama said aliens are “real,” adding that they are “not being kept at Area 51” and that there is “no underground facility.” Mr. Obama later clarified he was speaking to the statistical likelihood of life elsewhere in the universe, and that he saw no evidence of extraterrestrial contact during his presidency.
Responding to reporters aboard Air Force One, President Trump accused Mr. Obama of disclosing “classified information.” Mr. Trump then posted on his Truth Social platform that he would direct “the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs).”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth subsequently said the Pentagon was actively working on the directive. “We’ve got our people working on it right now,” Mr. Hegseth said. “I don’t want to oversell how much time it will take, but we’re digging in.” He added that his team would be “in full compliance” with Mr. Trump’s instructions.
As of Wednesday morning, neither domain was connected to a live website. When asked about the timeline and intended contents of the sites, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly replied with a “Stay tuned!” and an alien emoji, the same emoji Mr. Hegseth had used when he reposted Mr. Trump’s original disclosure promise.
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A banner on get.gov notes that due to a lapse in federal funding, new domain requests are not being processed, yet the agency registered the alien-themed domains during that same period.
Mr. Trump’s directive did not specify which government files would be declassified or when they might be made public, signaling only the start of a review process. Experts have cautioned that selection, review, declassification and release of any materials could take weeks, months or even years, and that the process risks becoming backlogged given the scarcity of officials trained and certified to handle declassification.
The Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, created in 2022, serves as the Defense Department’s central hub for UAP reporting and analysis and has repeatedly said it has found no evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity or technology, though some cases remain unexplained due to limited data. The National Archives is also collecting and publishing UAP-related records on a rolling basis as required by law.
No records or details about their release have surfaced as of publication.
